85 min.,16 mm & 35 mm, B/W & Color, 2.39:1, English, 2022
Screening format: 35 mm / DCP
Theatrical release (France): July 19, 2023
December 1919. The American government deports 249 anarchists and radicals on the “Soviet Ark.” Five years later, this same ship becomes the set of Buster Keaton’s slapstick comedy The Navigator.
A Film by: Noah Teichner / Produced by: Gaëlle Jones (Perspective Films) / Optical Printing, Rostrum Camera, Lab Work: Noah Teichner / Cinematography (Finland & Russia): Ville Piippo / Letterpress Printing: Eric Nunes (Ampersand Press Lab) / Editing: Emmanuel Falguières, Noah Teichner / Colorist: Catherine Libert / Sound Editing, Mixing: Mikaël Barre / Made at the artist-run film lab L’Abominable - Navire Argo
With the support of: CNC, Région Ile de France - FoRTE, Fondation des Artistes, Hors Pistes (Centre Pompidou), SCAM (Brouillon d’un rêve - documentaire), Art & Camera Prize (Festival de l’histoire de l’art, 2017).
“In 1924, the Buford, a large dormant ship, cost little to rent. Buster Keaton used it as a spacious set for his film The Navigator. And without realizing it, by filming the vessel, he archived the scene of another sea voyage. A few years earlier, the Buford had served to forcibly exile 249 political opponents of the United States government. A ship, at first with no precise destination, and an ocean to banish a few activists. To turn them into shadows, as the shadows they cast seemed to have become too prominent. Noah Teichner explores this short-circuit and Keaton’s images become precious and precise archives of the ship that document and illustrate the journey. Keaton advances on one side of the screen, and on the other, exile is written. The Buford’s voyage unfolds through various extant accounts, in particular the poignant writings of the anarchist militants Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman, detained on board. The dialogue develops, and as its meaning grows clear, we accept the improbable link between the narratives. Noah Teichner explores this short-circuit and enriches it with his meticulously collected material. He interconnects archives, films from the era, logbooks, and assembles these traces to flesh out the story of missing images. Getting rid of undesirables, their stories, and their ideas through forced exile. This is what crosses oceans and also time, and resonates with the stories of today. From the passengers’ inner turmoil and the affirmation of their unshakeable ideas to their disillusionment with Soviet Russia, where the deportees finally arrived, the film infiltrates stories of disappearance and fills in the gaps to the sound of a pounding black flag.” -Clémence Arrivé (Cinéma du réel)
“Noah Teichner's exceptional first film, Navigators […]. An anarchist comedy, a gag-like tragedy, the film is delirious in its precision, and its meticulousness, full of precaution and distance, has the steadfast goal of tuning into the most lively and subversive forces of revolt[.]” -Luc Chessel (Libération)
