Night on Bald Mountain

The modern-day witches’ sabbath takes place in a New York apartment (or at a black-tie dinner or conference), or in a suburban elementary school converted into a community center after a fashion (flashlights herd the participants in). Alexeieff & Parker dimly perceive and darkly describe what happens. The cumbrous forms of human existence fall away, a general throng of evil brings forth a naked old man who tips his hat with his head still in it and hurls it at you.

Prayer comes before morning. The false dawn is rolled up as a screen, the steamer in the lake emits a puff that transforms the whole scene into peacefulness and contentment.

The technique combines pinscreen with optical printing to superimpose images, and a tracking shot through a model landscape of dark trees.