Before We Knew Nothing (1987) by Diane Kitchen
Thursday, April 21, 1988, 8:00 pm
Before We Knew Nothing By Diane Kitchen
Diane Kitchen in person
Before We Knew Nothing, 1987, 62 min., West Coast Premiere
“In filming Before We Knew Nothing, Diane Kitchen spent 7 months in the jungles of Peru sharing in the life of the Ashaninka Indians … The presence of the camera is neither hidden nor flaunted; its field of vision does not become hegemonic … On the one hand her images have a speculative fugitive feel to them, producing in the viewer alternating responses of insight or puzzlement or both at the same time. On the other hand, her images are scrupulously matter-of-fact, devoid of ‘poeticisms’ They make us see what is in front of us as if for the first time.” — Ackbar Abbas.