It’s been at least two years since I created this draft, and it has waited patiently for me to return to the story of Tilda Swinton’s 1988 film about cycling near the Berlin Wall, which was quite real at the time.
The Invisible Frame (filmgalerie451)
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.
I hadn’t been aware, not at all. My visit to the Berlins came a year later, and the particular brand of melancholy in the divided city was like nothing I’ve ever experienced. My friends know that it’s been with me ever since. Watching the footage of Swinton cycling, and reabsorbing the atmosphere so may years later, moves me deeply.
Not only this, but they did it again in 2009. Once again, I was unaware.
Revisiting the bizarre short film of Tilda Swinton cycling along the Berlin Wall in the ‘80s, by Hannah Hummel (Sleek)
In 2009, more than twenty years later, the pair reunited and retraced the line for The Invisible Frame, this time weaving through both sides of the fallen wall as if allegorically sewing the two sections together. Together, the two films create a poetic passage through time, offering a compelling portrait of two eras.
Just incredible. There is also this comparison of the eras.
