Abbott Meader
The Elms
(16mm, 1964, 19:14 minutes)
Here is an old film of mine, a response to the assassination of JFK in 1963.
The sound was created first, and so the film really presents images that respond to
the sound. Much of the sound involves material taped from the TV during the funeral
and memorial ceremonies for Kennedy, as well as the chaos in the police station after
Oswald was shot.There is also the New Orleans jazz classic Weary Blues and fragments
via Berlioz, Boito, Chopin, JS Bach, from his Christmas oratorio 142, plus other
sources, including many brief violent bursts that even I can no longer identify.
This is a tranfer from a 16mm original. The noble elms were being stricken by
disease and dying out. A valued way of life was in decline. The assassination
seemed to underline many things. I was moved to act, and this film is an
expression wherein I feel I have been a vehicle for something quite beyond
my personal ego/self. So be it.
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