The Wall of Memories directed by Vlada Petric is a personal DV essay that has been over a decade in the making — the work of a lifetime.  The lengthy video (over two hours) details the professional and personal history of Professor Petric, who was the founding curator of the Harvard Film Archive and who also taught film studies courses at Harvard University from the 70s until his retirement in 1997.

The slightly uneven nature of the video belies its lengthy production schedule; at times it feels like a video demonstration of his classroom lectures, at others it feels like a marginal tutorial on the possibilities of digital wizardry in the editing room, with a seemingly endless succession of mutating images that often overstay their playful welcome.

Production on this film began in 1997 and it should be noted that The Wall of Memories prefigures the use of video essays as a new form of audio-visual film criticism.  The conceit of the film is a journey across a wall of mementos that adorns the office of Professor Petric — artifacts that have been amassed over the length of his career and that each have their own significance.  Ranging from a miniature replica of the famous sled “Rosebud” from Citizen Kane to the director’s own artistic assemblage (of film strips) inspired by Mondrian, each stop on one of these images affords an opportunity for extended contemplation in both a material and theoretical fashion, often with interesting results.  The images and analyses are not limited to film but also deal with photography, painting, theater and other art forms.  Petric is equally at home expanding on the beauties of all these diverse creative mediums.

Infused throughout with his biting sense of humor (sometimes even self-deprecating), the video never takes itself too seriously — though it does feature a number of solemn moments, such as a visit to Petric’s place of birth in Bosnia, where it is insinuated that it will be the last time he ever lays eyes on it.  Whatever structural shortcomings the video may have the possibility remains that The Wall of Memories is Professor Petric’s greatest critical work, certainly his most personal and emotional — his magnum opus so to speak.  As a pioneer in the field of academic film studies and one of its early memorable university professors, Petric has made a unique work of art that looks forward at the same time it gazes backwards.  As such, The Wall of Memories may have birthed itself as the first entry in a new critical canon it will ultimately represent.

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