The Cinefamily (Venue Partner)
611 N Fairfax Avenue
323.655.2510
This event has passed.
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Ape and Super Ape
- When
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Friday Aug 28, 2009 (8–10pm)
- Where
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- Price
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$10
- Links
Bert Haanstra, a legend in the Netherlands and one of the greatest nature documentarians, delivered his magnum opus with Ape And Super-Ape. The scope of the film is massive on numerous levels--artistically, intellectually, and geographically. Haanstra travelled to the literal farthest corners of the world, covering over 150,000 miles and taking over three years to collect stunning footage of the animal kingdom, which demonstrated his thesis of the survival of all species on this planet. Before shooting, Haanstra squirreled himself away like a hermit, studied endless books on the subject, and meditated upon how to make this film appeal to a wide audience, and not just a few biologists. The final result is a masterpiece. Ape and Super-Ape is both serious, even savage, in subject matter, yet often playful in treatment--full of witty montages and clever crosscutting between human and animal behavior, a killer jazz score, and a laconic voiceover commentary that both adds to the images and sometimes undermines them. It is visually beautiful, moving, entertaining, thought-provoking, humorous--but above all, remorseless.
Dir. Bert Haanstra, 1972, 35mm, 104 min.
