Photos from the performance
Finis Terrae
"The film FINIS TERRAE became the first part of Epstein's creation of the twenty year cycle the sea and sailor of Bretagne. The excursion to the world of the sea, the islands and people of the islands, close and even dissimilar to Flaherty's works began. The sea waves, un-tamed nature and their rough inhabitants became the principal characters and actors of Epstein's films. Epstein spent the hardest, most beautiful, and most human moments with the fates of sea workers and their families. He said this about his film: "It is a psychological documentary film, a reproduction of a short drama, composed of episodes, which were actual, with authentic people and subjects." Leprohom, in his monograph about Epstein, places great emphasis on this film, that among the differently named predecessors of neo-realism, Epstein's name has unjustly appeared."
From the text of Přemysl Maydl in the catalogue of retrospectives at MMF Karlovy Vary 1997
Jean Epstein (1897-1953)
He was born in Warsaw and he cast anchor together with his mother, after encountering difficult life problems in France. When he was twenty four, he published a manifest Bonjour, cinéma (1921), in which he named the remaining ways out, as well as other cinematographic opportunities. Apart from the continuation with the practical work, he also wrote his thoughts on film. At a distance, it is possible to find a varieties of eras in his film work. In the early phases of Epstein's works, and in the atmosphere of the First Films of the Avant-Garde, he developed the theory of photogeny and lyroscopy as a result. His film, The Fall of the House of Usher (1928) is the best known from this period. Following this, he filmed several literary adaptations, and he continually devoted his time to the later named "Bretagne Cycle", the films about the sea, made on the Britannia cost. The film, "FINIS TERRAE" belongs among them. Even his written works drew much attention. These were rejuvenated over the past twenty years, especially by the philosopher Gilles Deleuz; the great anthology of the texts of Jean Epstein was published under the name Poetika obrazů (The Poetry of Pictures), which is also available in Czech language.