long-time doyen of German experimental film, we re-publish the first-ever documentation about Werner Nekes and his work, free to download here. Originally published by Studienkreis Film of Ruhr-Universität Bochum in 1974, it contains descriptions, published articles, and information about structures up to single-frame analyses of all of Nekes’ films from Tom Doyle and Eva Hesse (1965) to DIWAN (1973). The documentation also contains a couple of original contributions (Klaus Wyborny, Jean-Marie Straub, Paul Sharits) and essays about experimental film and art, political implications of cinematographic aesthetics, and assumptions about speeding up of information.
Spoiler: almost everything is in German…
Due to the contemporary low-quality reproduction of film stills, we hope to be able to offer new stills transfers here within the next couple of days. So stay tuned to your friendly Red Avocado Film…
AV06 / Region Code 0 / Slim Case, 15.00 €
incl postage & handling (Germany only – for other countries add 3 €)
also available: Streaming as VOD
Total DVD running time: 120 mins
If we really strive for emancipation from visual maiming in the cinema, away from institutionalised viewing-schemata on TV, it is not sufficient to keep expanding the boundaries and to start breaking new visual grounds. In addition to the small avant-garde of filmmakers doing so, we need an army of others starting to sow and cultivate the ploughed-up grounds and who will bring in the harvest for the benefit of those still visually undernourished. Werner Nekes, the doyen of German Experimental Film once claimed that the first trains were more important than golden stage coaches. Well, alright then, let’s use these newly-developed means of visual trans-portation to advance into the new grounds into which the tracks have been laid down for years by the Avant-garde.
(Ingo Petzke in a manifesto in 1975)
More …
DVD (NTSC) / Region Code 0 / Color, Sound / 24.90 €
The commendable compilation as issued by the Centre for Visual Music, Los Angeles
Jordan Belson is the last of the great masters of the California Visual Music artists, which included Oskar Fischinger, Harry Smith and James Whitney… More …
AV05 / Region Code 0 / SlimCase / € 15.00
Produced with generous assistance of Nordmedia Hannover
Total DVD running time: 123 mins
Christoph Janetzko is one of the most important German filmmakers of the post-iconic era. This collection is the first-ever reproduction of his films on DVD.
35 years of filmmaking. Of struggling, of not succumbing. Of resisting, of fighting, of succeeding. In short: a working life of highest artistic integrity. A working life of films not about art but films as art “Experimental films are narrative as well. They tell stories about time and space.” (Janetzko). More …
We are proud to annouce that Nordmedia 
recently awarded support to our next DVD called Lowlands featuring three films by Christoph Janetzko, prominent German experimental film maker active domestically and internationally since 1979. The DVD will contain his arts-funded works:
SW 1 – 15 min., 16mm, sound, colour & B/W, 1985
VOM FLUSS – RIVER COLORS – 60 min., 16mm, sound, colour, 1994
ARNOS TONLABOR – 8 min., 35mm, sound, colour, 2010
In further developments:
We are planning to include re-publishing of out-of-print or hard-to-get books and documents for download on our web site. The first one will be WERNER NEKES 1966 – 1973, a documentation originally released by Studienkreis Film at Bochum University in February 1974 for the first major retrospective of this most iconic German experimental film maker. It’s been out of print ever since. 112 p. Stills in MUCH BETTER quality than back then – also some in colour. (Sorry folks, in German only!!!)
So stay tuned and visit this site perhaps a bit more often than recently… 🙂
Paul and Menno doing their performance LUX at the 26th European Media Art Festival in Osnabrück on 26 April 2013 twice to a packed house – to coincide with the release of our newest DVD featuring the duo.
(Photo: Angela von Brill)
So that you may be able to celebrate the release of our latest DVD De Nooijer: DUTCH MASTERS as well, we temporarily reduce the price by 20%. But hurry, offer ends Sunday 21 April, 2013, 24:00 GMT
AV04 / Region Code 0 / SlimCase / € 15.00
Total DVD running time: 181 mins
Paul de Nooijer (* 1943) has been making films for 40 years now – an incredible achievement in a field not exactly showered by public interest and funding. His reputation is solidly based on works displaying mostly ‘illusionism’ – the interdependency of film and photography. Since son Menno (*1967) joined in this ‘family business of art’ as a full-fledged partner in 1989, the films became faster and more colourful. But more importantly, the focus of their artistic efforts slightly shifted from just photography and film to a combination with theatre and performance. De Nooijer consciously opted for a blend of traditional disciplines based on the ideals of the Gesamtkunstwerk and Oscar Schlemmer’s interdisciplinary Bauhaus theatre. In this concept photography and film formed part of a larger, total event. More …
Hard cover / 402 p, 28 photographs, CD-ROM / Sydney 2004, ISBN 1-4050-3595-1
Originally A$45.00 – Amazon offers for US$83.00 – our price €25.00 incl VAT + postage!
Outside our “normal” line of products we offer this authorised biography of Australian-born Hollywood director Phillip Noyce – his only biography so far. The book was never published outside Australia – we offer while our limited stocks – brand new – last. More …
AV03 / Region Code 0 / SlimCase / € 15.00
German with English subtitles. Produced with generous assistance of Nordmedia Hannover
Though the Bauhaus wasn’t directly involved in all art forms, it definitely exerted interesting impulses nevertheless. A particular point in case is Kurt Schwerdtfeger’s 1922 Reflektorische Farblichtspiele [Reflecting Colour-Light-Play]. Originally conceived as a play for one of the famous Bauhaus Lantern Festivals, it premiered at the Kandinsky home and kind of revolutionised the spatial aspect of 20th century sculpture. At the same time it equals the German abstract films of the early 1920s and is a predecessor of performance art, light shows and expanded cinema. Consequently, the Play was re-discovered and re-staged in the 1960s and has been in demand ever since. More …
In addition to the release of the Bastian Clevé-DVD Journeys, we are glad to present the interview from the bonus documentary in plain text form. More …
For private home use only! For other uses, please, get in contact.
AV02 / Region Code 0 / SlimCase / € 15.00
also available: Streaming as VOD
“What lies beyond reality? Are there ways to take different approaches? Can I visualize things which do not exist in the material world? Can I create visual music and compose with light, imagery, color and shapes which are not animated but are to be found in reality? Can I create imagery the way musical composers create symphonies? Those were the questions I asked myself once I had seen enough “Hollywood”-type movies.
More …
We stopped the press indeed as we just re-discovered a doco from 1983 which we simply HAVE to include as bonus on the DVD. More …
For private home use only! For other uses, please, get in contact.
AV01 / Region Code 0 / SlimCase / 15.00 €
also available: Streaming as VOD
“Filmmaking has always been a journey into the unknown for me. Each new film demands its own trajectory. I might start with a particuliar idea and than after the first 100 feet of exposed film comes back, the imagines tell me which way to go or not to go.
More …
Films as rare as red avocados
– no matter if you call them Experimental or Avant-garde
We are producing and distributing experimental films on DVD – worldwide and at reasonable prices.
We aim to provide DVD editions of exceptional films not to be found anywhere else – films literally as rare as red avocados. We release DVDs by a wide range of internationally acknowledged filmmakers and spanning decades of inspired work.
First releases will be:
AV01 Paul Winkler (Australia): Australian Icons (1977-1998)
AV02 Bastian Clevé (Germany/USA): Journeys (1976-1980)
AV03 Ingo Petzke (Germany): Northern Lights (1975-1984)
AV04 Christoph Janetzko (Germany/USA): Early Masters (1979-1986)
All prices quoted are for private home use only! For other uses , please, get in contact.
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