Archive of films I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (A Portrait of David Toop Through His Record Collection) / I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (A Portrait of David Toop Through His Record Collection)

Belgium
2009, 96 min

Section: 2009: A Musical Odyssey
Year: 2009

A portrait of music expert David Toop as seen through his collection of LPs and CDs. A duel between the listener and passion for music itself. Film as a musical seance, an intimate portrait of a thinker, the genesis of a multi-style mixtape and a record of a feat of sporting endurance.


Synopsis

Film as a musical seance, an intimate portrait of a thinker, the genesis of a multi-style mixtape and a record of a feat of sporting endurance. The filmmakers take their camera into the London home of David Toop, musician and noted author of books on ambient music, silence, sounds and memory. Their objective is simple: to create "a portrait of David Toop through his record collection”. Toop puts on a selection of records, he comments on them and ties them together in unexpected but logical contexts. We hear the music of Korean monks, old rockabilly, works by John Cage and Finnish minimalist techno outfit Pan Sonic. A strong theme in the film is the experience of listening to music itself. The huge collection of LPs and CDs here becomes a tangible testimony of living with something as infinite as music. Toop’s restraint and the unseen nature of music give the film its unique tension. The film will probably be appreciated most by those who have already travelled a fair distance with the kind of art which takes them on a journey with no precise destination.

About the director

Guy-Marc Hinant, Dominique Lohlé Guy-Marc Hinant, Dominique Lohlé

Dominique Lohlé (b. 1966, Louvain), Guy-Marc Hinant (b. 1960, Charleroi)

Guy-Marc Hinant is a music producer with his own label, Sub Rosa, based in Brussels. His catalogue contains around 250 titles, from documentaries on the inter-war avant-garde and early electronics, to New Music (Marcel Duchamp, William Burroughs, James Joyce, Luc Ferrari, Milan Knížák, Morton Feldman). In 2000 he teamed up with documentarist Dominique Lohlé to begin filming a series of video portraits entitled OME (Observatoire de Musiques Electroniques). They have made 14 parts to date featuring, alongside David Toop, also Pierre Boulez, Jonas Mekas and Philip Jeck, among others.

Contacts

Sub Rosa
149-151 avenue Ducpétiaux, 1060, Brussels
Belgium
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.subrosa.net

About the film

Color, DIGIBETA

Section: 2009: A Musical Odyssey
   
Director: Guy-Marc Hinant, Dominique Lohlé
Dir. of Photography: Dominique Lohlé
Music: John Cage, Pan Sonic, Richard Maxfield, Hasil Adkins, AMM
Production: OME
Cast: David Toop
Contact: Sub Rosa

Guests

Pavel Klusák

Freelance journalist

YouTube

© 2024 FILM SERVIS FESTIVAL KARLOVY VARY, a.s. [email protected] +420 221 411 011 All contacts

AccommodationsAccommodations Festival Pass, tickets, reservationsFestival Pass, tickets
HistoryHistory ContactsContacts
Archive of filmsArchive of films KVIFF TalksKVIFF Talks
Industry Days Programme 2021Industry Days Programme KVIFF Eastern PromisesKVIFF Eastern Promises
VideogalleryVideogallery PhotogalleryPhotogallery
ContactsContacts Posters of the 57th KV IFFPosters of the 57th KV IFF
HistoryHistory Festival GuideFestival Guide