The Vipers film at Instanbul International Experimental Film Festival

The Vipers Film, 1955 is part of the Istanbul International Experimental Film Festival.

The Istanbul International Experimental Film Festival is a pioneering showcase of avant-garde and experimental cinema in Turkey. Their goal is to bring the best in contemporary experimental cinema from around the world to live audiences in Istanbul.

In 1955 Tajiri made his first film, The Vipers, on a 16 mm Kodak. He wanted to do a short semi-documentary on cannabis and hashish, which in 1955 were still relatively unknown to the public at large. ‘I wanted to make a short documentary-style film about marijuana and hashish, psychoactive drugs that in 1955 were still relatively unknown to the general public. They were mainly used by a small group of artists, jazz musicians, intellectuals, and North Africans. I wanted to visualize the ritual of rolling and lighting up a joint, and then put a series of seemingly unrelated images next to each other to represent the feeling of being high. When the movie was finished, we took it to the festival for 16mm films at Cannes, and won the Golden Lion for ‘Best Use of Film Language’. (Shinkichi Tajiri, Tajiri, 1993)

Excerpt from The Vipers Distributor: EYE Experimental, Amsterdam

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