i dreamt tonight of being in a grocery store.
among all those usual colorful items, there were 3 white plastic boxes on a shelf that lacked any packaging.
i got curious so i looked at the label below (with a price) that identifies the goods.
and it said, “Slow Cinema Starter Pack”.
i was confused.
are there inside some eatables one can nibble on (to have some action) while watching a 6-7 hours long actionless movie?
or are there inside eatables that can feed a film crew that is shooting its very first slow cinema movie?
or is there something completely different?
i tried to open one of the plastic boxes discreetly to see what was inside but while doing so i woke up (before i could identify the content).
i was mildly disappointed i didn't figure out what “Slow Cinema Starter Pack” contains.
but i was able to trace the origin of this dream.
a few days ago, i randomly grabbed a master’s thesis called “At Her Own Pace — an Analysis of Slowness in Selected Films by Kelly Reichardt”.
i follow on social media a FAMU account and a PDF of this thesis (written by a student of the film editing department) was shared there because it received some academic recognition (and i thought, “grab it, you might read it sometime in the future”).
it was still too early to get up.
so, i was trying to imprint this dream into my brain to be able to recall it after the next (real) awakening (and share it in this thread), and while doing so i fell asleep again.
then, i was dreaming i was going to make a post in this thread but i can’t read properly the title of the aforementioned thesis.
as opposed to reality (a PDF), i had the thesis on sheets of paper that were worn out.
especially the first page (with the title) was significantly damaged (because of the frequent use) and thus it seemed i had to make a little restoration to be able to quote the title faultlessly.
i grabbed the transparent adhesive tape and wanted to glue it from below the torn page and then spread all the bent corners and read the title “At Her Own Pace — an Analysis of Slowness in Selected Films by Kelly Reichardt” in full without mistakes.
but by mistake, i glued the tape from above and thus instead of making a solid base for the page and unfolding it, i actually fixed all the bendings and made the restoration impossible.
i tried to tear the tape from the paper but it was only increasing the damage.
in complete despair that i won’t be able to trace the full title and thus i won’t be able to make this post, i woke up.
fortunately enough, i imprinted the first (“Slow Cinema Starter Pack”) dream in my brain well enough to be able to recall it, and, fortunately enough, i have the thesis on PDF (not on paper) so i can share this complex dream without distortions/misquotes.
btw., even the second part is somehow rooted in reality because a few days ago i was messing up with transparent adhesive tape.
i wanted to transfer a little part of the text somewhere else.
but instead of gluing a tape on top of the fragment and then gluing the whole thing on the desired place i glued the tape below which was pointless.
so, i carefully tore the tape off (from below) and glued it from above, and successfully made the transfer (there was no damage).
now, everything seems to be solved and explained...
BUT, there is one more thing!
a few days ago i also bought (not forged!) a cinema ticket for a screening that is taking place this evening.
in the local Kino Světozor, there will be a presentation of the Czech translation of a book by Bernd Herzogenrath...
→
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2 ... rzogenrath
... and because he wrote about the materiality of the media...
→
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/236 ... dia-matter
... and about Bill Morrison...
→
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/345 ... l-morrison
... part of the presentation will be a screening of “Decasia”.
i am unfamiliar with the author but i thought seeing ”Decasia” on the big screen might be cool, so i bought the ticket.
thus, i woke up this morning highly distressed from a fucked up restoration (of a thesis’ front page) and i will end this day cherishing all kinds of damaged film stocks on the big screen.
BUT, this is still not the end of the story!
i usually don’t dream about films.
so, while contemplating what else might have triggered all this dreaming, i discovered one more possible culprit of all this mess (namely Luis Buñuel!).
yesterday evening, i came home very tired from work but i still attempted to watch (for CoMo) “Mexican Bus Ride” AKA “Ascent to Heaven”.
i struggled a lot, was falling asleep, had to rewind several times, etc., etc., and made it only till half of the movie (i will watch the second half after finishing this endless post).
so, considering the way i went to bed yesterday, i think the full genealogy of this complex amalgam of reverie is “Kelly Reichardt — Bill Morrison — Luis Buñuel”.