CAIN’S FILM
Production: UK, 1969
Director: Jamie Wadhawan
Category: Documentary
Biographical documentary on Scottish beat/junkie writer Alexander Trocchi, author of Cain’s Book, which deals with drug addiction. The film details how the book was banned for its sex and drug references, and features commentary from William S. Burroughs, who described Trocchi’s study as a “real classic”. Trocchi also wrote porn novels, using pseudonyms; these include White Thighs and Thongs, published by the Olympia Press. Among his finest literary achievements was a translation of Valentine Penrose’s brilliant study of necro-sadist Elizabeth Bathory, The Bloody Countess. Wadhawan also filmed Trocchi, in Amsterdam, for his later film Marihuana Marihuana (1972), a documentary on the “drug” that conveniently keeps simpletons simple.
CALANDRA
Production: Spain, 1966
Director: Juan-Luis Buñuel
Category: Documentary
This short documentary on the extraordinary festival of Holy Week in Calandra was conceived by Luis Buñuel (who was born in the Spanish feudal village in 1900), but completed by his son. Designated by Buñuel as a “medieval” place predicated on religion and death, Calandra staged a festival each year, marked by days of crazed drumming and religious ecstasy, with hooded figures resembling the Ku Klux Klan parading through the streets. Calandra captures the essence of these extraordinary rites, which are unlike any other. A recording of the drummers of Calandra was previously used by Buñuel on the soundtrack of L’Age D’Or, signalling a descent into unbridled mania.
Posted by Captain Nightshade
