Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son (film)

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Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son
Directed byKen Jacobs
Distributed byThe Film-Makers' Cooperative
Release date
  • 1969 (1969)
Running time
115 minutes
CountryUnited States

Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son is a 1969 American experimental film made by Ken Jacobs.[1]

Summary[edit]

The 1969 film uses the 1905 film of the same name as its source material.

In a meticulous experiment in rephotography, Jacobs deconstructs, manipulates, and recontextualizes a small fragment of found footage: a 1905 film showing a group of people chasing a thief through a barn, (shot and directed by G.W. ‘Billy’ Bitzer),[2] rescued via a paper print filed for copyright purposes with the Library of Congress," according to Jacobs.[3] Jacobs' refashioning of the footage is an essayistic meditation on the nature of cinematic representation; in the words of Chicago Reader critic Fred Camper, it is "a film about watching movies."[4]

Legacy[edit]

The film is considered a landmark in avant-garde and structural filmmaking, and remains Jacobs' best-known work.[4] It was inducted to the National Film Registry in 2007, and is part of Anthology Film Archives' "Essential Cinema" repertory.[5]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

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