An initiative of the
Breathless. A Documentary Film Project /
Vùng biên giới. A Theatre Project with Rimini Protokoll /
rádio d-cz. A Radio Art Project /
Vùng biên giới. A Theatre Project with Rimini Protokoll /
rádio d-cz. A Radio Art Project /
One Day Today Will Be Once
By Anca Miruna Lazarescu (GER 2009, 28 min)
Get the Flash Player to see this player.
Camera: Börres Weiffenbach, Tobias Tempel
Sound: Johannes Schmelzer-Ziringer, Friedrich Wohlfarth
Editor: Uwe Wrobel
Protagonists: Prof. Dr. Helmut Minne (physician), Rainer O. Neugebauer (deputy chairman of the board of trustees of the John Cage Organ Foundation), Christoph Hallegger (chair of the friends’ association), Andreas Saage (organ builder), Margot Dannenberg (job-creation-scheme employee of the John Cage Organ Foundation)
Shooting format: XDCAM HD
Production: Stefan Kloos / Kloos & Co. Medien GmbH
Imagine a small church in Halberstadt (in the former East Germany), where an organ plays „Organ²/ASLSP“ by John Cage, just one single note a day, 24 hours without any interruption. Until the year 2640. A society based in Halberstadt that initiated the project dedicates a lot of time and passion. The members meet four times a year to discuss whether, and if so how, they can inspire their grandchildren to continue the project, as well as what will happen in the year 2639, when the performance ends. Will the GEMA musical performance rights society charge royalties? How will the organizers guarantee funding for a genuinely “permanent” organ to replace the existing “interim” one? Even though the organ has only six pipes, what will happen when it comes time to play a seventh note in February 2009?
Although the honorary members of the John Cage organ project all have daily routines and professional and social commitments elsewhere, this project represents for them an island of deceleration, a kind of free space in which to confront their own attitudes toward time. At once humorous and pensive, the film shows the different perspectives on this unique project: on the one hand there is the intellectual engagement of the initiators, on the other the direct and practical approach of the voluntary staff, loaded with all the work such an undertaking demands. These varying perspectives make “One Day Today Will Be Once” into a film full of moving and humorous moments which explores how we perceive time.
Director’s comment:
“I wanted to enter this world – that is surreal but fascinating to me – and try to find out, what makes these people believe and support this project, investing plenty of money and their precious time to never hear the end of the performance.”
Mentor’s note:
“The comical absurdity of the incommensurable elements was something I immediately loved about Anca’s project. John Cage’s „Organ²/ASLSP“ is a composition which is played so slowly that no human being will ever be fully able to listen to it. Still the maintenance of the art piece is in the hands of mortal human beings. There is Tati-like comedy in the image of a church in a small village where tourists try to grasp the meaning of his piece of art and and there´s always comedy in things which are taken very, very seriously!” (Susanna Helke, filmmaker, Finland/USA)
ANCA MIRUNA LAZARESCU
Born in 1979 in Timisoara, Romania. 1990 emigration to Germany. Since 2000 studies at Academy for Film and Television, Munich. Her recent work includes documentaries and short feature films. The Secret of Deva won numerous international awards and was licensed to TV stations worldwide. Salma – Beneath Two Skies was commissioned by 3sat, and Bucuresti - Berlin was nominated for the Berlin Today Award of the Berlinale in 2005.
Filmography:
Das Geheimnis von Deva (2007)
Salma – In zwei Welten (2005)
Bucuresti – Berlin (2004)
Imprint / Print