ENTHUSIASM, OR SYMPHONY OF THE DON BASIN

Directed by Dziga Vertov

1931 / 67min

“What do Jean-Luc Godard, Jean Rouch, Peter Kubelka, Stan Brakhage, Allen Funt, and Santiago Alvarez have in common? All of them were anticipated, if not directly influenced, by the genius of Dziga Vertov, one of the half-dozen most important personalities in the history of cinema, and a key figure in 20th century culture as a whole.” –J. Hoberman, VILLAGE VOICE ENTHUSIASM is Vertov’s vision of the transformation of social energies in a progressive society. The film is remarkable for its experimental use of sound and montage. Vertov himself invented special lightweight recording equipment to register the sounds of workers in the mines and factories of the Don Basin in this film. It is the best example of his theory of cinema which brings together “the film-eye and the radio-ear.” At one point he described the film as a “symphony of noises.” “I would never have believed it possible to assemble mechanical noises to create such beauty. One of the most superb symphonies I have known. Dziga Vertov is a musician.” –Charles Chaplin