Tidewriters: The Lost Reel
TIDEWRITERS: THE LOST REEL documents the now legendary exploits of the novelist Edmond Jouvret, poet Bertrand Hébert, painter Claire Ribbonet, experimental linguist Dr. Laurence Crocker and other international artists, musicians and philosophers associated with the Tidewriters movement.
Amongst the Surrealists, Dadaist and other 20th century art groups, there is little known about The Tidewriters. Until now. In conjunction with the release of The Nambuli Papers, I produced the release of this rare footage, shot in France by Australian filmmaker George Beedy in 1957 while vacationing in Fréjus, a port town on the Côte d'Azur, southeastern France. In the film, Jouvret and other members of the Tidewriters travel to Paris to meet with painter Yves Klein, create spontaneous art works on street corners and cafés and then pursue transitory art along the beaches near their communal home in southern France.
After discovering this silent 8MM footage lost for over forty-five years, we tracked down George Beedy to record a director's commentary at Sandbury Studios in 1995.
This finished film is an important document, which provides new insights into the engaging and offbeat work of a highly influential group of near-forgotten artists.