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Windmills
And the Word was Made Flesh
ADAM AND EVE (Aust, 1962, 10 mins, animation), a near-abstract, animated allegory on the creation of humanity, was winner of the AFI Grand Prix, and awards overseas. For this film, Marek cut out geometrically stylised human figures with several replaceable decorative elements, mainly circular, which are overlaid frame by frame and rapidly alternated to create a vibrating energy field, a 'transparent fluidum', as he described it.
WINDMILLS (Aust, 1963, 7 mins) is a film of children's paintings that evokes the syncretistic sensibility of childhood. In this film he has animated cut-out children's drawings to produce an extraordinary dialogue between the vision of the child and that of the surrealist.
AND THE WORD WAS MADE FLESH (Aust, 1970, 70 mins) is a feature length experimental narrative. In this film, Marek's aim was to affirm the importance of retaining one's inner freedom, despite the pressures and distractions of everyday life: "I think one should allow the outside to be modelled with". Marek wanted viewers to remain in contact with their inner imagination (or subconscious) throughout the slowly paced, floating film-time.
In his filmmaking, as in his painting, Dusan Marek believed in the need to be completely free of outside influences, including styles of fllmmaking. He liked to think of working in the film medium as equivalent to a child playing with an object, discovering its properties freshly without being influenced by another child who may be more familiar with the object. From notes by Arthur Cantrlll, 1992
Dusan Marek died in March this year, sadly without being able to see his work placed so impressively in the context of international surrealism in the important Surrealism by Night exhibition curated by the Australian National Gallery. Arthur Cantrill, 1993
Now in its third year, the AUSTRALIAN FILM FESTIVAL encompasses the 1993 AFI award screenings and includes a retrospective of films by surrealist painter and animator Dusan Marek, a program of films produced by Ealing Studios in Australia (The Shiralee, Bitter Springs, Eureka Stockade, The Overlanders and The Siege of Pinchgut) and highlights from the first 20 years of the Australian Film Television and Radio School. The Australian Film Festival tours nationally during August and September. For information, contact the AFI on (03) 6961844.