Roland Lethem
Encyclopedia
Roland Lethem is a Belgian
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 filmmaker and writer.

Influenced at his beginnings by Buñuel
Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel Portolés was a Spanish-born filmmaker — later a naturalized citizen of Mexico — who worked in Spain, Mexico, France and the US..-Early years:...

, Cocteau
Jean Cocteau
Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau was a French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, playwright, artist and filmmaker. His circle of associates, friends and lovers included Kenneth Anger, Pablo Picasso, Jean Hugo, Jean Marais, Henri Bernstein, Marlene Dietrich, Coco Chanel, Erik Satie, María...

, the surrealists and by the Japanese cinema (Seijun Suzuki
Seijun Suzuki
, born Seitaro Suzuki on May 24, 1923, is a Japanese filmmaker, actor, and screenwriter. His films are renowned by film enthusiasts worldwide for their jarring visual style, irreverent humour, nihilistic cool and entertainment-over-logic sensibility...

, Ishirō Honda
Ishiro Honda
Ishirō Honda , sometimes miscredited in foreign releases as "Inoshiro Honda", was a Japanese film director...

, Koji Wakamatsu
Koji Wakamatsu
is a Japanese film director who directed such pinku eiga films as and . He also produced Nagisa Ōshima's controversial film In the Realm of the Senses...

, Yoko Ono
Yoko Ono
is a Japanese artist, musician, author and peace activist, known for her work in avant-garde art, music and filmmaking as well as her marriage to John Lennon...

), stunned by the Festival of the film expérimental of Knokke in 1967 and by May 1968, Roland Lethem wants to push the people to look at the things of which they say they are freed, it's to say to place them in front of their responsibilities. Even if sometimes the results leaves much to be desired, the idea of each one of his films is seductive and exemplary. A fact is
certain, his films are disturbing, they are sometimes unpleasant to look at. The narcissistic and provocative play of the debuts turned itself into direct, visual, and verbal insult, and in slandering. His dream was one moment to be able to film the intimate life of the pope or the sexual plays of the Belgian sovereigns. Through violence, pornography and cruelty of some scenes, Roland Lethem is a gentle, generous man with of a lot of humour. The work of Roland Lethem evolves, becomes political, ecological. La Ballade des amants maudits (The Ballad of the cursed lovers, 1966) or La Fée sanguinaire (The Bloodthirsty Fairy, 1968) still tell stories. Les Souffrances d'un oeuf meurtri (The Sufferings of a ravaged Egg, 1967), poem of love in several parts (Étoiles/Stars, Corps/Bodies, Hymen/Marriage or Hymen (ambiguous in French), Oeuf/Egg) dedicated to all who conceive and to all who are conceived, irresistibly makes you think at the Histoire de l'oeil (Story of the Eye, 1928) of Georges Bataille
Georges Bataille
Georges Bataille was a French writer. His multifaceted work is linked to the domains of literature, anthropology, philosophy, economy, sociology and history of art...

.

Some of the titles of his films include Le Saigneur est avec nous and Le sexe enragé. There are several thorough studies published on his films (Cinema/London, Skoop/Amsterdam) and
Bandes de cons! (Bunch of Assholes!, 1970), his most famous film, was the subject of a seminar at the University of Amsterdam.

He frequently collaborated with Jean-Pierre Bouyxou
Jean-Pierre Bouyxou
Jean-Pierre Bouyxou is a French film critic, author, filmmaker and actor.-Career:He started his career as a writer in 1964 when his article was published in fanzines...

 and Jio Berk.

Awards

La Double Insomnie & Lili au Lit. Prix M. Fraikin for originality of cinematographic language at 2nd Prix du Jeune Cinéma Belge, La Louvière 1966.

Les Souffrances d’un Œuf Meurtri Selected for the 4th Compétition Internationale du Film Expérimental, Knokke 1967—68, 3rd Prize of Jeune Cinéma Belge. La Louvière 1968, Sélectionné au Festival d’Oberhausen, 1968

La Fée Sanguinaire. Prix d’Excellence of Ciné-Club Europa, Bruxelles 1969 Sélectionné au Festival d’Oberhausen 1969, invitation to Underground Festival of London 1971

Le Sexe Enragé “One Night Stand Award” at the first Wet Dream Film Festival d’Amsterdam, 197, invited to the Biennale underground de Venise 1971; invited to the Underground Festival of London 1971

Le Vampire de la Cinémathèque invitations to the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs, Cannes 1971, Underground Festival of London 1971, and Festival der Struktural Film, Hamburg 1972

Le Saigneur est avec Nous : "Prix de la Presse—Lucien Deroisy" at the 10th Festival National du Cinema Belge, Bruxelles 1974

A group of films : Festival “Sigma”, Bordeaux,: invitation to the Journées du Film Surréaliste, Toulon 1974

Le Sexe Enragé & La Fée Sanguinaire: I: invitations to the Festival du Film Tabou, Amsterdam~Utrecht, 1980, Festival de l’Imaginaire et de la Science—Fiction à Madrid, 1980, & Journées du Film Anarchiste, Gent, 1981

His work as a whole : Awarded a special Prize by l’Académie Morlock, Paris, 1980

Reviews and commentsary on his work in periodicals

  • 1971 : “De Invloed van het Lezen van een Filmkritiek op de beoordeling van de betreffende Film” (Psychologisch Laboratonium de l’Université d’Amsterdam, à propos d’une projection de “Bande de Cons !’)
  • 1972 : Cinéma (n° 8) pp 20–24, by Mike Wallington (London)
  • 1972 : Skoop (n° 8, vol 7) pp 19–24 by Willum Thijssen (Amsterdam)
  • 1976 : Ciné—Dossiers n°54, pp 13–16 by Francis Bolen (Bruxelles)
  • 1979 : 4 Millions 4 (n° 208/209) by Philippe Buss (Bruxelles)

in Books

  • Le Cinéma Fantastique,by René Prédal (Seghers)
  • La Science-Fiction au Cinéma, by Jean-Pierre Bouyxou
    Jean-Pierre Bouyxou
    Jean-Pierre Bouyxou is a French film critic, author, filmmaker and actor.-Career:He started his career as a writer in 1964 when his article was published in fanzines...

     (10/18)
  • El Cine de Siencia Ficcion, by Luis Gasca
  • Le Cinéma en Belgique, by Paul Davay (Duculot)
  • The Experimental Cinema, by David Curtis (Studio—Vista)
  • Film Is, by Stephen Dwoskin
    Stephen Dwoskin
    Stephen Dwoskin is an accomplished experimental filmmaker. He studied at Parsons School of Design where he was a student of De Kooning* and Josef Albers* and at New York University, receiving a Fulbright Scholarship to move to London in 1964, where is he still based. He was a co-founder of the...


  • Film as a Subversive Art,by Amos Vogel (Weidenfeld & Nicholson)
  • Le Cinéma, Art Subversif (Buchet—Chastel)— Éloge du Cinéma Expérimental, Dominique Noguez
    Dominique Noguez
    Dominique Noguez is a French writer and winner of the Prix Femina, 1997, for Amour noir.-References:...

     (Beaubourg) — Le Masochisme au Cinéma, Jean Streff (Veyrier) — Le Sexe à l’Ecran, Gérard Lenne (Veyrier) — Dracula, les Vampires au Cinéma, Barrie Pattisson (Minoustch) — Histoire authentique, anecdotique, folklorique et critique du Cinéma Belge depuis ses plus lointaines origines, Francis Bolen (Mémo et Codec)

External links

  • Photography of Roland Lethem in Lausanne Underground Film and Music Festival
    Lausanne Underground Film and Music Festival
    The Lausanne Underground Film and Music Festival, or LUFF, is a film festival and music festival devoted to underground film and music. It is held each year in Lausanne, Switzerland. It began with the formation of the LUFF Association For The Promotion of Independent Cinema. The festival thus rests...

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