András Szirtes’s Film Diary 1979–2004

Szirtes writes: “Some write diaries, others photograph them. In 1979, having directed several experimental films of international acclaim (Suburb, Birds, Dawn) and with about ten years of filmmaking experience, I wondered: what if I started keeping a diary on film tape, by way of ‘my fountain pen is my camera’, or ‘Man with the Movie Camera’?

I left it to my instincts to help the material find its own form. I filmed for 25 years, from 1979 to 2004, first with a movie camera and then a video camera. What I had in mind was a series of 30-minute etudes, totaling 48 interrelated pieces which, together, would constitute a film epic of precisely 24 hours in length.

The exhibition presents my sketches, written notes, and images selected from the nearly 1.5 million frames. The 40 films I have made will also be screened in chronological order. These include Diary Parts 1 to 16, which have gained their final form over the decades.”

Film screenings each day at 7:00 p.m. with the active participation of the filmmaker during the exhibition