A 10-minute séance for Walter Benjamin, narrated by Patti Smith's voice like smoke through time.
An homage to Walter Benjamin and other time-traveling artists and expatriates that have inspired me, especially Chris Marker. Benjamin, fleeing from fascism in the 1930s, took refuge in Paris where Biblioteque Nacional became his home away from home. In this library, a sanctuary made of books, he eventually left a secret copy of much of what remains of his Arcades Project, Das Passagen-Werk. Much of the narration for the film came from a chance operation or literary cut-up exercise done with Patti Smith, using dictionary definitions of the word "passage" which I later edited and augmented with text of my own. --Jem Cohen
Direction
Cohen's tactile, wandering eye finds poetry in marginalia.
Writing
Cut-up definitions become incantation; Smith's delivery seals it.
Director
Jem Cohen
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The cut-up method used with Patti Smith was pioneered by Brion Gysin and William S. Burroughs—fitting company for Benjamin's fragmented modernity.
Benjamin's Arcades Project remained unfinished at his death; this 10-minute film arguably completes a version of what he couldn't.
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