Anthology Film Archives

Film Screenings / Programs / Series

RUBBLE ON SCREEN: THE CINEMA OF DEMOLITION AND DESTRUCTION

September 18 – September 24

If there is one defining image of modern war, it is the pile of rubble. The spectacular nature of conflict, and its near constant presence on our screens, raises urgent questions about how destruction is depicted in popular visual media. This is particularly true within the moving image, where imagery of destruction has fascinated audiences since the cinema’s inception, beginning with the Lumière brothers’ 1895 film DEMOLITION D’UN MUR, in which four men demolish a brick wall, only for the footage to be reversed, causing the wall to reconstruct itself.

What makes cinematic destruction so captivating may be its real-time recording of the event itself. There are also political and social implications of such a real-time moving image. Per Siegfried Kracauer, the movies were uniquely suited to reveal matters of chance, a fortuitousness which is exemplified in cinema’s depiction of the street, a site where, according to Kracauer, “the accidental prevails over the providential.” This attunement to the contingent illustrates cinema’s ability to short circuit manufactured narratives, which in the context of demolition cinema, are often spoken in the official language of “urban renewal.” It is a site where meaning flows from the material world to the camera and then to the spectator, enabling filmmakers to illustrate the complex dynamics of civilization through acts of demolition and deconstruction.

This series adopts an inquisitive gaze on the depiction of material demolition and destruction across time, culture, and geography. The seven programs are organized thematically, with some pairings reflecting a shared ethos. What are the human costs of destruction? Is there a qualitative difference between “demolition” and “destruction” on screen? How and why are these images deployed, and by whom? By posing these questions, the series seeks to expand our understanding of the moving image as both an indexical medium and a site of meaning-making.

Guest-programmed by Mako Fukata and Sam Schiffer, who wrote the introduction above.

Special thanks to Dominic Angerame; Brian Belovarac (Janus Films); Jacob Burckhardt; Bob Hunter (Icarus Films); Rebecca Cleman, Karl McCool, and Jooyoung Park (EAI); Hanan Coumal (LUX); Jonathan Howell (Big World Pictures); Brett Kashmere & Zachary Epcar (Canyon Cinema); Kristin MacDonough & Emily Martin (VDB); Alba Manzanas Sanchez & Samir Mechbal (Mediapro Studio Distribution); Edward McCarry (Cinema Guild); Julia Petrocelli (Film-Makers’ Coop); Tikkun Olam Productions; and Gerald Weber (sixpack).

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