That oft-cited equation for popular cinema’s essentials -- sometimes attributed to Jean-Luc Godard, sometimes to D.W. Griffith -- is the animating notion behind the latest found-footage essay from Austrian director Gustav Deutsch: “All you need to make a movie is a girl and a gun.”

Deutsch’s third installment in his fascinating FILM IST. series compiles widely varied snippets, culled from archives around the world, to create a challenging, conceptual narrative liable to keep most viewers spellbound. Beguiling images from the earliest days of fiction cinema stand alongside fragments of newsreels, scientific films, propaganda, and even rarely seen hardcore-sex clips that Deutsch unearthed at America’s Kinsey Institute.

The prudish, or easily offended, probably shouldn’t bother with this one. It’s a potent mix, not always successful, but it quite clearly demonstrates the formidable sway that sex and violence have held over the movies since their very inception.

“If the narrative that Mr. Deutsch has created is rather less thrilling than his mostly silent and often glorious images, this is nonetheless a story well worth considering, and watching.” -- Manohla Dargis, THE NEW YORK TIMES

“...Deutsch raises the art of found footage assembly to stunning heights. The soundscape, ranging from bouncy electronica to throat singing, is a masterpiece in its own right.” -- Richard Kuipers, VARIETY

“In the grand tradition of epic poetry, [FILM IST. A GIRL & A GUN] fuses found footage from cinema's past and ancient Greek text, by the likes of Sappho, Hesiod and Plato, into 24 frames-per-second of kinetic ecstasy.” -- Cullen Gallagher, THE L MAGAZINE

“...[T]he director creates a stunning vision of the natural and mythological order of the universe, love between the sexes, and weapons of mass destruction.” -- Jon Gartenberg, TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL

What: FILM IST. A GIRL & A GUN

When: Sunday-Tuesday, December 6-8, 7:00 & 9:00 PM

Where: Anthology Film Archives, 32 Second Avenue, New York, NY

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