Bike and Bolex 
2012, 16mm film, 6min 42s loop, no audio

Credits:
Director / Producer: Mai Hofstad Gunnes
Cast / Cinematography: Anne Misselwitz Miriam Troescher
Julia Weingarten Kirsten Weingarten Jenny-Lou Ziegel
Editor: Cristóvão dos Reis
First Assistant Director: Steinar Haga Kristensen
Make-up and Hair: Martin Rink Kathrin Richter

Bike and Bolex

2012, 16mm film, 6min 42s, no audio

When studying brochures for the old Super 8 camera or other amateur camera models, one notices that the illustrations mainly depict women posing with or operating the cameras. In the brochures of the professional or semi-professional camera models, however, the case is quite the opposite: men are always the operators.

In the 16mm film Bike and Bolex, a group of five professional female cinematographers bicycle in circular paths while filming each other with heavy Bolex cameras, an almost acrobatic action. The revolving movements captured by the five subjective cameras draw a molecular structure without a fixed center and convey an idea of a non-hierarchical multiple subjectivity.

Historically, Bolex film cameras were particularly important for early television news, nature films, documentaries, and avant-garde film. The 16mm spring-wound Bolex is still a popular introductory camera in film schools.

This project also included an artist book with the same title. The artist book Bike and Bolex resembles a camera manual. It features portraits of the five cinematographers with their respective cameras.