Barney Rosset Presents: Samuel Beckett’s Film and Literary Cinema
May 12–13, 2006

On the centenary of Samuel Beckett’s birth, publishing pioneer Barney Rosset presents a selection of films with unique literary pedigrees. In the early 1960s, Rosset’s legendary Grove Press commissioned film scripts from leading figures in world literature, including Beckett, Eugene Ionesco, Harold Pinter, and Marguerite Duras, to be produced by their Evergreen Theater production company. Only Beckett’s Film was shot and completed. It remains his single cinematic work, as well as Buster Keaton’s final role. The film also helped Grove Press enter the distribution business, and within a decade the publishing house had become one of the most respected independent film distributors in America.

Organized by Jytte Jensen, Curator, Department of Film and Media, and Ed Halter, independent curator and writer. Thanks to Astrid Myers.

Film. 1965. USA. Directed by Alan Schneider. Screenplay by Samuel Beckett. With Buster Keaton. Beckett made his only trip to America for the film shoot in New York. Taking as its basis George Berkeley’s theory that “to be is to be perceived,” Film follows Keaton as a hooded agoraphobe. 21 min.
Outtakes from Film. 1965. Never-before-seen alternate scenes. Live commentary by Barney Rosset. 20 min.
Un Chant d’amour. 1950. France. Written and directed by Jean Genet. Distributed by Grove Press. Genet’s classic is sordid, brutal, and provocative, yet as poetic and lyrical as its title suggests. Silent. 26 min.
The Hard-Boiled Egg. 2006. USA. Directed by James Fotopoulos. Digital video production of Ionesco’s heretofore unproduced screenplay, commissioned by Rosset from Fotopoulos. 25 min. World premiere. Program 92 min.
Friday, May 12, 8:30 (introduced by Fotopoulos, Rosset); Saturday, May 13, 2:00. T2

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