DOORS 7PM TICKETS £5 ON THE DOOR
UK PREMIERE of 78rpm, a film by Joel Schlemowitz followed by a Q&A with the director
78rpm is an experimental documentary on the 78 record, the origins of the gramophone, collectors of old shellac records and phonographs, enthusiasts of vintage culture, and a mercurial pondering of the nature of obsolescence in a world of rapidly changing technology.
Having made a number of short experimental films prior to this project, 78rpm is Brooklyn-based filmmaker Joel Schlemowitz’s first feature-length film.
The early history of recorded sound and interviews with contemporary authorities, collectors, and enthusiasts are threaded together throughout the film. A variety of exquisite, vintage music is featured on the movie’s soundtrack including old-time music, rare, early world music, an aria from Enrico Caruso, and a large compendium of 1920s jazz and dance bands, paired with a diversity of staged, documentary, and experimental sequences shot on b&w 16mm analog film. And, as the title suggests, we learn the answer to the intrinsic, mysterious question about the 78 record: “Why 78 revolutions per minute?”
Joel Schlemowitz is an experimental filmmaker based in Brooklyn who works in 16mm film, shadowplay, and stereographic media. His short works have been shown at the Ann Arbor Film Festival, New York Film Festival, and Tribeca Film Festival and have received awards from the Chicago Underground Film Festival, The Dallas Video Festival, and elsewhere. Shows of installation artworks include Anthology Film Archives, and Microscope Gallery. He teaches experimental filmmaking at The New School and was recently the Resident Film Programmer and Arcane Media Specialist at the Morbid Anatomy Museum.