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“I Argue that Cinema is Either Dying or Dead”: Peter Greenaway on Making Eisenstein in Guanajuato
“I argue that cinema is either dying or dead — it’s certainly changing very rapidly — so maybe now is the time to make a film about the greatest cinematic practitioner.” Peter Greenaway’s Eisenstein In Guanajuato — focusing on 10 days out of the 14 months Sergei Eisenstein spent in Mexico shooting what would eventually be edited into ¡Que viva México! — is one of the more keenly anticipated titles premiering at this year’s Berlinale. Above is the first of a three-part documentary on the film’s production from Mexico’s IMCINE (the national film financing/production agency). There are two brief bits in Spanish; the rest of it is the ever-articulate Greenaway outlining his project’s background and concerns, on-set footage, and the freakily on-point Eisenstein doppelganger/actor Elmer Bäck discussing the project. If you want to keep going, here are parts two and three.
