Friends of the Armchair Traveller

Once again, among all the gloom and doom in which we are immersed, AEON   has sent us a refreshing story about  Scott Jordan . Aeon staffers often select pieces about exemplary people who have lived their lives outside of the square, answering to some inner dynamic that most other people never seem to reach. Director Russ Kendall celebrates the life of Scott Jordan and his most unusual obsession: digging for historic artefacts in an urban environment full of waste. There are many reasons why this film impressed me so much. I don't need to list them because I'm sure you will all have similar responses. We need to be reminded that there are many people in every part of the world who follow their own light, against all the odds, who refuse to be ruled by common strictures and constraints. This beautiful man is just one of those many unsung heroes we so rarely hear about. Many thanks to Russ Kendall for making this portrait of a most inspirational person. pt

  This is my sort of festive music from a friend in Belgium... Some of you may know him from his Facebook page... his name is Serge Timmers. Some good things did come out of my time on Facebook and meeting Serge is one one those very good things. How can I go wrong with someone who  loves xmas as much as I do: Step aside Mariah Carey. Step aside Wham. Here is the new Christmas must-have monsterhit, recorded and designed for these troubled times. The world is a mess. Life is a struggle. The future is bleak. Therefore Misantronics composed a dark and haunting single, loaded with melancholic Christmas sounds and eerie soundscapes. Then, he immediately started creating a downtempo remix and allowed his alter-ego Anunada to try and make the whole thing a bit more jolly by throwing it into the murky drum & bass regions of the electronic music scene. credits released December 20, 2021 Misantronics: Soundscapes & drums The Unknown: Field recording (Carillon) Anunada: Remix l...

It's the season to be jolly , isn't it?           Well let's all be   bloody-well jolly  then!  Omicron from Wheeler Winston Dixon on Vimeo . “While we are preoccupied and fascinated by Omicron, Delta, the old enemy, is still here causing damage, and we have all got to be vaccinated. Three shots, not two! All this enchantment with Omicron is not an excuse to not get vaccinated.”  François Balloux , Director of the University College London Genetics Institute. This video was created using footage and soundtracks in the Public Domain, or released as CC0 Public Domain materials, and is made entirely from recycled, repurposed and refashioned images and sounds. Copyright © 2021 Wheeler Winston Dixon. All rights reserved.

THE BRASSO RAILWAY STATION My friend Kriszta Doczy has distributed my films for the past 11 years. Along the way Kriszta has shared with me many fine films from her collection gathered from around the world. One of those films is this most unusual piece of dance film which is also an invaluable showcase of folk dances in a particular region of Eastern Europe. In the heart of present Romania in the region of Transylvania apart from the ancient Hungarian inhabitants, Szekelys and Csangos, other ethnic groups like Saxons, Romanians, Gipsies, Jews have been living together for centuries. https://bcove.video/3oIUKRy Brasso (Brasov) Railway Station is at a crossroad.  Shabby trains come, stop and go. People of different origin, speaking different languages stop,  wait and  talk  in the smoky waiting rooms. They eat, drink and sleep. And sometimes they sing, play music and dance. Many thanks to you Kriszta for sharing this film with us. AT THE MOMENT I’m making a new film ...

First of all, a hearty congratulations to David King for his two extremely successful programmes   "Exploratory Visions"   recently streamed  via  "The Screening Room", SALTO 1 TV .  This film by our  friend  Kim Miles really took me by surprise: "Four Women at a Bar"       (4.21'  avant garde)  Kim Miles   (Australia) Four Women at a Bar from kim miles on Vimeo . David has made a break from his previous regular festival which used to be held before the era of Covid at the Bellarine Peninsula in November each year. I think it's great that his passion for avant garde work has been supported by the   Netherlands  team at   SALTO 1 TV Here's what David has to say about the film: "I liked Kim's Four Women at a Bar from the moment I first saw it a few years ago. I liked the lighting, the camera angles the bizarre style, and the actors themselves who seemed to relish their roles.  I had include...

  My friend Darko is making films which he now posts on YouTube since his banishment from Facebook. His films could also be called "experimental" or "avant garde" but I find these terms too ill-defined and dated... I would rather call his films "personal poetic expression". "Thinking About You"  There are many questions one might ask.  Who is to provide an answer?  What's the point of creating an enigma if people demand an answer? Well, at least Darko does provide some notes which may be helpful: The work was realized in the immediate vicinity of the building in which I live with the intention of returning the nature to the reflection of obscurely playful light and ending my dark thoughts created in a relations with the urban environment. It may or may not be associated with the video interpreted before. By "irritating" early morning lights with my pocket photo cam, I removed / mystically covered architectural objects from the raw s...

  “A WOMAN OF OUR TIME” I'm finally able to release a digital copy of this film which I completed almost fifty years ago. It was first shown publicly at the “Mind’s Eye” Cinema in Spring St., Melbourne… the Melb. Co-op theatre, about 1972. This film has not been available along with my other titles in Kriszta Doczy’s Artfilms Australian independent collection because until recently we had no digital copy. Tessa Spooner, General Manager of La Mama Theatre, had this copy made so the film could be exhibited at La Mama Theatre's "War - Rak" celebration event Saturday evening, 11/12/21. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kmJpPJk3-bgO6HTkoWbKpdmjQZUVXmH3/view?usp=sharing Following is a commentary which John Cumming intended to present at the screening but John was side-lined by an exposure to Covid so he could not attend the screening. That was most unfortunate as John has done a lot of research on the film to date. A Woman of Our Time is a unique portrait of a ren...

From my window in Split... Dear Peter, I was thinking about your suggestion to write something (inter)personal for our blogging platform and since it seems that these days I am suffering from moderate writing blockage I decided to share an interesting link with "FotAT" team and visitors. Attached are two of my photos taken from my window here in Split. What I have sent in this email leads to the last year's  "World Economic Forum" observation which is strictly connected with some posts that you have recently uploaded (our dear friend Wheeler`s ingenious found footage video for example) and at the same time it explains very well some of the objective social conditions in which I strive to live a creative life and establish better relationships with my "internet friends". By the way, after "Facebook" banned me from using their application forever I learned several new Denis de Rougemont`s associative and extremely unwanted lessons on the relat...

 This new piece just arrived from our friend Wheeler... Mob Mentality from Wheeler Winston Dixon on Vimeo .   I was so surprised to view this film which harks back to those noir films of the forties and fifties, but it is not taken from one of those... it's a new creation which Wheeler has made from found footage. It seems so appropriate in these dark times of unruly and violent behaviour spreading wherever we look. It could be from any country or from any time but it also echoes the darkness of past generations and mob rule in various situations from political panic, lynching of innocent people and to the tearing down of hated leaders.      I don't know about all of our friends, I don't know how any of you are faring, but I'm struggling with my misanthropy. I recently wanted to go to Melbourne to take a few shots I had in mind, but I didn't go there. I was too afraid to go there in case I had to struggle against "crazies" of any persuasion. I felt too f...