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Dick Fontaine: Tattooist International

Presented by International House Philadelphia at The Ibrahim Theater at International House

November 19, 2011

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Minding the Gap: The Films of Dick Fontaine

The films of Dick Fontaine, a pioneer of cinema vérité in the UK, are an unrivaled document of the seismic shifts within Western culture during the second half of the 20th century. Starting in the early '60s, inspired by American jazz and the writings of Marshall McLuhan, Fontaine began forging a unique path for himself within the distinctively British tradition of documentary filmmaking. His work, past and present, speaks directly to the parallel trajectory of politics and culture, bridging the negligible distance between the two.

Program 3: Tattooist International

In early 1969, inspired by the post-May ’68 collectivist filmmaking practices of The Dziga Vertov Groupe and Groupe Medvedkin, Fontaine joined Nic Knowland in the founding of Tattooist International, a loose confederation of filmmakers, cinematographers and editors working together to produce and distribute newsreels, music films and underground features.

Double Pisces, Scorpio Rising
dir. Dick Fontaine, UK, 1970, video, 45 mins

Fontaine’s ironic autobiographical film (with real and imagined characters) features music by Pete Townsend and stars Jean Shrimpton, Robert Brownjohn, Norman Mailer, Pat Hartley and Amanda Lear. Produced by Tattooist, it was one of two British entries to the 1970 New York Film Festival. Described by New York Times critic Howard Thompson as a “visual rollercoaster," the film culminates with Fontaine assembling a machine gun atop a schoolhouse.

Rape
dir. Yoko Ono, Austria, 16mm, 77 mins, color

Starring Eva Majlata, a 21-year-old Hungarian actress who couldn’t speak a word of English and produced by Tattooist International and shot by cinematographer Nic Knowland, Rape follows the implacable, continuous and brutal harassment of a young woman by a male camera crew. John Lennon and Yoko Ono held a press conference in Vienna after the film premiered at which John commented: “We are showing how all of us are exposed and under pressure in our contemporary world. This isn’t just about The Beatles. What is happening to this girl on the screen is happening in Biafra, Vietnam, everywhere.”