Silent Revue: THE MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA (1929)
Schedule
Sun, 19 Apr, 2026 at 04:00 pm
UTC-04:00Location
Revue Cinema | Toronto, ON
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MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERASoviet Union | 1929 | 61 mins + secret short | Unrated
“Pointless camera hooliganism” Sergei Eisenstein on MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA
Unapologetically avant garde, unabashedly self-reflexive and all-around feather ruffling, MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA is the most influential documentary of all time—achieving top ten status in Sight & Sound’s latest “Greatest Film” poll.
Conceived as an antidote to fiction film, which Vertov deemed an “opiate of the masses,” MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA depicts scenes of ordinary life throughout Moscow and Ukraine’s Odessa and Kiev. Without employing a single intertitle, Vertov’s “Man”—played by his brother Mikhail Kaufman—captures the modern marvels of a city from its highest rooftops to its deepest mines. The imagery is extraordinary, with Kaufman performing his own stunts after deeming himself the Buster Keaton of documentary. And as an editor, Vertov’s brilliant wife Yelizaveta Svilova invented or perfected techniques commonplace today, such as multiple exposures, fast, slow, and stop motion, jump cuts, extreme close-ups and Dutch angles.
The film’s release was a catastrophe, with the Soviet montage pioneers labelling it the self-indulgent work of a hack—Eisenstein went as far to deem it “hooliganism.” Of course, something so experimental and revolutionary would be rejected by those it openly challenged. MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA was stifled under Stalin’s shift in policy but was eventually celebrated as one of the foundational works in cinematic history.
Screening with a secret short film of around 40 minutes in length.
Live accompaniment by Jordan Klapman (piano) and John Collin (percussion)
Silent Revue is curated by Alicia Fletcher and sponsored by Hollywood Suite and Bill Mohan Realty
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Where is it happening?
Revue Cinema, 400 Roncesvalles Avenue,Toronto, Ontario, CanadaEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
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