Codirected by Frank Simeone and John Chapman, JUNKOPIA was filmed at the Emeryville Mudflats outside of San Francisco while Chris Marker was also shooting the Vertigo sections of Sans Soleil.
I've lived in Emeryville for 30 years and I remember seeing the sculptures shown in this video. Sadly, installing these sculptures was very destructive to the mudflat ecosystem. Killed wildlife etc. Thus, in the late 80s (1988?), the Emeryville shoreline became a park and all sculptures were removed and no future installations were to be allowed. It is good to see some of those whimsical sculptures from our past in this video.
What really was destructive was all of the dumping of garbage that regularly happened at the mudflats and seems to be returning since we can't seem to contain our convenience garbage. But artists trampling unaware of the needed ecosystem brought a visibility to ALL of the problems: the dumping and the beauty of the flats. We've continually built on much needed estuaries and continue to build on them for giant real estate interests instead of housing the homeless. Fortunately, there was some effort to reclaim the mudflats. And thank goodness the great Chris Marker made this short.
Brings back memories of being in the back seat of my parents car coming home from my grandparents in San Francisco. I always looked forward to seeing the artwork on the way back home to Oakland. I remembered the great feeling of seeing snoopy
Very good film. If it weren't for the modern day traffic at the time in the background, one might think somebody might be filming the end of the world. Again, very good film
This opening must've been a reference for C.Nolan for his Dunkirk (2017) opening? it's so similar in soundtrack and tone and the haunting terror that feels inevitable
I am stoned and watching with my stoner friend. We don't know how we got here. We remember joining a film school and somebody said something about this Chris guy.
This is awesome, but I have to object to the San Francisco reference in the description. The Emeryville Mud Flats are on the shore of the east bay, next to Berkeley and Oakland. Both have a distinctly different culture than San Francisco. In San Francisco if you want to enjoy art and culture you have to pay admission into a museum or theatre. In Berkeley and Oakland you just have to go for a walk. I was fortunate to have grown up there.
Too true! Although there have been traditionally surprise experiments and guerrilla art on the streets of San Francisco until very recently as the place gets painted a dull tech gray.
Experimental film was particularly popular in the 1960s and 1970s, and at the time film viewers looking beyond the familiar didn’t needed to be told by film academics that this or that experimental film artist is important: we simply viewed work with an open mind. Today, teachers of film seem to suggest their backlist of film artists of choice are empirically important, without always providing a compelling case for this status. This film by Chris Marker may have introduced many viewers to what for decades has been called Brut art. However, as admirable as the soundtrack is, I find the vaguely Stockhausian score technologically at odds with the sculptor’s processes and intent.
Wow. This was filmed thirty-nine years ago today; a month before my birthday. This morning, I was going through an existential dilemma as a Filmmaker and Artist, and this film suddenly made everything make sense. This film waited Thirty-Nine years to finally help me. Patiently and with austerity. I hope I can be a good disciple.
A lot of people write in english, so others can understand.... Por ejemplo yo, si bien escribo mal, me suelen entender. But i dont speak english. Tristemente el inglés resultó ser el Esperanto.
Were all of the props just a bunch of randomly found objects (or "junk") or did the filmmakers make all of the props their selves? Like airplane and the fish and such.
No many artists, "mostly" anonymous, did these over many years. Mostly made from found objects washed up on the mudflats. Sometimes pieces would last months to years and then be cannibalized for new works. Anyone could go walk around them at anytime. Now it has been rehabilitated as part of restoration of the native wetlands.
I object to a French communist coming to the USA and making a film about junk. The French would riot if an American did that to their country. We should have some pride, seriously.
