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““Are they men or dolls?””
Francisco Sanz Baldoví (Anna, 1872-Valencia, 1939), better known as “Paco Sanz” or “ventriloquist Sanz”, was one of the most popular artists in Spain in the first half of the 20th century. In 1918, the Spanish ventriloquist filmed this fascinating documentary (entitled “Sanz and the Secret of His Art”), with the help of filmmaker Maximiliano Thous and his two artisan mechanics, in order to show the extraordinary complexity of the mechanism of his dolls and his ability to handle them on stage.
Director
Director
Writer
Writer
Status
Released
Original Language
ES
"This piece, with the generic title Film, is a series of short videos built around one protocol: a snippet of news from a newspaper of the day, is rolled up and then placed on a black-inked surface. On making contact with the liquid, the roll opens and of Its own accord frees itself of the gesture that fashioned it. As it comes alive in this way, the sliver of paper reveals Its hitherto unexposed content; this unpredictable kinematics is evidence of the constant impermanence of news. As well as exploring a certain archaeology of cinema, the mechanism references the passage of time: the ink, whether it is poured or printed, is the ink of ongoing human history." –Ismaïl Bahri
