The Birth of Magellan: Cadenzas I & XIV

Hollis Frampton

USA 1977-80

16mm, color, sound, 11 min

"According to the calendaric order of the Magellan Cycle, Cadenza I is the premiere of a screening cycle spanning 369 days. Cadenza I is situated both at the beginning of the whole work and at the beginning of the first major section (Birth of Magellan) and thus presents multilayered hints at creation, birth and the beginning of all things. The film starts with a short pan over the letter 'A' in a marble embossment. We hear an orchestra tuning up, while the screen is lit up by colored lightning. This is followed by a heavy rainstorm; the screen gets dark.In the main part of the film, Frampton mixes the informal, colored portrait of a wedding, which is accompanied by canned applause, with scenes from a very old filmcomedy....

In a take on the applause of Cadenza I, the sound of laughter (again canned) is the predominant sound element of Cadenza XIV. After a short dark section, during which a war-melody is heard over the rhythm of a drum, the image of a huge industrial tower appears, accompanied by in- and decreasing laughter. This massive, flaming phallic symbol is viewed from different angles and in different light. The sequence culminates in wild, abstract convulsions of nightly movement. The laughter continues in singular surges and erruptions throughout the film."

(Bruce Jenkins)

Hollis Frampton