A Moment`s Silence

Colour, 16mm
The Netherlands, 1963, 10 min
Section: Johan van der Keuken

Synopsis

One of Van der Keuken’s first films made over a period of several years using extremely modest means, with no pre-planned script or story. It begins with the movements of cars and people in the streets of Amsterdam which are gradually slowed down until they become motionless. While making this fragment Van der Keuken took the opportunity of filming a commemorative festival being held on one of the city’s squares. The following scenes, which are set in motion once more from their state of stagnation, now contain elements of poetic unreality and strange melancholy. Images of urban courtyards, embankments, riverbanks and boats, where we often see only individuals, come together to create a subjective world with its own distinct tempo and atmosphere. In this film, Amsterdam has found its poet.