Emtigon
Joe Comerford
Artist's biography
Synopsis
'Joe Comerford’s first film, involves a process of combining 'elements of narrative with abstraction' that informs all of his other work. A pitch-black Beckett-like vaudeville of impotence and aggression, Emtigon tragicomically details a homeless old man’s covert intrusion on a young woman social worker. Claustrophobic framing and cutting refuses the viewer an easy interpretation or even a comfortable point of view but the abstractions hint and nudge at possible meanings. An associational montage of images from World War I suggests a collective memory that might somehow underlie the protagonist’s behavior. The final image of a stolen house-key dropped into dark canal waters is emblematic of this filmmaker’s opaque, poetic narratives.' (Notes by Eugene Finn, sourced from http://www.ifi.ie/wp-content/uploads/Joe-Comerford-Painting-a-Feature-by-Eugene-Finn1.pdf on April 25th 2016).
Note: First shown at the Project Arts Centre, Dublin.
Images
Details
Title
Emtigon
Year
1971
Form
Short
Key phrases
abstract live action, portrait, trance, homelessness, voyeurism, world war i
Language
English
Duration
00:14:00
Original formats
Physical: Film: 16mm
Aspect ratio
to be confirmed
Colour
Black & White
Sound
Yes