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Riddles of the Sphinx (dir. Laura Mulvey and Peter Wollen, 1977)

When:
Venue: Birkbeck 43 Gordon Square

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Art at the Frontier of Film Theory: Laura Mulvey and Peter Wollen

22 March - 24 May 2019, Peltz Gallery

This screening accompanies the exhbition Art at the Frontier of Film Theory: Laura Mulvey and Peter Wollen.

Curated by Oliver Fuke and Nicolas Helm-Grovas in collaboration with Birkbeck Institute for the Moving Image and the Essay Film Festival. Supported by CHASE.

Riddles of the Sphinx (dir. Laura Mulvey and Peter Wollen, 1977), 92 min.

In 1977, Mulvey and Wollen made their most widely seen and influential film, Riddles of the Sphinx. This film, which was their second collaborative work, is directly related to their independent intellectual work. It is comprised of seven discrete sections, arranged symmetrically, and features a number of stunning 360-degree panning shots. The motif of the circle, present in both the camerawork and Mike Ratledge’s electronic soundtrack for the film, meshes neatly with the film’s overarching concerns: the circular nature of problems relating to motherhood in patriarchal society. Riddles of the Sphinx is widely regarded as one of the most important avant-garde films of the 1970s.

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