A cinematic treatment of poet Rainer Maria Rilke's "REQUIEM FOR A FRIEND"

 


"The Greater Circulation"
a docufiction film by Antero Alli

"Rainer Maria Rilke’s “Requiem for a Friend” is the foundation for this marvelous drama
from underground film legend Antero Alli. The film bifurcates between the tensions
surrounding the theatrical staging of Rilke’s work and flashbacks to the pain and suffering
which Rilke experienced when creating his classic poem. Not unlike the best of Alli’s films,
this production is a marvel of mature emotion and deep wisdom; few films have been able
to explore the issues surrounding death with such grace and intelligence."
Phil Hall, filmthreat.com (5 stars out of five)

 

NEXT SCREENING
FRIDAY OCTOBER 10th, 2008. 7pm, $6.
DIVA CENTER - 110 W. BROADWAY - EUGENE, OREGON
FILMMAKER IN PERSON. INFO: (541) 344-3482

 

 


LLOYD BRICKEN as "Rainer Maria Rilke"

1908, Paris. Over two fever-dream nights in the Hotel Biron, poet
Rainer Maria Rilke writes his epic lament, "Requiem for a Friend",
as a tribute to his good friend, the artist Paula Modersohn-Becker,
who died shortly after giving birth to her first child.

SYLVI ALLI as "the Artist", (painter)
FELECIA FAULKNER as "the Mother", (actress)
and LEAH KAHN as "the Soul Torn Between" (dancer)

Fast forward one hundred years to a group of three women who
stage Rilke's "Requiem" in Berkeley California as an installation
performance art work based in the central drama of of a woman
caught between choosing a life devoted to Art or to Motherhood.


LEE VOGT as "Roland"; LLOYD BRICKEN as "Albert"

Roland, the theatre director, finds himself mysteriously entangled
in the metaphors of Rilke's prose when they unexpectedly surface
in the immediate actions and relations of his daily life. Albert, a
young Rilke-obsessed drama critic, soon appears with the hopes
of penning an exclusive story about their theatrical experiment.

 


LLOYD BRICKEN as "Rainer Maria Rilke"

Oh don’t take from me what I am slowly learning. I’m sure you have
gone astray if you are moved to homesickness for anything in this dimension.
We transform these Things; they aren’t real, they are only the reflections
upon the polished surface of our being. -- from "REQUIEM FOR A FRIEND".

 

 

film clip, credits, review, dvd

 


click image for clip of Rilke's second dream (3:00)

VERTICAL POOL and PARATHEATRICAL RESEARCH present an ANTERO ALLI film
"THE GREATER CIRCULATION ". LLOYD BRICKEN, FELECIA FAULKNER, SYLVI ALLI,
LEE VOGT, LEAH KAHN and featuring ANTERO ALLI as the voice of Rilke.
"Requiem For a Friend" written by RAINER MARIA RILKE. Translation by
STEPHEN MITCHELL. Screenplay by ANTERO ALLI.


SYLVI ALLI, LEAH KAHN and FELECIA FAULKNER

Director of Photography, CHRIS RASMUSSEN. Second Unit D.P., SEAN BLOSL.
Sound Recorder, MALCOLM SHERWOOD. Edited by CHRIS ODELL and ANTERO ALLI.
C.G.I. Effects by MICHAEL McWHIRTER. Music by SCRIABIN, BRAHMS, LOOP!STATION,
AMBER ASYLUM, and SYLVI ALLI. Associate Producers: LILY NOVA, FELECIA FAULKNER,
and CHRIS RASMUSSEN. Producers: JODIE EVANS, SYLVI ALLI, and ANTERO ALLI.
Executive Producers, VERTICAL POOL PRODUCTIONS, PARATHEATRICAL RESEARCH
Conceived and directed by ANTERO ALLI

 



"In 'The Greater Circulation' we are enchanted and indeed
haunted, not only by the profound trajectory of Rilke's life
and work, but also by Alli's ability to tell stories within stories,
to make the invisible visible, and to bring to earth what
can only be truly grasped through spiritual vision."
from the Film Review by Cedrus Monte

THE DVD
from the filmmaker only

 

about the filmmaker


Antero Alli's deep background writing and directing experimental theatre
(1975-present) informs his filmmaking processes with a unique aesthetic and
cinematic language all its own. His films screen mosly in west coast arthouse
cinemas of Seattle, Port Townsend, Portland, the SF bay area, Sacramento,
Nevada City, and L.A. (they are also available of dvd.) He resides in
Berkeley with his wife, actress and composer, Sylvi Alli.

Filmography and Vision Statement
Clips, reviews, interviews, stills, influences

Director's Project Journal
Preproduction observations and notes

 

Click this for more on Rilke and Modersohn-Becker

 

VERTICAL POOL PRODUCTIONS
P.O. BOX 7518, BERKELEY, CA 94707 USA
SYLVI ALLI, producer/composer e-mail
ANTERO ALLI, writer/director e-mail
voicemail: (510) 464-4640


MP3 -- from the film soundtrack by Sylvi Alli

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