gerald jenkins 09/03/2006 gerald jenkins 09/03/2006

Bunuel Centenary

In 1985 I attended Film School on a full time course and was introduced to Luis Bunuel when watching L’age D’or and Un Chien Andalou as part of the curriculum. His style of film making and the loaded message were something I have grasped very tightly since, with approx 90% of his films on my shelves and about thirty books about him or critiques of his work.

In 1999 I moved to Madrid and was thrilled to learn there were to be many events in 2000 to celebrate his birth. I had read about the places these events were to take place in his Autobiography ‘My Last Breath’ and the John Baxter Biography ‘Bunuel’.

Semana Santa in Calanda - Aragon (which is the place of his birth) is unique to others in Spain as drums are played for 24 hours on Good Friday, the passion of playing them for long periods sees blood dripping from hands onto the drum skins. They signify the thunder storms that occurred when Jesus was crucified. Bunuel used the drums of Calanda in approximately 13 of his films. The drums would play whenever a character felt a sense of abandonment, loss of hope.

Longinos the man who theoretically defended Christ

Juan Luis Bunuel - La Residencia Madrid 2000

From the exhibition ‘El Ojo De Libertad’ - La Residencia Madrid 2000

Portrait of Luis Bunuel by Salvador Dali (Polaroid Transfer)

The Hand used in Un Chien Andalou (where the ants crawl out of the hole) - (Polaroid Transfer)

From the exhibition ‘El Ojo De Libertad’ - The Residencia Madrid 2000 (Polaroid Transfer)

gerald jenkins 03/03/2006 gerald jenkins 03/03/2006

India on a Film Set

In 1998 I worked on the Feature Film ‘Holy Smoke’ with the director Jane Campion. It was a three month production and I was employed to do all ‘Specials’ as well as the production stills. My approach was to predominantely use Polaroid stocks-Type 55, Type 59, and 665 as well as shooting Colour transperancy Sheet Film on a 5x4 Linhof and using a Medium Format 645 for everything else. Promotional material for films in this era were sets of 35mm dupe film transperancies so I chose to shoot only formats larger than 35mm and therefore the dupe film promotional material would be of superior quality.

The last three weeks of the production were shot on location in Rajasthan firstly in Delhi and then the Holy City of Pushkar. Most of the pictures in this post are portraits I took ‘off set’. Shooting polaroid stocks and giving the print to the portrait sitter and I retaining the negative to print later in a dark room.

A family who were living next to the Film Set of ‘Holy Smoke’ Old Delhi

Kate Winslet with Sam and the children of Old Delhi

I shot a lot of street portraits with my Linhof Flat Bed Field Camera

With Jane Campion on the last day of filming

On the day of departure I went to a temple overlooking Pushkar at dawn with one of the local Sadhu’s.