Cités de la plaine / City Empires

Cités de la plaine (Cities of the Plain)☼

Before: City Empires
Robert Kramer, FR, 1998. with: Robert Kramer, Rem Koolhaas. DCP, colour, 24 min

For a discussion with Rem Koolhaas at the Centre Pompidou entitled ‘Architecte et cinéaste’ in April 1998, Kramer compiled scenes from Route One/USA, Diesel, À toute allure (1982), Berlin 10/90, Sous le vent and Ghosts of Electricity: City Empires shows cities and spaces in their dialectic of freedom and prison, architectures of today, yesterday and tomorrow. In the same year, he began work on Cités de la plaine, his last film. An urban planner from EuraLille is part of the ensemble of characters, while the spaces, forms and times merge into a dense, dream-like fabric. Sliding transitions between places, between the present and the past. A cinematic stream of consciousness, a sequence of flashbacks that constantly re-form in the mind of the blind protagonist Ben. From Kramer's notes: ‘The BLIND man is an old man in a black hole, and like a black hole, this place has an enormous density and is only illuminated by harsh streams of white light.’ (Volker Pantenburg)

* Courtesy Cinémathèque française
Photo: Filmarchiv Austria