Viennale-Trailer 2001: Wien & Mozart

This is one of two trailers made by Jonas Mekas for Viennale ’01. Never one to be afraid of tackling clichés of image or sound, Mekas sets a fragment of Mozart against fragmented impressions of the city. Traffic lights, cars at night, fabrics, hats, as well as glimpses of a Kodak sign and a celluloid strip – this collage speeds by, frame-by-frame. Different levels of history also gradually insist: signs of commerce that trade on the past, and what seems like personal, washed-out, Super-8 footage from another time. As often in Mekas, the result is entertaining and cryptic, public and secretive. (Adrian Martin)