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LET THERE BE LUMIERE
Over at Videoblogging, anyone with a camera is invited to subscribe to the Lumiere Manifesto and create one-minute works in the tradition of the turn-of-the-twentieth-century French filmmaking brothers. They’ve fashioned their call into a Dogma 95-ish Manifesto that dictates how such minute-long pieces must be conceived and shot. (Hat tips: Warren Ellis and Boing Boing)
Here’s are excerpts from the Manifesto that argue for the validity of this homage in today’s times:
We believe instead that everyday video brings together a collective consciousness and experience through which we all come to view a universal existence and see “light” in the world, even through personal darkness. Film lacking context and artistic modification in any way beyond perspective, technology, and equipment is essential in an era of unrestrained, theatrical Internet TV. We do not believe filmmaker’s geographical or psychological location to be an advantage any more than any other tool we can all employ. We believe in universal, important beauty and those who can attempt to replicate what their eyes and minds encounter. Inasmuch, Lumiere films require no explanation and are accessible to any audience with patience and an acceptance of the world we share….
…we believe in the personal viewing experience afforded by the computer as it enables an individual and private relationship between the viewer and the video. This intimate consumption is not one the filmmaker should attempt to overcome by collective viewings; instead, it should be embraced and public presentations of the work as cinema or a television broadcast should be rejected.
