In 1988, the British director Cynthia Beatt, who is based in Berlin, conceived a special cinematic bike tour. She selected a number of places along the 160 km long border where the young Tilda Swinton cycled along and thus apparently circled the island of West Berlin once. Today CYCLING THE FRAME is a rare historic document and Tilda Swinton is one of the world’s most admired performers.
In June 2009, Cynthia Beatt and Tilda Swinton re-traced the line of the Wall that once isolated Berlin from East and West Germany. THE INVISIBLE FRAME describes this journey, a Wall’s fall and 21 years later, through varied landscapes, this time on both sides of the former Wall. The stagnation of organic growth that characterized the areas separated by the Wall, is now replaced by unchecked nature and building development. The rhythmic interaction of fixed camera and tracking shots combine in a vibrant orbiting of Berlin, visually intertwining west and east. Tilda Swinton’s personal reflections are integrated as inner monologues and complete the film’s soundscape composed by Simon Fisher Turner, who collaborated with Derek Jarman and Tilda Swinton in the 80’s.
Direction: Cynthia Beatt
Cast: Tilda Swinton
Original Title: The Invisible Frame
Original Languages: engleski, nemački
Subtitles: engleski, francuski, nemački, portugalski, španski
Film Production Country: Nemačka
Production Company:
Filmgalerie 451