The Ister (film)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
| Revision as of 12:02, 2 January 2014 Jahsonic (Talk | contribs) ← Previous diff |
Current revision Jahsonic (Talk | contribs) |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
| + | {| class="toccolours" style="float: left; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 2em; font-size: 85%; background:#c6dbf7; color:black; width:30em; max-width: 40%;" cellspacing="5" | ||
| + | | style="text-align: left;" | | ||
| + | 'One day [[Zeus]] said to [[Prometheus]], "the time has come for you, for us gods, to bring into the day the non-immortals." The non-immortals being animals and men. Prometheus, who is put in charge of this task, has a twin brother named [[Epimetheus]]. Epimetheus resembles Prometheus; he is his double. But in fact Epimetheus is his brother’s opposite. Epimetheus is the god of the fault of forgetting. Prometheus is a figure of knowledge, of absolute mastery, total memory. Prometheus forgets nothing, Epimetheus forgets everything. Epimetheus says to his brother: "Zeus has given you this task - I want to do it! Me me me! I’ll take care of it." Epimetheus is a rather simple-minded brother, and Prometheus is fond of him. He dares not refuse and says, "OK, you take care of it." So Epimetheus distributes the [[qualities]]. He will give the [[gazelle]] its speed, for example. [...] He distributes the qualities in equilibrium. Epimetheus’ distribution of the qualities describes the ecological [[balance of nature]]. [...] Now, as Epimetheus is distributing the qualities, he suddenly notices something... [...] "There are no qualities left! I forgot to save a quality for man!" [...] "I still have to bring mankind, mortals, into the day." [...] but there are no qualities left to give him a form. So Prometheus goes to the workshop of the god [[Hephaestus]], to steal fire. Fire, which is obviously the symbol of technics, but which is also the symbol of the power of god. Zeus.'--[[Bernard Stiegler]] retelling the creation myth of ''[[Protagoras (dialogue)|Protagoras]]'' in [[The Ister (film)|''The Ister'']] (2004) | ||
| + | |} | ||
| {{Template}} | {{Template}} | ||
| - | '''''The Ister''''' is a [[2004 in film|2004]] [[film]] directed by David Barison and [[Daniel Ross (Australian philosopher and filmmaker)|Daniel Ross]]. | + | '''''The Ister''''' is a 2004 [[documentary film]] directed by David Barison and [[Daniel Ross (philosopher)|Daniel Ross]]. |
| - | The film is inspired by the work of [[Martin Heidegger]], featuring extensive interviews with the philosophers [[Bernard Stiegler]], [[Jean-Luc Nancy]], and [[Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe]], and the filmmaker [[Hans-Jürgen Syberberg]]. | + | The film is loosely based on the works of philosopher [[Martin Heidegger]], in particular the 1942 lecture course he delivered, ''[[Hölderlin's Hymn "The Ister"|Hölderlins Hymne «Der Ister»]]'', concerning a poem, "[[Der Ister]]", by the German poet [[Friedrich Hölderlin]]. |
| - | == Source == | + | |
| - | ''The Ister'' was inspired by a [[1942]] lecture course delivered by the German philosopher [[Martin Heidegger]], published in 1984 as ''[[Hölderlin's Hymn "The Ister"|Hölderlins Hymne »Der Ister«]]''. Heidegger's lecture course concerns a poem by the German poet [[Friedrich Hölderlin]] about the [[Danube River]]. | + | |
| - | The film ''The Ister'' travels upstream along the Danube toward its [[source (river or stream)|source]], as several interviewees discuss Heidegger, Hölderlin, and philosophy. The film is also concerned with a number of other themes, including: [[time]], [[poetry]], [[technology]], [[home]], [[war]], [[politics]], [[myth]], [[National Socialism]], the [[the Holocaust|Holocaust]], the ancient Greek [[polis]], [[Sophocles]], ''[[Antigone (Sophocles)|Antigone]]'', [[Agnes Bernauer]], [[Edmund Husserl]], the 1991 [[battle of Vukovar]], and the 1999 [[1999 NATO bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|NATO bombing of Yugoslavia]]. | + | The story is led by the Greek creation-of-man myth as told by [[Protagoras (dialogue)|Protagoras]]. |
| + | == Sources == | ||
| + | ''The Ister'' was inspired by a 1942 lecture course delivered by the German philosopher [[Martin Heidegger]], published in 1984 as ''[[Hölderlin's Hymn "The Ister"|Hölderlins Hymne «Der Ister»]]''. Heidegger's lecture course concerns a poem by the German poet [[Friedrich Hölderlin]] about the [[Danube River]]. | ||
| + | |||
| + | The film ''The Ister'' travels upstream along the Danube toward its [[source (river or stream)|source]], as several interviewees discuss Heidegger, Hölderlin, and [[philosophy]]. The film is also concerned with a number of other themes, including: [[time]], [[poetry]], [[technology]], [[home]], [[war]], [[politics]], [[myth]], [[National Socialism]], the [[the Holocaust|Holocaust]], the ancient Greek [[polis]], [[Sophocles]], ''[[Antigone (Sophocles)|Antigone]]'', [[Agnes Bernauer]], [[Edmund Husserl]], the 1991 [[battle of Vukovar]], and the 1999 [[1999 NATO bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|NATO bombing of Yugoslavia]]. | ||
| == Interviewees == | == Interviewees == | ||
| - | ''The Ister'' features extensive interviews with the French philosophers [[Bernard Stiegler]], [[Jean-Luc Nancy]], and [[Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe]], as well as with the German film director [[Hans-Jürgen Syberberg]]. Other interviews are conducted with a bridge engineer (Nemanja Calic), an amateur botanist (Tobias Maier), and a Romanian archaeologist ([[:Ro:Alexandru_Suceveanu|Alexandru Suceveanu]]). | + | ''The Ister'' features extensive interviews with the French philosophers [[Bernard Stiegler]], [[Jean-Luc Nancy]], and [[Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe]], as well as with the German film director [[Hans-Jürgen Syberberg]]. Other interviews are conducted with a bridge engineer (Nemanja Calic), an amateur botanist (Tobias Maier), and a Romanian archaeologist ([[:Ro:Alexandru Suceveanu|Alexandru Suceveanu]]). |
| - | The version of the [[DVD]] available outside [[North America]] also contains an extended interview with philosopher [[Werner Hamacher]]. | + | An extended interview with philosopher [[Werner Hamacher]] is also included as one of the "extra features" on the DVD. |
| == Locations == | == Locations == | ||
| The film travels upriver: from the [[Danube Delta]], opening onto the [[Black Sea]] in [[Romania]], to the source of the river in the [[Black Forest]] of southern [[Germany]], moving along the way through the [[Histria (Sinoe)]] archaeological site, through [[Novi Sad]] in [[Serbia]], [[Vukovar]] in [[Croatia]], [[Budapest]], [[Dunaföldvár]], and [[Dunaújváros]] in [[Hungary]], and [[Vienna]] and the [[Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp]] in [[Austria]]. Also featured are the [[Walhalla temple]] near [[Regensburg]], the [[Befreiungshalle]] at [[Kelheim]], the tomb of [[Agnes Bernauer]], and the [[Schloss Sigmaringen|castle]] at [[Sigmaringen]] to which [[Philippe Pétain|Marshal Pétain]] fled in 1945. | The film travels upriver: from the [[Danube Delta]], opening onto the [[Black Sea]] in [[Romania]], to the source of the river in the [[Black Forest]] of southern [[Germany]], moving along the way through the [[Histria (Sinoe)]] archaeological site, through [[Novi Sad]] in [[Serbia]], [[Vukovar]] in [[Croatia]], [[Budapest]], [[Dunaföldvár]], and [[Dunaújváros]] in [[Hungary]], and [[Vienna]] and the [[Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp]] in [[Austria]]. Also featured are the [[Walhalla temple]] near [[Regensburg]], the [[Befreiungshalle]] at [[Kelheim]], the tomb of [[Agnes Bernauer]], and the [[Schloss Sigmaringen|castle]] at [[Sigmaringen]] to which [[Philippe Pétain|Marshal Pétain]] fled in 1945. | ||
| - | Notable places from Heidegger's own life which feature in the film include his birthplace in [[Meßkirch]], his hut at [[Todtnauberg]], and the lecture theatre at [[Freiburg University]] where he delivered his infamous [http://www.eco.utexas.edu/~hmcleave/350kPEEHeideggerSelf-Assertion.pdf#search=%22%22The%20Self-Assertion%20of%20the%20German%20University%22%22 rectorate address]. | + | Notable places from Heidegger's own life which feature in the film include his birthplace in [[Meßkirch]], his hut at [[Todtnauberg]], and the lecture theatre at [[Freiburg University]] where he delivered his infamous ''Rectoratsrede'' ([[Rector (academia)|rectorial]] address). |
| Eventually the film arrives at [[Donaueschingen]], and at the [[Breg River|Breg]] and the [[Brigach]], the two tributaries whose confluence marks the point at which the river becomes known as the Danube. The film then travels upstream along the Breg, past [[Vöhrenbach]] and [[Furtwangen]], in search of the "true" mountain source of the Danube. | Eventually the film arrives at [[Donaueschingen]], and at the [[Breg River|Breg]] and the [[Brigach]], the two tributaries whose confluence marks the point at which the river becomes known as the Danube. The film then travels upstream along the Breg, past [[Vöhrenbach]] and [[Furtwangen]], in search of the "true" mountain source of the Danube. | ||
| Line 30: | Line 36: | ||
| *'''Chapter 5. What that river does, no-one knows'''. "In which the German artist and director Hans-Jürgen Syberberg guides us through the upper Danube, to the source of the river and beyond." | *'''Chapter 5. What that river does, no-one knows'''. "In which the German artist and director Hans-Jürgen Syberberg guides us through the upper Danube, to the source of the river and beyond." | ||
| *'''Epilogue. Heidegger reads Hölderlin'''. Heidegger reads Hölderlin's hymn, "''Der Ister''." | *'''Epilogue. Heidegger reads Hölderlin'''. Heidegger reads Hölderlin's hymn, "''Der Ister''." | ||
| + | |||
| + | == Soundtrack == | ||
| + | Three excerpts from classical works feature in the film: | ||
| + | *[[Anton Bruckner]], ''[[Symphony No. 4 (Bruckner)|Symphony No. 4 in E-flat major]]'', first movement. | ||
| + | *[[Richard Wagner]], "Siegfried's Funeral March," from ''[[Götterdämmerung]]'', Act 3. | ||
| + | *[[Franz Schubert]], ''[[Impromptus (Schubert)|Impromptu D. 899 (Op. 90), No. 1 in C minor]]''. | ||
| == Premiere and awards == | == Premiere and awards == | ||
| - | ''The Ister'' premiered at the [[International Film Festival Rotterdam]] on January 23, 2004.{{GFDL}} | + | ''The Ister'' premiered at the [[International Film Festival Rotterdam]] on 23 January 2004. It has won two awards: |
| + | *The ''Prix du Groupement National des Cinémas de Recherche (GNCR)'' at the [[Marseille Festival of Documentary Film|Festival International du Documentaire de Marseille]] (August 2004). | ||
| + | *The [http://www.theister.com/news.html ''Prix de l’AQCC (Association Québécoise des Critiques/Quebec Association of Film Critics)''] at the ''[[Festival du Nouveau Cinéma]]'' in [[Montreal]] (October 2004). | ||
| + | |||
| + | Additionally, Robert Koehler, film critic for ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'', listed ''The Ister'' as the second best film released theatrically in the United States in 2006. | ||
| + | ==See also== | ||
| + | *[[Philosophical film]] | ||
| + | {{GFDL}} | ||
Current revision
|
'One day Zeus said to Prometheus, "the time has come for you, for us gods, to bring into the day the non-immortals." The non-immortals being animals and men. Prometheus, who is put in charge of this task, has a twin brother named Epimetheus. Epimetheus resembles Prometheus; he is his double. But in fact Epimetheus is his brother’s opposite. Epimetheus is the god of the fault of forgetting. Prometheus is a figure of knowledge, of absolute mastery, total memory. Prometheus forgets nothing, Epimetheus forgets everything. Epimetheus says to his brother: "Zeus has given you this task - I want to do it! Me me me! I’ll take care of it." Epimetheus is a rather simple-minded brother, and Prometheus is fond of him. He dares not refuse and says, "OK, you take care of it." So Epimetheus distributes the qualities. He will give the gazelle its speed, for example. [...] He distributes the qualities in equilibrium. Epimetheus’ distribution of the qualities describes the ecological balance of nature. [...] Now, as Epimetheus is distributing the qualities, he suddenly notices something... [...] "There are no qualities left! I forgot to save a quality for man!" [...] "I still have to bring mankind, mortals, into the day." [...] but there are no qualities left to give him a form. So Prometheus goes to the workshop of the god Hephaestus, to steal fire. Fire, which is obviously the symbol of technics, but which is also the symbol of the power of god. Zeus.'--Bernard Stiegler retelling the creation myth of Protagoras in The Ister (2004) |
|
Related e |
|
Featured: |
The Ister is a 2004 documentary film directed by David Barison and Daniel Ross.
The film is loosely based on the works of philosopher Martin Heidegger, in particular the 1942 lecture course he delivered, Hölderlins Hymne «Der Ister», concerning a poem, "Der Ister", by the German poet Friedrich Hölderlin.
The story is led by the Greek creation-of-man myth as told by Protagoras.
Contents |
Sources
The Ister was inspired by a 1942 lecture course delivered by the German philosopher Martin Heidegger, published in 1984 as Hölderlins Hymne «Der Ister». Heidegger's lecture course concerns a poem by the German poet Friedrich Hölderlin about the Danube River.
The film The Ister travels upstream along the Danube toward its source, as several interviewees discuss Heidegger, Hölderlin, and philosophy. The film is also concerned with a number of other themes, including: time, poetry, technology, home, war, politics, myth, National Socialism, the Holocaust, the ancient Greek polis, Sophocles, Antigone, Agnes Bernauer, Edmund Husserl, the 1991 battle of Vukovar, and the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.
Interviewees
The Ister features extensive interviews with the French philosophers Bernard Stiegler, Jean-Luc Nancy, and Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe, as well as with the German film director Hans-Jürgen Syberberg. Other interviews are conducted with a bridge engineer (Nemanja Calic), an amateur botanist (Tobias Maier), and a Romanian archaeologist (Alexandru Suceveanu).
An extended interview with philosopher Werner Hamacher is also included as one of the "extra features" on the DVD.
Locations
The film travels upriver: from the Danube Delta, opening onto the Black Sea in Romania, to the source of the river in the Black Forest of southern Germany, moving along the way through the Histria (Sinoe) archaeological site, through Novi Sad in Serbia, Vukovar in Croatia, Budapest, Dunaföldvár, and Dunaújváros in Hungary, and Vienna and the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp in Austria. Also featured are the Walhalla temple near Regensburg, the Befreiungshalle at Kelheim, the tomb of Agnes Bernauer, and the castle at Sigmaringen to which Marshal Pétain fled in 1945.
Notable places from Heidegger's own life which feature in the film include his birthplace in Meßkirch, his hut at Todtnauberg, and the lecture theatre at Freiburg University where he delivered his infamous Rectoratsrede (rectorial address).
Eventually the film arrives at Donaueschingen, and at the Breg and the Brigach, the two tributaries whose confluence marks the point at which the river becomes known as the Danube. The film then travels upstream along the Breg, past Vöhrenbach and Furtwangen, in search of the "true" mountain source of the Danube.
Structure
The Ister is divided into five chapters, plus a prologue and epilogue:
- Prologue. The myth of Prometheus, or The birth of technics. Bernard Stiegler tells the myth of Prometheus.
- Chapter 1. Now come fire! "In which the philosopher Bernard Stiegler conjugates technology and time, and guides us from the mouth of the Danube to the city of Vukovar in Croatia."
- Chapter 2. Here we wish to build. "In which the philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy takes up the question of politics and guides us through the Republic of Hungary."
- Chapter 3. When the trial has passed. "In which philosopher Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe conducts us from the technopolis of Vienna to the depths of the concentration camp at Mauthausen, confronting Heidegger's most provocative statement concerning technology."
- Chapter 4. The rock has need of cuts. "In which philosopher Bernard Stiegler returns to guide us deeper into the questions of mortality and history, as we emerge from Mauthausen to the Hall of Liberation in Germany."
- Chapter 5. What that river does, no-one knows. "In which the German artist and director Hans-Jürgen Syberberg guides us through the upper Danube, to the source of the river and beyond."
- Epilogue. Heidegger reads Hölderlin. Heidegger reads Hölderlin's hymn, "Der Ister."
Soundtrack
Three excerpts from classical works feature in the film:
- Anton Bruckner, Symphony No. 4 in E-flat major, first movement.
- Richard Wagner, "Siegfried's Funeral March," from Götterdämmerung, Act 3.
- Franz Schubert, Impromptu D. 899 (Op. 90), No. 1 in C minor.
Premiere and awards
The Ister premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam on 23 January 2004. It has won two awards:
- The Prix du Groupement National des Cinémas de Recherche (GNCR) at the Festival International du Documentaire de Marseille (August 2004).
- The Prix de l’AQCC (Association Québécoise des Critiques/Quebec Association of Film Critics) at the Festival du Nouveau Cinéma in Montreal (October 2004).
Additionally, Robert Koehler, film critic for Variety, listed The Ister as the second best film released theatrically in the United States in 2006.
See also
