To Be Titled

Richard Burt

“Will this Movie Ever Come Out?”The Aesthetics of Cinematic

Abortion in Mike Figgis’s Hotel

“Disgusting, Although Not Repulsive”:

Stamping Out, Pounding Out, and Slicing Up the Post-National European Art film in Hotel

Fast Food McWebster in Hotel, An Acquired Taste-lessness

Hotel “Fast Food McWebster”:Digital Film and the End of

European Art Cinema

Being John Webster:The Living Death of the Director and the Frustrated Pleasures of

Hotel

Overview of my talk:Consider four historical determinations of Hotel

First, Mike Figgis’s career.

Second, the emergence of Post-National European Art Film after

1989 and the Dogme 95 Film Movement as Independent Cinema.

Third, the introduction of Digital Cameras in mid-1990s in

Independent Cinema and the Return of the Split Screen.

Fourth, the turn away from linear narrative in art and mainstream films narrative cinema sincethe

mid-1990s.

After discussing these four historical determinations, I will

make some formalist comments on the film Hotel itself.

.

1.Mike Figgis as Auteur: From Narrative Cinema To

Experimental Film

2. Post-National European Cinema, Dogme 95, and

Independent Cinema.

Filming must be done on location. Props and sets must not be brought in (if a particular prop is necessary for the story, a location must be chosen where this prop is to

be found).The sound must never be produced apart from the images or vice versa. (Music must not be used unless it occurs within the scene being filmed, i.e., diegetic).

The camera must be a hand-held camera. Any movement or immobility attainable in the hand is permitted. (The film must not take place where the camera is standing; filming must take place where the action takes place.)

The film must be in colour. Special lighting is not acceptable. (If there is too little light for exposure the scene must be cut or a single lamp be attached to the

camera).Optical work and filters are forbidden.

The film must not contain superficial action. (Murders, weapons, etc. must not occur.)

Temporal and geographical alienation are forbidden. (That is to say that the film takes place here and now.)

Genre movies are not acceptable.The final picture must be transferred to the Academy 35mm film, with an

aspect ratio of 4:3, that is, not widescreen. (Originally, the requirement was that the film had to be filmed on Academy 35mm film, but the rule was relaxed to

allow low-budget productions.)The director must not be credited.

3. The introduction of digital film both for aesthetic and economic

reasons and the return of the split screen.

4. The turn away from linear narrative and the introduction of

multiple, nearly discrete plots that gradually intersect in art and

mainstream narative cinema c. 2000.