Frans van de Staak Retrospective at CINEMATEK

From September to December, CINEMATEK, in collaboration with Sabzian, presents a retrospective dedicated to Dutch filmmaker Frans van de Staak (1943–2001). Trained as an artist and engraver, Van de Staak discovered cinema through Antonioni’s Il deserto rosso and went on to build a singular body of work at the intersection of literature, politics and film. His shorts and features – often based on texts by writers such as Korneliszoon Poot and Spinoza – explore the everyday use of language and the musicality of speech, privileging the ear over the eye. Considered by Jean-Marie Straub as the only true heir of Vertov, Van de Staak’s films are both rigorous and playful, inviting the viewer not simply to follow stories but to experience cinema as a way of thinking, listening and looking anew.

More information about the retrospective can be found here.