BRING ME THE HEAD OF HENRY CHRÉTIEN!

BRING ME THE HEAD OF HENRY CHRÉTIEN! BY BILLY ROISZ & DIETER KOVAČIĆ 8’17’’ 35MM VERTICAL CINEMASCOPE COLOUR SOUND MASTERING: MARTIN SIEWERT There’s no sentiment as bold as the one in a duel shot in cinemascope. There’s no emotional drop height as big as in abstract vertical movies. Billy Roisz and Dieter Kovačić explore the world of cinematic formats based on the genre that experimented with the width of the screen to display spectacular landscapes: Western movies and their wide span of (male) heroism between life and death. The music and imagery of Bring Me The Head Of Henri Chrétien! are thus based on Westerns and their soundtracks. Spaghetti Westerns such as Once Upon a Time in the West with their distinct epic atmospheres were a great source of inspiration and artistic booty. The largely abstract soundtrack amplifies and structures the story of challenge, conquest, success and failure. Visually, Billy Roisz’ disquisition about the colours of 1960s and 1970s movies layers harmonically with Dieter Kovačić’s mostly monochromatic research into structural patterns in duels and carriage rides. The film is screened in vertical cinemascope and takes the format into account in several ways – e.g., the opening shot (pun intended) that morphs from horizontal to vertical cinemascope, or the panning shot across a horizontally mirrored landscape that makes the vertical display window act as a scanner – amplifying details in a decelerated movement. Finally, and in spite of all formal and aesthetic playfulness, Bring Me The Head Of Henri Chrétien! is nevertheless a classical Western movie. And its sequel could be a zombie movie with a similar title – who knows. This film is part of the Vertical Cinema project, see for more information: http://verticalcinema.org Vertical Cinema is a Sonic Acts production in collaboration with Kontraste Festival, Austrian Film Museum, Filmtechniek BV, Paradiso Amsterdam, European Space Agency, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and International Film Festival Rotterdam.