Cinema Solubile Productions
presents
Kaos a.k.a. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in Hell
a 15′ free-film made along the border between order and disorder by August Black and Federico Bonelli for PIKSEL 2007
Maria Øy Lojo, as the “Black Woman”
“Torstein Frode narrates about a city, contended between Norway and
Sweden. The two kings decided to throw dices to see who would have the city and avoid war. The King of Sweden got two six. He said then that was not the case that the king Olav of Norway throw the dices. But Olav, shaking the dices in his fist, said that two six are still inside the dices, and with the help of god he would have them out. He throws and two sixes come out. The king of Sweden throws again and another two sixes appear. Olav throws again and one dice gives six, but the other brakes in two, giving one half six and the other one. So the score became 13 and the city forever Norwegian”.
(Snorri Sturlson, Saga of S. Olao)
STATEMENT:
We would like to join our forces and make a film under the time constraints of a single week and within the so-called “limited” availability of free software. At the end of the week, we expect to have completed a full short film that will be then presented to an audience.
“Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in Hell” will also be released under a free content license such as Creative Commons.
We want this film to be a first step towards automatic and procedural filming.
The film story line takes elements from Ivar Ekeland, Snorri Sturlson, Luigi Pirandello, Louis Bunuel, Henry Poincare, Italo Calvino, and atmospheres from Jim Jarmush and David Lynch.
The two main characters are taken from a play by Tom Stoppard, “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead” which later was filmed in 1990 (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosencrantz_&_Guildenstern_Are_Dead).
The characters spend the entire film coming to terms with their existence. Shakespeare didn’t provide any detailed character development of either Rosencrantz or Guildenstern, and as such, they are left confused as to the purpose of their own existence. In a similar fashion, but with different aesthetics and outcomes, our film will investigate the dramatic relevance of meaning in the age of kaos, that is a language that draws between order and disorder, determinism and free will, like life.
- here a full PAL 720 by 576 version compressed in ogg/theora
http://www.cinemasolubile.net/wp-content/kaos/Kaos.zipthe file is 362Mb, you might need to download VLC to view it. Is distributed along with English subtitles in a separate .sub file.
- here (kaos.mpeg4.avi) a version in mpeg4 .avi compressed to 320 by 240 and with subtitles burned in. Is 122 mb. I have tested it on mac os x and linux with both mplayer and VLC
- Subtitles in english, italian and spanish are to be d/l here:kaos-subs
and finally… you can now watch it on VIMEO
(not very good quality)
Kaos -aka- Rosencrantz & Guildenstern in Hell from Federico Bonelli on Vimeo.
No budget short film, shot in less than a week -from casting to viewing- in Bergen Norway during piksel 2007 festival by August Black and Federico Bonelli.
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern seems to have a trip downward to Hell and they have to deal with various tests: a strange mixture of visual riddles, masked quotes from Discordian texts and viking sagas, bureaucratic definition of chaos… and nothing you see is there without a reason!
Is a proof of concept because is conceived to be shot, edited and post-produced only with free software and recycled hardware. The camera, an old Sony mini DV was bought for 50 euros from someone that thought was broken…
The local cast of actors is amazing and the atmosphere dark and tense with surreal tones. Dialogues are in norwegian and you can find subtitles in english, spanish and italian free to download from http://www.cinemasolubile.net : http://www.cinemasolubile.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/kaos-subs.zip
The film is released under creative commons licence