Reflective Encounters

““Eighteen years after Kurt Kren produced his third film 3/60 Bäume im Herbst (3/60 Trees in Autumn), he shot his masterpiece 37/78 Tree Again. Eighteen years after I created my third darkroom film L’Arrivée (a homage to the Lumière Brothers and their 1895 L'Arrivée d'un train, I embarked on Train Again. This third film in my “Rushes Series” is a homage to Kurt Kren that simultaneously taps into a classic motif in film history,” writes Peter Tscherkassky in a note accompanying his latest work, Train Again.

One of the most prominent contemporary avant-garde filmmakers, Tscherkassky works predominantly with found footage. Train Again is no different. After obtaining a 5-minute roll of 35mm film consisting of commercial rushes of a train emerging from a tunnel, Tscherkassky spent three years manipulating, cutting, and collapsing these frames into a kinetic voyage. Images pulsate to the rhythm of the train’s chugging sound until their contour starts bleeding into the analogue film itself as the railway and the film strip collide. Train Again is truly a cerebral celebration of the moving image.”

— Ren Scateni