Watson Kintner1967 #12 Tunisia (1967)

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This item is part of the collection: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology Films

Producer: Watson Kintner
Audio/Visual: silent, color
Keywords: Souk; Mosques; Tunis; Marketplace.

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Reviewer: Eva Vikstrom - - March 17, 2008
Subject: An engineer with a movie camera

From the brief description of the Watson Kintner Collection you learn that Mr. Kintner was a chemical engineer and "an early pioneer in the standardization of the vacum tube". He travelled more than 30 countries from 1933 to 1969 and filmed over 400 reels with his 16mm camera. Most of these reels seem to be uploaded by now (416 items according to my search for "Kintner"). Tunisia 12 is the latest uploaded item. Mr. Kintner was 77 years old and visited Tunis in March 1967. The detailed shotlist says almost all. We start at the city gate and continue to a market where handicraft is sold. The wares are eagerly studied and we meet a young craftsman working with silver. Then we dive into the alleys of the Souk area and find other markets and places for overviews of the structure of the city, the minarets and the mosques. The last part of the reel gives glimpses of nomad women.

The reels I've seen from North Africa and the Middle East look very much the same, which doesn't mean that everything looked the same to Mr. Kintner. Obviously he was interested in traditional folk life - people, handicraft and architecture. His interest in architecture reveals the engineer. Many reels give glimpses of rural architecture rarely depicted. He admired Islamic architecture and studied the construction and mathematics of cupolas and the refined geometric patterns. I guess he filmed his own learning process. The footage of architectural details was hardly intended for others - it's too shaky to be watched for more than a few seconds. Mr. Kintner didn't care about contemporary life and politics at all, but he was interested in people and used the camera to communicate. Some people smiled, others turned away or looked grim. His curiosity shows the ethnocentrism of the Western world, but he wanted to see for himself.

Shotlist

Cat. Reel 303 1967 Reel 12 Tunisia Tunis. Mar. 8-9.

Arch of city gate.
Handicrafts for sale at a covered souk: jewelry, rugs, platters, purses.
Old guns for sale: firing mechanism (cu).
Bronze work for sale.
Chiseling design into bronze platter (8fps, cu).
Pounding silver inlay into bronze platter (cu).
Souk area: narrow street (see K*s notes on souks).
Wares: candy and nuts in baskets, tea services.
Embroidered wedding vests for men (cu).
Souk streets: view from elevation: note ventilation holes, a "street" under construction.
Houses, yards.
Minaret.
Minarets (distant) (*see K's notes on Tunis mosques).
Five decorated tiles (cu).
Minaret (100mm).
Wooden door with rail design.
Grille window.
Fish market: octopus for sale (cu).
Plucking live chickens (8fps).
Vegetable and flower markets (vivid cu of flowers).
Narrow souk streets.
Metal ware for sale: tea services, platters, pans, buckets.
Top of minaret (150 mm).
People (some underexposed).
Knife sharpener: portable foot-treadle grindstone.
Tea "garden".
Whisk brooms.
Baskets.
Heavy load carried on back in characteristic manner.
Mosque exterior: round domes.
Mosque dome interior.
Second hand clothes section.
Ships at dock at fish market.
Nomads filling variously shaped vessels at well: native clothing.
Small roadside vegetable market.
Nomad women at ease (several cu).