21-87 (Arthur Lipsett, 1964)

A wry commentary on machine-dominated man, the man to whom nothing matters, who waits for chance to call his number. The film is a succession of many unrelated views of the passing crowd.

The short film, produced by the National Film Board of Canada, is a collage of snippets from discarded footage found by Lipsett in the editing room of the National Film Board (where he was employed as an animator), combined with his own black and white 16mm footage which he shot on the streets of Montreal and New York City, among other locations.

1964, 09 min 33 s

Directed by Arthur Lipsett

Produced by Colin Low and Tom Daly

Production Agency: National Film Board of Canada

Trivia (well I found it interesting): 21-87 was a profound influence on director George Lucas who included elements from 21-87 in THX 1138, his Star Wars films and also American Graffiti. The film 21-87 has been credited by Lucas as the source of the "The Force" in Star Wars. Lucas never met the filmmaker but tributes to 21-87 appear throughout Star Wars.


I, the uploader, do not own the rights to this film nor am profiting from it

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• 21-87
• lipsett
• arthur
• 1964
• very nice
• avant-garde
• short film
• experimental

[eQual113]

This is the most important film forever.

[Elibobbob]

"Many people feel that in the contemplation of nature, in communication with other living things, they become aware of some kind of 'force' or something behind the apparent mask".. Only when a person comes to realise they are a part of the universe and not just a part of society, only then will they realise the 'force'.. And the force is beautiful and I feel the force. "May the force with be you"

[microkorger]

This is the essence of everything ever created by mankind.

[happyness1957]

not too many people smiling in this film... wonder if they were told not to or is it just editing? I know it is supposed to be a thoughtful film but the odd smile would be nice.

[xezene1]

It is unfortunate this keeps getting taken down due to copyright issues with the NFB. And speaking of which, all of Lipsett's films deserve release on DVD. They really are all great. However, even amongst all his genius, this one is the most special. Truly, I consider this film to really be one of the greatest films ever made. Lipsett says more in 9 minutes than most directors say in their whole career.

[bigmikevt]

awesome.thanks

[andrespereyda]

Star Wars!

[mofolee]

Thanks for uploading this.

It packs such a lot into such a short film. It's quite inspiring.