Ernst Schmidt jr: 20 Action and Destruction films

Ernst Schmidt jr made numerous films from 1963 onwards. He had countless screenings, including at Berlin Film Festival, Centre Pompidou, Art Fair Basel and the Viennale. He was also co-founder of the Austria Filmmakers Cooperative in 1968 (together with Hans Scheugl, Valie Export, Peter Weibel, Kurt Kren and Gottfried Schlemmer). Together with Hans Scheugl he wrote the most comprehensive book about avant-garde, Eine Subgeschichte des Films, in 1974. Schmidt died in 1988.

This anthology includes 20 films with lengths from 1 second to 10 minutes and is based on the experience of 15 years of work with the film medium. Films 15) to 19) are documentaries of happenings of the Viennese actionists, including the sensational action at the Viennese University in 1968, which led to the arrest of the «ringleaders» Brus, Muehl and Wiener and to the emigration of the Viennese actionists. Total running time: 70mins.

1) Ja/Nein (Yes/No), 1968, 16mm, sort-hvitt, stum, 3min

2) Weiß (White), 1968, 16mm, sort-hvitt, stum, 2min

3) Prost (Cheers), 1968, 16mm, sort-hvitt, stum, 3min

4) Rotweißrot (Red-white-red) 1967, 16mm, farge, lyd, 1min

5) Schnippschnapp (Snip, snip), 1968, 16mm, sort-hvitt, lyd, 2min / I samarbeid med Peter Weibel

6) Filmisches Alphabet (Film Alphabet), 1971, 16mm, sort-hvitt, stum, ca. 1sek

7) Burgtheater (Imperial Theater), 1970, 16mm, sort-hvitt, stum, 6min

8) Gesammelt von Wendy (Collected by Wendy), 1979, 16mm, farge, stum, 2min

9) Eine Subgeschichte des Films (A Sub-history of Film), 1974, 16mm, sort-hvitt, stum, 2min

10) Denkakt (The Act of Thinking), 1968, 16mm, sort-hvitt, lyd, 3min / Tekst, voice over og skuespiller: Peter Weibel

11) Mein Begräbnis ein Erlebnis (My Funeral an Experience), 1977, 16mm, sort-hvitt, stum, 1min. Skuespiller: Sara Suranyi

12) 12 Uhr Mittags (High Noon), 1977, 16mm, farge, lyd, 4min / Skuespiller: Sara Suranyi. Musikk: Wolfgang Ernst

13) The Merry Widow, 1977, 16mm, sort-hvitt, lyd, 1min. / Skuespiller: Sara Suranyi. Musikk: Wolfgang Ernst

14) Gertrude Stein hätte Chaplin gerne in einem Film gesehen, in dem dieser nichts anderes zu tun hätte, als eine Straße entlang und dann um eine Ecke zu gehen, darauf die nächste Ecke zu umwandern usw. von Ecke zu Ecke (Gertrude Stein would have liked to have seen Chaplin in a film where he would have nothing other to do than walk on the street and then go around a corner, and then around the next corner, etc. From corner to corner), 1979, 16mm, sort-hvitt, stum, 3min. Skuespiller: Brigitte Kowanz.

15) N 1978, 16mm, sort-hvitt, lyd, 6min

16) Kunst & Revolution (Art & Revolution), 1968, 16mm, farge & sort-hvitt, stum, 2min / Med: Günter Brus, Otto Muehl Peter Weibel, Oswald Wiener og en uidentifisert masochist

17) Bodybuilding, 1965, 16mm, farge, lyd, 9min / Material actions: Otto Muehl

18) Einszweidrei (Onetwothree), 1965-68, 16mm, farge, stum, 10min. Med: Otto Muehl Günter Brus, Peter Weibel, Valie Export

19) Filmreste, 1966, 16mm, sort-hvitt, lyd, 10min. / Material actions: Otto Muehl

20) Farbfilm (Color Film), 1967, 16mm, farge, lyd, 30sek