Monkey’s Birthday

“Monkey’s Birthday extends that inner voyage into an externalised odyssey in which Larcher and his crew wander across Europe. Years of travelling and filming were finally edited into the six hours of footage which represents ‘Monkey’s Birthday’. The film is at once a diary of that voyage, a romanticisation of the quest implicit in the conceit of the wandering protagonist, and a universalisation of that quest beyond the individual protagonist” – (Henrik Hendrikson)”In his film ‘Monkey’s Birthday’ (1975) David Larcher used diaristic footage as a basis for a long, highly romantic mediation on light and color that was substantially structured through re-photography (optical-printing). Besides being based around the LFMC, most of these artists shared a common preoccupation with the material qualities of film and with the nature of illusion, duration, and the structuring of experience.” – (The British avant-garde film, 1926-1995: an anthology of writings)