A FILM BY PETER VOLKART - Reck Filmproduktion

H O M M A G E À R A Y M O N D R O U S S E L
A FILM BY PETER VOLKART
with_PAUL AVONDET
SANDRA KÜNZI
narrator_VOLKER RISCH
BODO KRUMWIEDE
cinematography_HANSUELI SCHENKEL
compositing_VOLKART&VOLKART
PAUL AVONDET
sound design_VOCO FAUXPAS
sound mix_CHRISTIAN BEUSCH
editing_HARALD & HERBERT
producer_FRANZISKA RECK
© 2005 RECK FILMPRODUKTION
Unterstützt durch: Bundesamt für Kultur (EDI)
Stadt und Kanton Zürich, Migros Kulturprozent re:view
Familien-Vontobel-Stiftung, Dr. Adolf Streuli-Stiftung
Ernst und Olga Gubler-Hablützel Stiftung, Volkart Stiftung
Stiftung Birsig für Kunst und Kultur
Friedrich-Jezler-Stiftung

HOMMAGE À RAYMOND ROUSSEL
A F I L M B Y P E T E R V O L K A R T
Fiction, 35mm, Deutsche Originalversion (s.t. français, english subtitles), 15 min, Switzerland 2005
He was in the headlines for a brief period in the late 1920s:
Igor Leschenko, the young physicist from Hermannstadt, whose bizarre
experiments cast doubt upon the law of gravity. The debacle at the
pataphysicist convention leads to a secret expedition to the point of
zero gravity. Rare film documents of a hazardous journey beyond
Zentropa through the Karfunkel archipelago.
Will Leschenko ever find the Nanopol island?
Igor Leschenko a brièvement fait les gros titres à la fin des années 20.
Le jeune physicien d’Hermannstadt qui avait ébranlé la loi de la gravité avec
ses expériences bizarres, c’est lui. La débâcle au congrès des pataphysiciens
fut suivie d’une expédition secrète jusqu’au point d’anti-gravité.
Des films documentaires rares retracent un voyage au-delà de Zentropa
à travers l’archipel menaçant de Karfunkel.
Igor Leschenko découvrira-t-il l’île Nanopol?
Ende der 20er Jahre war er kurz in den Schlagzeilen:
Igor Leschenko, der junge Physiker aus Hermannstadt, der mit seinen
bizarren Experimenten das Gesetz der Schwerkraft ins Wanken bringt.
Das Debakel am Kongress der Pataphysiker führt zu einer geheimen
Expedition zum Antigravitätspunkt. Rare Filmdokumente einer Reise
jenseits von Zentropa durch den bedrohlichen Karfunkel-Archipel.
Wird Leschenko die Insel Nanopol je finden?
(...) Volkart pays homage to both Raymond Roussel and Pataphysics and, in a
certain way, continues where “The Young Eskimo” left off. With the difference
that then a stranger reached the unfamiliar shores of this earth while here,
on November 31, an expedition to unexplored regions in high latitudes begins.
”But above all” the narrator asks, “what is this Leschenko doing in my head all this
time?” – showing images half-“Zelig”, half-“Gizmo” of bizarre experiments made
by the young physicist from Hermannstadt, pictures which are soon replaced by
wild and empty landscapes and “temporarily nailed-together” futuristic cities,
leaving us without any hope of ever arriving somewhere.
Production and Worldrights:
RECK FILMPRODUKTION
Dienerstrasse 7, CH-8004 Zürich, Phone ++41 (0)1 241 37 63
f.reck@bluewin.ch www.reckfilm.ch
Distribution Switzerland:
LOOK NOW!
www.looknow.ch
NZZ (Neue Zürcher Zeitung)
89º 15´ north 113º 75´ east

AWARDS | FESTIVALS
TERRA INCOGNITA A FILM BY PETER VOLKART
WINNER «BEST SHORT FILM»
FESTIVAL INTERNATIONAL DES FILMS DU MONDE - MONTRÉAL 2005
WINNER SWISS FILM PRIZE 2006
«BEST SHORT FILM»
WINNER «BEST SHORT FICTION FILM»
FESTIVAL INTERNAZIONALE DEL CORTOMETRAGGIO DI SIENA 2005
WINNER «BEST SHORT FILM»
NOMINATION FOR MÉLIÈS D’OR (EUROPEAN FANTASTIC FILM FESTIVALS FEDERATION – EFFFF)
SCIENCEPLUSFICTION – FESTIVAL INTERNAZIONALE DELLA FANTASCIENZA TRIESTE 2005
WINNER «BEST SHORT FILM» PRIX SSA/SUISSIMAGE
FESTIVAL INTERNATIONAL DU FILM FANTASTIQUE DE NEUCHÂTEL 2005
WINNER «BEST SHORT FILM»
«ZÜRCHER FILMPREIS 2005 – ZURICH FILM AWARD 2005»
WINNER «BEST SHORT FILM – FIPA D’OR»
FESTIVAL INTERNATIONAL FIPA BIARRITZ 2006 - FRANCE
40. SOLOTHURNER FILMTAGE 2005 – SWITZERLAND PREMIERE
58ÈME FESTIVAL INTERNATIONAL DU FILM DE LOCARNO 2005 SELECTION OFFICIELLE
NEUCHÂTEL INTERNATIONAL FANTASTIC FILM FESTIVAL 2005 SHORTFILM COMPETITION
FESTIVAL INTERNATIONAL DES FILMS DU MONDE 2005 – MONTRÉAL SELECTION OFFICIELLE
FANTOCHE 5TH INTERNATIONAL ANIMATION FESTIVAL 2005 – BADEN-SWITZERLAND
FESTIVAL INTERNACIONAL DE CINEMA DE CATALUNYA 2005 – SITGES-BARCELONA SELECTION OFFICIELLE
CINÉMA TOUT ÉCRAN 2005 – GENEVA INTERNATIONAL SHORTFILM COMPETITION
SCIENCEPLUSFICTION TRIESTE INTERNATIONAL SCIENCE FICTION FESTIVAL 2005 EUROPEAN FANTASTIC SHORT COMPETITION
FESTIVAL INTERNAZIONALE DEL CORTOMETRAGGIO SIENA 2005 – ITALY INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION
RESFEST DIGITAL FILM FESTIVAL 2005 – ZURICH-SWITZERLAND
FESTIVAL INTERNATIONAL DE PROGRAMMES AUDIOVISUELS FIPA 2006 – BIARRITZ, FRANCE SELECTION OFFICIELLE
MANCHESTER INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM FESTIVAL 2006 INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION
7TH JEONJU INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2006 – SEOUL-KOREA SELECTION OFFICIELLE
FLICKERFEST 2006 – INTERNATIONAL SHORTFILM FESTIVAL – SYDNEY INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION
FESTIVAL DU COURT MÉTRAGE DE CLERMONT-FERRAND 2006 INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION
FESTIVAL PREMIERS PLANS D’ANGERS 2006 – ANGERS, FRANCE INTERNATIONAL SHORTFILM COMPETITION
35TH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ROTTERDAM 2006 INTERNATIONAL SHORTFILM COMPETITION
25TH VIPER INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL FOR FILM VIDEO AND NEW MEDIA 2006 – BASEL INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION
7TH FESTIVAL INTERNATIONALES DE JÓVENES REALIZADORES 2006 – GRANADA INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION
SIGNES DU NUIT 2006, 4ème FESTIVAL INTERNATIONAL DU FILM COURT – PARIS, FRANCE
4ème FESTIVAL INTERNATIONAL DU COURT METRAGE ABIDJAN FICA 2006 – ABIDJAN, CÔTE D’IVOIRE
3RD INDIE LISBOA-LISBON INTERNATIONAL INDEPENDENT FILMFESTIVAL – LISSABON 2006 OFFICIAL COMPETITION
IMAGO YOUNG FILM FESTIVAL 2006 – FUNDÂO, PORUGAL INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION
EUROPEAN MEDIA ARTS FESTIVAL EMAF 2006 – OSNABRÜCK, GERMANY
FESTIVAL DE CANNES, CANNES 2006 – TOUS LES CINEMAS DU MONDE
NEW DIRECTORS / NEW FILMS 2006 – FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER AND MUSEUM OF MODERN ART, NEW YORK CITY
www.reckfilm.ch contact: f.reck@bluewin.ch

PRESS
TERRA INCOGNITA A FILM BY PETER VOLKART
(...) Der Zürcher Peter Volkart erobert mit seinem Kurzfilm Terra
Incognita die Herzen von Publikum und Fachwelt (...)
Tages-Anzeiger, Zürich
(...) Du côté des courts métrages, le premier prix est allé au remarquable Terra Incognita
du Suisse Peter Volkart. Présenté en fin de semaine, cette œvre pataphysique avec collages
hilarants et brillants racontait en folles images les experiences d’un jeune physicien
au cours des années 20. (...)
LE DEVOIR, Montréal
(...) Le 1 er prix est allé à Terra Incognita, un film très marrant, réalisé par le Suisse
Peter Volkart, dans lequel le spectateur est entraîné dans le monde de la pataphysique
(...)
LA PRESSE, Montréal
(...) In Terra Incognita erweist Volkart dem französischen Schriftstelller Raymond
Roussel eine Hommage und fährt in gewisser Weise dort fort, wo «Der junge Eskimo»,
aufgehört hatte. Mit dem Unterschied, dass damals ein Fremdling an die unvertrauten
Gestade dieser Erde geriet, während hier an einem 31. November der Aufbruch in
deren unerforschte Regionen in hohen Breiten erfolgt. «Vor allem aber, was treibt dieser
Leschenko die ganze Zeit in meinem Kopf?», fragt der Erzähler und zeigt Bilder, halb
«Zelig», halb «Gizmo», von den bizarren Experimenten des jungen Physikers aus
Hermannstadt, die bald von solchen wilder leerer Landschaften und «provisorisch
zusammengenagelter» futuristischer Städte abgelöst werden, ohne dass wir doch hoffen
dürfen,
je irgendwo anzukommen.
Neue Zürcher Zeitung, NZZ
(...) Every once in a while I see a short film that amazes me and makes me wonder
why short films aren't more available outside film festivals. Terra Incognita is one of
those awesome films. What a nice treat! The atmosphere is very dreamy and that the
film shares many aspects to the popular computer game Myst. Everything about this
film is perfect. The set designs (in the case of the very few real sets) and the computergenerated
decors are truly astonishing and they successfully immerse the spectators in
a strange and unreal yet strangely familiar world where the laws of physics don't abide,
thanks to the twisted mind of a scientist. The directing is brilliant. When I write capsule
reviews I usually try to be objective but for very few films I can't. This is one of them.
You literally need to contact your local film festival directors so that they include this
film in their programs! The film is an homage to French novelist Raymond Roussel.
There are no explicit references but rather many subtle and obscure links to his work.
I'm not particularly familiar with his work and I'm not all that familiar either with pataphysics
theories — who the heck in the world is? — yet this film turned out to be very
fascinating and genuinely entertaining. A masterpiece! (...)
IONCINEMA.com
Nella sezione European Fantastic Short, tra le novità di questa edizione 2005, è stato
premiato all’unanimità il cortometraggio Terra Incognita di Peter Volkart. Il cortometraggio
svizzero ha ricevuto il premio assegnato al miglior cortometraggio fantastico europeo
– in collaborazione con l’European Fantastic Film Festivals Federation – "perchè in
grado – ha concluso la Giuria – di costruire un immaginario fantastico attraverso la
dimensione del viaggio, con un raffinato gusto grafico e un linguaggio sperimentale,
che combina materiale di repertorio in forma di finto
documentario con una trama narrativa originale e un sottile umorismo".
IH Magazine, Settimanale di Cultura, Italia
www.reckfilm.ch contact: f.reck@bluewin.ch

PRESS
TERRA INCOGNITA A FILM BY PETER VOLKART
(...) Ce film de 18 minutes chrono est un petit chef d'œuvre, et je
pèse mes mots. Dédié aux écrits de Raymond Roussel, ce voyage aux confins du globe
a un charme fou. En le voyant, on a l'impression de partager avec les aventuriers de l'époque
une expédition dans l'antarctique au temps de Charcot, voir même de vivre en
direct un roman du Jules Verne, l'humour en plus. Car les scènes sont émaillées de
clins d'œil appuyés au cinéma de Jeunet («La Cité des enfants perdus», en particulier).
Un bijou, vous dis-je.
Courier de l'ouest, Angers-France (...)
Courier de l'ouest, Angers-France
(...) Intensiver im Gedächtnis haften bleibt schon Peter Volkarts "Terra Incognita", der als
bester Schweizer Kurzfilm des letzten Jahres ausgezeichnet wurde und durch seinen
Einfallsreichtum besticht. Wie Volkart im Stile von Woody Allens "Zelig" eine
Dokumentation über einen Wissenschaftler fingiert, der in den 20er Jahre des letzten
Jahrhunderts zu einem sagenhaften Ort in der Arktis aufgebrochen sein soll, ist einfach
hinreißend. Brillant werden alte Wochenschauaufnahmen, Fotos und
Zeitungsschlagzeilen kopiert, von stupendem Detailreichtum und feinem Witz sind die
ins surreale verschobenen Bilderfindungen und grenzenlos die Fabulierfreude Volkarts,
der in rund 20 Minuten eine ganze Legion von Abenteuer- und Entdeckerfilmen verpackt.
Da gibt’s kaum einen Dialog, aber zu hören und zu sehen wie der trockene sachliche
Ton des Erzählers die aberwitzigen oder auch abgründigen, durch Farbbearbeitung fast
auf schwarzweiß reduzierten Bilder kontrastiert, ist ein pures Vergnügen. In jeder
Einstellung dieses unerschöpflich reichen Kleinods, das zum mehrmaligen Sehen einlädt,
sieht und spürt man die Sorgfalt und die grenzenlose Liebe zum Kino, mit der
Volkart "Terra Incognita" gedreht hat. (...)
Walter Gasperi, Kultur-online.net
Cinema - Il regista svizzero Peter Volkart vince il Siena Short Film Festival
Miete successi il piccolo film Terra incognita
Terra incognita ha vinto il X Festival internazionale del cortometraggio di Siena. Il
Festival si è svolto dal 18 al 26 novembre e il piccolo film svizzero di Peter Volkart ha
ottenuto il premio speciale per la fiction: «Per la ricchezza delle immagini utilizzate con
grande ironia e inventività e per l’utilizzo di tecniche miste, ben calibrate assieme – si
legge nella motivazione della giuria -. Ottimamente gestita l’integrazione di immagini di
archivio nell’universo del regista». Terra incognita, già passato al festival di Locarno
nella sezione Pardi di domani, è un cortometraggio sulla patafisica, la scienza delle
soluzioni immaginarie.
Varese News, Italia
www.reckfilm.ch contact: f.reck@bluewin.ch

Raymond Roussel:
writer, dandy, chess player,
pistol champion and millionaire
Roussel on the road...
Novels and books by Raymond Roussel :
La Vue (1902)
Imressions d’Afrique (1910)
Locus Solus (1914)
Pouissière de Soleil (1926)
Nouvelles Impressions d’Afrique (1915-26)
RAYMOND ROUSSEL
«Le plus grand magnétiseur des temps moderne» _André Breton
Only a small group of enthusiasts were aware of the “oeuvres” of the
French writer Raymond Roussel (1877 – 1933) during his lifetime.
There is hardly any author who is so unrecognized, yet at the same
time so legendary as Raymond Roussel. His influence on later writers
is enormous. Some of his admirers include Raymond Queneau,
Georges Perec, Boris Vian and Marcel Duchamp. André Breton
called him “the greatest magnetizer of modern times”.
«The president of the Republic of Dreams» _Louis Aragon
Raymond Roussel was a great dandy, chess player, pistol champion
and millionaire, but also an extraordinary eccentric and a neurotic
addicted to barbiturates.
At the age of 19, he had a decisive experience: everything he wrote
seemed to be surrounded by rays of light, so he closed the shutters
to keep the light from shining out onto the street. His intention was to
set all of humanity into a state of illuminated amazement – in one
single blow. He was terribly disappointed when his book was
published and this phenomenon did not occur.
”For me, the power of imagination is everything˜ _Raymond Roussel
From that moment on he would try to chase down these radiant hours
of happiness. In “Impressions of Africa” he creates his imaginary
Africa and becomes the discoverer of new worlds. A narrative filled
with meticulous details. In his novel “Locus Solus”, the history of a
genius inventor, he becomes the builder of fantastic machines and a
visionary architect. Raymond Roussel, this fanatic of imagination,
had no intention of merging literature with vulgar reality.
Together with Marcel Duchamp, Alfred Jarry and Franz Kafka,
Roussel is one of the great Pataphysicists, a representative of
the “science of imaginary solutions”.
”It’s true. Man is a microcosm – I am my world˜ _Ludwig Wittgenstein
In his search for peace and seclusion, he has the most luxurious
“recreational vehicle” of his times built for him. In this peculiar
vehicle, he crosses Europe, drives all the way to Asia Minor. But on
the way he never leaves his living room on wheels. Exotic countries
are not the least bit interesting to this poet with an exotic imagination
all his own. He kept his curtains closed and all he wanted was to be
able to work in peace. His inner world was perfectly enough for him.
In 1933, Raymond Roussel’s journey ends. Financially ruined,
he dies from an overdose of barbiturates in a hotel in Palermo.
Terra Incognita is an homage to Raymond Roussel. The references to
him are never direct, however. The film is a web woven from almost
invisible threads and finely constructed references which link
Roussel’s life and work with the film Terra Incognita.

T H E F U T U R E O F L I G H T N E S S
By Peter P. Schneider
There are no charter flights to Nanopol. Which is very strange, really. It’s a place that everyone
would like to go to! Because the appeal of Nanopol, on the far side of the 75th parallel,
is that there is no gravity there. The researcher Leschenko dares to journey there on his own.
He hopes that by finding the point of zero gravity in Nanopol, he will be rehabilitated. His
career as a scientist had come to an abrupt end when he was defamed as a swindler by jealous
professional colleagues during the Congress of Pataphysicists and was subsequently
expelled from the Academy.
His stumbling block had been his genius: in a spectacular self-test, he overcame the earth’s
gravity and managed to walk up the wall of a room. Another time, he made himself disappear
entirely: body and soul could not possibly be lighter than when you actually make them
disappear.
Igor Leschenko may be a bold dreamer, but he does not fantasize. He succeeds in turning
whatever he wishes into reality. All the way to the bitter end – to his self-elimination. In
Nanopol he disappears into an unknown parallel universe – terra incognita. He doesn’t
disappear into higher spheres, but dives into a wormhole, into the dark depths of the earth.
He poses the question, „Isn’t home that place where I have not yet been?" as he once noted
in his diary during his travels. Leschenko arrives where he always had wanted to be.
For a fleeting moment, pure uncertainty and lightness rule – the end.
But then we see the body of the scientist sitting in a run-down den. The scenery appears
somewhat dismal, but Leschenko himself is quite relaxed and not unhappy. There is just one
little thing which this figure in an armchair must get rid of in order to discard all earthly
weight: that Leschenko in his head. A kind nurse helps him. Her injection sends waves of
beautiful music through Leschenko. Through her needle, even old shellac discs release their
melodies.
Peter Volkart discovered the story of the pataphysicist Igor Leschenko through film footage
and photographs which he found by pure coincidence in archives. This strange fellow really
fascinated him. With a patient and loving meticulousness he gathered biographic fragments
about this man from Hermannstadt. Fragments which he had left scattered throughout
half of the world over the course of more than half a century of existence. Slowly these
treasures of photos and film sequences were pieced together into the life story of a romantic
eccentric. A personality as peculiar as he was fearless, who follows his highest goals –
his happiness, really – and, in the course of doing so, experiences peculiar encounters: with
the nightlife in Novosuburbia, with a city on high stilts, with the offshore entertainment centre
Morphopolis or with the island of Subotika and its dwarves who feed themselves through
a funnel on their heads.
Any gaps in this reconstructed life portrait which may have existed between the photos and
films that he found were carefully bridged by Peter Volkart – with subtle colored scenes
made in a décor which he designed himself. With their patina, they perfectly emulate the
world of the scientist, explorer and inventor Leschenko. Volkart „befriended“ Leschenko,
became a scientific expert in the area of Leschenko. In the course of time, he stumbled onto
some peculiar documents which provided him with many a amusing moment, but which
made him doubt his own sanity from time to time. Did these worlds that Leschenko researched,
that he documented with his pictures, really exist? Are the documents he found real?
And should we spectators believe the unbelievable?