Worlds longest film lasting 150 hours to be screened in France

Cinematon, the worlds longest film, which has a playtime of 150 hours and has taken 30 years to make is to be screened in France.

London, Nov 9 : Cinematon, the world's longest film, which has a playtime of 150 hours and has taken 30 years to make is to be screened in France.

The film was started in 1978 and comprises three and a half minute segments of footage from celebrities, artists, philosophers and journalists, as well as young children.

Filmed by Gerard Courant, who wanted to capture the thoughts of his artistic friends, the film allowed everyone in front of camera to do anything for three minutes and 25 seconds.

The film, which is an ongoing project, will be screened in Avignon later this month and in Paris in January.

The subjects who feature in Cinematon include film director Ken Loach, actors Roberto Benigni and Samuel Fuller, chess grandmaster Joel Lautier and former Monty Python Terry Gilliam.

Gilliam was filmed in 1985 when Courant happened to bump into him at the film festival in Deauville, France.

"He started off to one (of the camera), then came into the shot. He played with the frame, exiting and entering, and ate a 100 Franc note, making it into a little ball," the Telegraph quoted Courant as telling The Independent.

"He never stopped playing with the square, and never lost sight of the limit of the frame. The three minutes and 25 seconds with him is a true sketch," he added.

Initially, Courant only wanted to film100 short portraits and edit them together for his project, but the concept proved so popular that he kept filming.

One of his favourite sketches is that of a seven-month-old baby: "It shows the whole spectrum of human emotion in less than four minutes," he said.

ANI