Punto de Vista Collection

Frans van de Staak. The Word as Archipelago

At the crossroads of narrative cinema, experimental poetry, avant-garde theater, visual arts, improvised music, and the philosophy of language, Frans van de Staak (Amsterdam, 1943–2001) holds a unique place in the history of cinema. From the writings of Baruch Spinoza, Hubert Poot, and Wallace Stevens to the idioms of everyday language, van de Staak’s films isolate and reinterpret the sensuality of the signs of modern life, from the inflection of a voice to the way someone ties a shoe. Drawing from his own writings, interviews, and preparatory materials for his projects, this book invites readers to explore the dazzling body of his filmography, which attests to a radical originality in his conception of the possibilities of cinema.

«Is it fiction? My answer would be yes. However, the question of fiction has been reformulated by van de Staak in his ‘essential terms’: How do we move in a room? How do we address others? Who is the other? What is the room like? A mise en scène in which the obvious is rediscovered. An investigation. [...] And consider that there is no truer poet of the silver screen than this possibly critically modest and high-handed van de Staak, who nothing holds back, not even a bomb, not even a conventional viewer with sodden sitting flesh, but who holds something open: a door.» (Johan van der Keuken)

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