SOURCE: Christensen, Peter. “Benjamin Fondane's ‘Scenarii intournables.’” In Dada and Surrealist Film, edited by Rudolf E. Kuenzli, pp. 72-85. New York: Willis Locker and Owens, 1987.

In the following essay, Christensen examines three of Fondane's film scenarios in an attempt to place them within Dadaist and Surrealist film theory of the 1920s.

In 1928 Benjamin Fondane published his Trois Scenarii—Ciné-poèmes in Brussels through Esprit Nouveau. These scenarios were not reprinted until they appeared in 1984 along with five essays on film in an edition, Ecrits pour le cinéma, edited by Michel Carassou, the chief instigator of the Fondane revival.¹ These scenarios, “Paupières mûres,” “Barre fixe,” and “Mtasipol,” have not yet found their way into a history of Dada/Surrealist film practice and theory. This essay will try to correct this situation by providing a background to the scenarios, an analysis of them, and a comparison...