A R C H I E F1 9 9 7  
15th
  Jeff Walker
Notes to self
  USA 1995
Videotape, 16:28, black-and-white & colour, stereo
 
In the time of the cold war, the spy story or film was an exciting genre because it provided a glimpse into a world, hidden from the ordinary eye. How do the great powers keep an eye on each other? What do they know, and what don't they know about each other? What is the extent of espionage activities? Now that the iron curtain has rusted away, the true stories and practices are coming out. They often have an somewhat sad quality because all that work proved, in retrospect, to be for nothing. The history of espionage is one of exciting pointlessness. Notes to self portraits this using a Fisher Price toy camera. We see a man operating in secret wearing the inevitable trench coat, and another man following him. From an insert, in which a word processor audibly types the accompanying text, we can work out that it involves an overzealous agent whose assignment is to shadow the crew of a Russian cargo ship in Port Allen to discover if they belong to the KGB or not. But, despite the zealous and energetic way he sets about his task, his efforts come to naught. Certainly not when, during his spying on the ship, he is arrested for trespassing on protected territory. His pregnant secretary, who has never actually seen him in all the time that they have worked together, has to pay his bail. She brings him to his dilapidated house-boat and he collapses, mentally and physically. It is as if revealing his identity and failing in his task has brought the entire pointlessness of espionage into the open. Not without humour, we follow the tale which ends dramatically on the boat, amusingly named 'The Kid'. Here's looking at you kid!

– Willem van Weelden

Music Klimchak, assistant production Ricardo Andrade, Nancy Dixon, Drew Anderson, With George Jones, Glynnis Phoebe Weston, Sergei Hryn, Drew Anderson, Nancy Dixon


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