A Film by Bartek Dziadosz, Colin McCabe, Christopher Roth, & Tilda Swinton (2016, 90 min.)

Produced by The Derek Jarman Lab; distributed by Icarus Films.

Booker Prize-winning novelist (G., 1972), influential art critic and BBC host (Ways of Seeing, 1972), painter, and practicing Marxist, John Berger died last month, January 2, 1917, at the age of 90. In his memory—and in recognition of the profound influence his writings have had on both artistic and critical practice coinciding exactly with Hallwalls' 42-year history—Hallwalls will present the Buffalo premiere of this highly personal four-part documentary film portrait by four different directors, which had its world premiere at the 2016 Berlin Film Festival.

Prolific artist, philosopher, writer, storyteller and "radical humanist" John Berger is the focus of this vivid four-part cinematic portrait. In 1973, he moved from urban London to the tiny French Alpine village of Quincy. The Seasons in Quincy: Four Portraits of John Berger examines different aspects of Berger's life in this remote village in the Alps. In four seasonal chapters, the film combines ideas and motifs from his work with the texture and history of his mountain home.

Ways of Listening (Directed by Colin MacCabe, 26 minutes)
Tilda Swinton, a longtime friend and collaborator, joins Berger for a frank and revealing conversation.

Spring (Directed by Christopher Roth, 19 minutes)
Berger's seminal writing on animals is illuminated by local farming practice and set alongside other philosophical approaches to animal consciousness.

A Song for Politics (Directed by Bartek Dziadosz & Colin MacCabe, 20 minutes)
Berger is joined by writers Ben Lerner and Akshi Singh along with Colin MacCabe and Christopher Roth for a lively political discussion of our present moment and its relationship to the past.

Harvest (Directed by Tilda Swinton, 25 minutes)
Berger's son and Swinton's children join their parents for a visually rich journey to Quincy from the Scottish highlands, seeing the countryside anew.

United by their central vision and an original score by Simon Fisher Turner, the four short works that comprise THE SEASONS IN QUINCY beautifully combine to make a feature film.

"An impressively high-minded documentary about writer John Berger ... As a collection, THE SEASONS OF QUINCY is an absolutely inspired way of approaching its subject." —The Guardian

"Critic's Pick! Delightful viewing... Swinton is magnetic! Their interactions light up the film." —The New York Times

"Intimate and revealing: a portrait of its subject in which we get closer to him as a personality than a more conventional film could ever take us." —The Independent

"Instructs us that conversation, whether spoken or sung, is always liberating." —Slant

"A beautiful yet uncommon approach to a subject—one that is happily out of step with the frenetic, info-tech lifestyles we've adopted. But more importantly, the film is a reflection on creation as a metaphor for human existence." —The Observer

"One of the most moving moments of the [Berlinale Film] Festival." —Cinemag

• World Premiere, 2016 Berlin International Film Festival
• 2016 Istanbul Independent Film Festival
• 2016 Seattle Film Festival
• 2016 Sheffield Doc/Fest
• 2016 Biografîa Film Festival
• 2016 Jerusalem Film Festival
• 2016 Art Film Festival
• 2016 Maine Film Festival
• 2016 Melbourne Film Festival
• 2016 EDF Documentary Film Festival
• 2016 Athens Film Festival
• 2016 Message to Man Film Festival
• 2016 Viennale
• 2017 RIDM Montreal Documentary Film Festival

Review:

The Seasons in Quincy: Four Portraits of John Berger:
Tilda Swinton's Demonstration of Affection

The Ways of Seeing writer is celebrated by Swinton and her fellow admirers in an unorthodox four-part documentary that visits him at his Alpine home

By Andrew Pulver, The Guardian, February 16, 2016

The first film, MacCabe's, is called Ways of Listening—a reference to Berger's celebrated early-70s book and TV series. It boils down, largely, to an extended conversation between Swinton and Berger at the latter's home in rural France, the village of Quincy, in the course of which much of Berger's commitment to upholding the "peasant" lifestyle is revealed. It's an informal, affectionate piece, dominated visually by the snowy weather they encountered—and set the tone for the cycle-of-seasons theme the full film develops.

The second piece, Spring, directed by Roth, is undoubtedly the most unorthodox and experimental-ish. Unhappily, Roth had to take this approach after the death of Berger's wife Beverly, which meant that the original subject, understandably, absented himself from proceedings. Roth's solution is to focus on what Berger appeared to love about Quincy—the animals, the landscape, the work in the fields—and creates an enjoyable concotion, sometimes funny, sometimes surreal.

The third section, A Song for Politics, co-directed by Dziadosz and MacCabe, is, I have to say, the least successful: an awkwardly staged "discussion" of contemporary politics, which, if nothing else, demonstrates that some things are better written down. But it is at least enlivened by clips of Berger's TV shows in the 60s and 70s, including one where he unapologetically announces he is a Marxist. (I'd like to see someone try that today.)

The final part, entitled Harvest and directed by Swinton, returns to the diaristic, home-movie style of Ways of Listening, as she brings her teenage children to Quincy for an autumnal visit. Again, the affection and respect that Swinton holds for Berger is clear, and the kids certainly seem to have a great time, making candles, riding motorbikes, connecting with Berger's own grown-up son. Swinton also seems to have access to a drone-based camera, which gives her some spectacular shots of the local terrain.

As a collection, The Seasons in Quincy certainly hangs together; it's also an absolutely inspired way of approaching its subject. If the outcome is a little uneven, well, that's the price that sometimes has to be paid.