La Région Centrale (1971)

La Région centrale is a 1971 experimental Canadian film directed by Michael Snow. The film is 180 minutes long and shot over a period of 24 hours, using a robotic arm and consists entirely of preprogrammed movements. Wyndham Wise commented,



"In a brilliant convergence of form and content, camera movement becomes the reason d’etre. Rarely, if ever, has a film so clearly delineated the role of this machine in our reception and perception of the objected filmed. To make the film, Snow worked with a technician to design a mechanized camera that was able to move without human intervention in every direction imaginable. To further erase the influence of humans, Snow filmed in the remote reaches of Northern Quebec, where his camera roamed the landscape, in a manner both systematic and arbitrary. It’s both an exhilarating celebration of cinema’s unique qualities and a clever joke on the landscape tradition in Canadian art."

Synopsis

Le film est une suite de mouvements de caméra en plan-séquences, ne montrant pas la présence de l'Homme, dans la région de la Côte-Nord au Canada, à peu près à 170 km au nord est de Sept-Îles (Québec). Le son est une bande son composée à partir de celle qui sert de programme à la caméra : elle est donc aussi « synthétique » que les images sont empreintes de nature.