A Waste of Film

The title, which remains on screen for a long time, is written with hyphenation marks separating the parts of the title Waste of Film (which in German is one word) in such a way that it can also be read as "Film = Waste". It is followed by the equally scribbled title "Schaß-Wörterbuch" (now with conventional hyphenation marks). "Schaß" is southern German/Austrian for flatulence, a "Wörterbuch" is a dictionary. Dictionaries, encyclopaedias and letter inventories are a typical format for Schmidt Jr.'s short films. The words, some of which are edited in a lavishly slow manner, others in quick single frames, are mainly clumsily handwritten or drawn titles and keywords relating to the hall and the people in it during expanded cinema projections – requests to an audience or staff present in the cinema: "Buh!", "Ruhe!", "Ruhe im Puff!" – roughly "Boo!", "Quiet!", "Quiet in the brothel!" (the latter an old bit of German bro´ slang). Towards the end, there are graphically arranged titles accompanied by drawings: "Sie sehen einen Film" ["You are watching a film"] – aha, we'll file that under 'self-reflection on the media situation'. But no, it continues and forms, in the sequence of images, the old-fashioned announcement "You are watching a film" "from the [sic!] Kuratorium Neuer Österreichischer Film". The signature of this institution (to whose catalogue Schmidt Jr. contributed a text on "The Development of Austrian Film" in 1970) is then subjected to heavy overwriting and crossing-out. In the end, there is peace and quiet in the brothel again, with the traditional title pages "Operateur Funda" (Schmidt Jr.'s long-time cameraman Walter Funda) and "Regie: Schmidt" ["Director: Schmidt"]. The person who declares himself the director here, albeit without the otherwise obligatory "Jr." in his name, has actually created a stock of title words for use in other films with Waste of Film: The lettering "Vorführer" (projectionist) and "bitte" (please) were used, framed differently, in Vorführer bitte Saallicht (Projectionist, Hall Lights Please), while the audience instructions "Peace" and "Please", reversed or in negative, ended up in Schmidt Jr.'s perhaps most-watched film today, Kunst und Revolution (Art and Revolution). (Drehli Robnik)