''Overture'' ( hu, Nyitány) is a 1965 Hungarian

short Short may refer to: Places * Short (crater), a lunar impact crater on the near side of the Moon * Short, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * Short, Oklahoma, a census-designated place People * Short (surname) * List of people known as ...

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

written by János Vadász. It won the Short Film Palme d'Or at the 1965 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

for Best Documentary Short.

Synopsis

After the opening title card, a white blur in the center of a black screen resolves to the shape of a chicken egg. We penetrate the shell, and watch, in time-lapse, the 21-day development of a chicken embryo, from a germ spot on the yolk to the emergence of the baby chick, compressed into under eight minutes, set to Beethoven's Egmont Overture.

Cultural influences

Film uses complete

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

's Ouverture to Egmont as soundtrack for image series featuring hatching bird, referencing rebellious nature of Egmont fighting for freedom despite all barriers. Beethoven's Egmont is a set of incidental music pieces for the 1787 play of the same name by

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as trea ...

. The film, nominated for

Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject) This is a list of films by year that have received an Academy Award together with the other nominations for best documentary short film. Following the Academy's practice, the year listed for each film is the year of release: the awards are annou ...

is described as "among the most ingenious pairings of music and image in the history of the festival."

References

External links

* 1965 films 1960s short documentary films 1965 documentary films 1965 short films 1960s Hungarian-language films Hungarian short documentary films Short Film Palme d'Or winners {{Hungary-film-stub