[EFF17S4] Session 4: Three Landscape Films by Babette Mangolte
Cite as:
Temple, Michael and Barrington, Matthew
(2023):
[EFF17S4] Session 4: Three Landscape Films by Babette Mangolte.
Birkbeck College, University of London.
Description
26 March 2017, 14:30, ICA Cinema
This second programme devoted to the work of Babette Mangolte focuses on her trilogy of films about landscape: There? Where?, The Sky on Location and Visible Cities. These essay films are both studies of specific locations and a sustained reflection about the art of landscape cinematography.
Films: There? Where?, Babette Mangolte, USA, 1979, 16mm, 8 minutes, English
The filmmaker describes the first film, There? Where?, as “a naive look at Southern California by an outsider, and/or an essay on displacement through the disjunction of Californian images and off screen voices. Where is the location of these voices, here or there? Are the images near or far in relation to the voices? Are the images commenting on the images or vice versa?”
The Sky on Location, Babette Mangolte, USA, 1982, 16mm, 78 minutes, English
Documenting seasonal changes across the American West, from Wyoming to Oregon, the second film, The Sky on Location, is an affecting meditation on untamed nature and the atmospheric effects of climate on the landscape. Weather and ambiance, the wilderness and the Sublime, Mangolte articulates the shifting ways of looking at Nature, from the nineteenth to twentieth centuries, and her keen cinematographer’s eye captures an awe and reverence for the American wilderness. The Sky on Location confronts us with a vision of the natural world, translated into a palette of ambient colour and visceral mood.
Visible Cities, Babette Mangolte, USA, 1991, 16mm, 31 minutes, English
Finally, in Visible Cities, two women looking for a home in Southern California realise, in Mangolte’s words, that “the single-family home [is] the locus of the exclusion of the other. It is also unaffordable. They both feel as if they are invisible citizens. They witness how the architectural landscape imposed on the California desert appears as a reversal of nature, where exclusive living, gated communities and segregation go hand in hand. They dream of escape.”
As part of this event, filmmaker Babette Mangolte was in conversation with Laura Mulvey, Birkbeck, and Lucy Reynolds, University of Westminster.
With the support of Open City Documentary Festival.
This second programme devoted to the work of Babette Mangolte focuses on her trilogy of films about landscape: There? Where?, The Sky on Location and Visible Cities. These essay films are both studies of specific locations and a sustained reflection about the art of landscape cinematography.
Films: There? Where?, Babette Mangolte, USA, 1979, 16mm, 8 minutes, English
The filmmaker describes the first film, There? Where?, as “a naive look at Southern California by an outsider, and/or an essay on displacement through the disjunction of Californian images and off screen voices. Where is the location of these voices, here or there? Are the images near or far in relation to the voices? Are the images commenting on the images or vice versa?”
The Sky on Location, Babette Mangolte, USA, 1982, 16mm, 78 minutes, English
Documenting seasonal changes across the American West, from Wyoming to Oregon, the second film, The Sky on Location, is an affecting meditation on untamed nature and the atmospheric effects of climate on the landscape. Weather and ambiance, the wilderness and the Sublime, Mangolte articulates the shifting ways of looking at Nature, from the nineteenth to twentieth centuries, and her keen cinematographer’s eye captures an awe and reverence for the American wilderness. The Sky on Location confronts us with a vision of the natural world, translated into a palette of ambient colour and visceral mood.
Visible Cities, Babette Mangolte, USA, 1991, 16mm, 31 minutes, English
Finally, in Visible Cities, two women looking for a home in Southern California realise, in Mangolte’s words, that “the single-family home [is] the locus of the exclusion of the other. It is also unaffordable. They both feel as if they are invisible citizens. They witness how the architectural landscape imposed on the California desert appears as a reversal of nature, where exclusive living, gated communities and segregation go hand in hand. They dream of escape.”
As part of this event, filmmaker Babette Mangolte was in conversation with Laura Mulvey, Birkbeck, and Lucy Reynolds, University of Westminster.
With the support of Open City Documentary Festival.
Previews
1 - EFF17S4 Introduction (EFF17S4 Mangolte Three Landscapes introduction 26-3-2017.MP3)
2 - EFF17S4 Discussion Part 1 (EFF17S4 Mangolte Three Landscapes discussion (1) 26-3-2017.MP3)
3 - EFF17S4 Discussion Part 2 (EFF17S4 Mangolte Three Landscapes discussion (2) 26-3-2017.MP3)
Collection Method
The Essay Film Festival ran between 2015 and 2023, and presented a global range of contemporary and restored essayistic works. The events are now archived here for research purposes.
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Metadata
| Dataset Title: | [EFF17S4] Session 4: Three Landscape Films by Babette Mangolte |
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| Creators: | Temple, Michael and Barrington, Matthew |
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| Dataset Contributors: |
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| Subjects: | |||||||||||||
| Data collection method: | The Essay Film Festival ran between 2015 and 2023, and presented a global range of contemporary and restored essayistic works. The events are now archived here for research purposes. |
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| Collection period: |
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| Statement on legal, ethical, and access issues: | All film stills were provided by participating artists. |
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| Depositing User: | Emma Yapp | ||||||||||||
| Date Deposited: | 11 Aug 2026 14:32 | ||||||||||||
| Last Modified: | 11 Aug 2026 14:32 | ||||||||||||
| Publisher: | Birkbeck College, University of London |
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