HaFI 023 [Document]: Teri Wehn Damisch – Filmography (A Selection)
In the upcoming issue HaFI 023: Teri Wehn Damisch: Transatlantic Crossings Between the Arts (ed. Christa Blümlinger) we are publishing a short compilation of Teri Wehn Damisch’s filmic work. This online filmography complements it and remains a selection.
Screenwriting, Script and/or Executive Production (selection)
Zig Zag (1976-1981)
A monthly arts program produced by France Télévision, including:
Sonia Delaunay, dir. Yves Kovacs, 1976, 34 min.
La décade de l’illusion, dir. Pierre Desfons, 1976, 30 min.
Motherwell, rêve et réalité, dir. Yves Kovacs, 1977, 30 min.
Les plus fortes parties de Marcel Duchamp, dir. Pierre Desfons, 1977, 2 parts, 26 and 30 min.
65 ans de photographie : André Kertézs, dir. Yves Kovacs, 1977, 25 min.
Etienne-Jules Marey ou la mémoire de l’œil, dir. Claude Ventura, 1978, 27 min.
Malévitch, ou l’impatience des limites 1878-1935, dir. Yves Kovacs, 1978, 33 min.
Hommage à Gaëtan Picon : L’œil double, dir. André Gaultier, 1979, 24 min.
Tomi Ungerer, dir. José Maria Berzosa, 1981, 33 min.
Lumière ! Lumière ! première partie : les primitifs de la photographie, seconde partie : les autochromes, dir. Pierre Desfons, 1981, 2 x 30 min.
Ping Pong (1977-1982)
A collection of films accompanying the Centre Pompidou’s intercultural exhibitions for France Télévisions, including:
Paris–New York, première partie : 1905-1940, seconde partie : 1940-1977, dir. Pierre Desfons, 1977, 83 min. and 87 min.
Paris-Berlin 1900-1933, Rapports et contrastes, Un soir au cabaret, Un déjeuner au Bauhaus, Une enquête sur le Landwehrkanal, 1979, dir. Pierre Desfons, 60 min., 65 min., 65 min. and 61 min.
Paris–Paris ou le temps d’une génération, 1936-1958, 1. L’espoir 1936-1944, 2. La réalité 1945-1958, dir. Yves Kovacs, 1983, 61 min. and 67 min.
Moscou-Paris, dir. Jean-Michel Meurice, 1982, 28 min.
Domino (1983-1984)
A monthly arts magazine produced by TF1 (8 episodes), including:
Les dites cariatides, dir. Agnès Varda, 1984, 13 min.
Photographie et cinéma, dir. Alain Fleischer, 1984, 13 min.
Les nouvelles distorsions d’André Kertész, dir. Teri Wehn Damisch, photography: Hubert Lhommelais, 1984, 13 min.
Film Direction
Photographie et Société, d’après Gisèle Freund, 1. Images de la réalité, 2. Réalité de l’image, co-written with Gisèle Freund, Prod. TF1, with the support of the Ministère de la Culture, France, 1983, 2 x 26 min., 16 mm
Sept pièces faciles pour Jean Paul Gaultier, TF1, documentary series “Passions–Passions,” France, 1984, 8 min.
L’État de piège ou la filière marseillaise, Prod. Les Films du Rond Point/ France 3 Régions Marseille, INA, Méditerranée Film Production, France, 1985, 52 min., 16 mm
An Age of Reason, An Age of Passion, Prod. PBS (Public Broadcasting Service USA), series “The History of Western Art,” France, 1986, 52 min.
André dans les villes : Budapest – Paris – New York. Un Portrait d’André Kertész, Prod. TF1 with the support of the CNAP (Centre National des Arts Plastiques), France, 1986, 16 mm, 52 min. / André Kertész of The Cities, Broadcast PBS, 1988, 52 min., 16 mm
Hans Namuth, Instants données, co-dir. Jean-Michel Vecchiet, Prod. Les Films du grain de sable, France, 1988, 26 min.
Voyage Surprise d’Alexandre Trauner, Prod. INA (Institut National de l’Audiovisuel), Télé Europe, La Sept France,1991, 60 min., 35 mm
Traité du Trait avec Hubert Damisch, Prod. Musée du Louvre (Service Culturel: Unité audiovisuelle/Arts et éducation) with the Centre Pompidou, Broadcast : Paris Première (series “Canal du savoir”), France, 1996, 45 min., Betacam SP
Robert Morris: The Mind/Body Problem, Prod. Centre Pompidou with the Délégation aux arts plastiques and the Ministère de la Culture, France, 1995, 45 min., Betacam SP
Work in Progress – Robert Morris: Blind Time, Prod. Centre Pompidou and Ministère de la Culture, France, 1995, 26 min., Betacam SP
Dis-moi quel est ton pays, la France ou l’Allemagne ? Strasbourg dans l’entre-deux guerres », Prod. ARTE (Theme: “Alsace between openness and withdrawal”), Carmin Films, France, 1996, 56 min.
Luciano Fabro : Vademecum, Prod. Les Films d’ici, Paris Première, DAP (Délégation aux arts plastiques), and the Centre Pompidou, CNC (Centre national de la Cinématographie), Castello di Rivoli, Museo d’arte contemporaneo/Turin, Procirep, France, 1996, 52 min., Betacam SP
New York, N. Y., Prod. Les Films d’ici, France 5, Series “L’écume des villes,” France, 1999, 52 min.
Le Temps Vite, “Un instaaaaaant” and “Viiiiiiiite,” Prod. Les films d’ici, Centre Pompidou, France 5, Paris Première, France, 2000, 52 min.
Sur la longueur d’onde de Michael Snow : zoom arrière / On Snow’s Wavelength: Zoom Out, Prod. Lapsus, ARTE, France, 2001, 56 min., Digital Betacam
Tresse ou le voyage à Laversine: François Rouan et Hubert Damisch, Prod. Mirage Illimité, DAP (Délégation aux arts plastiques), CNC (Centre national de la Cinématographie), France, 2005, 26 min., Digital Betacam
Citizen Lambert : Jeanne d’Architecture / Citizen Lambert : Joan of Architecture, Prod. ONF/NFB (National Film Board of Canada), Les Films de la Perrine, Philia Films, France, 2007, 52 min., Digital Betacam
Françoise Héritier, la pensée de la différence, Prod. Cinétévé, Broadcast on France 5, series “Empreintes: la collection documentaire” (Imprints: The Documentary Collection), France, 2009, 52 min, Digital Betacam
Julia Kristeva, Histoires d’amour et de passerelles, Prod. Cinétévé, Broadcast on France 5, series “Empreintes: la collection documentaire,” France, 2011, 52 min, Digital Betacam
Umberto Eco derrière les portes, Prod. Cinétévé/ARTE, France, 2012, 52 min., Digital Betacam
Les Enfants Otages de Bergen Belsen, co-written with Raymond Riquier, Prod. Cinétévé/France 5, France, 2013, 52 min., Digital Betacam
L’art d’avancer masquée, Jacqueline Salmon, photographe, Prod. Hôtel des Arts (Toulon), France, 2016, 52 min., Digital Betacam
No, Painting is not dead – Painting and Postmodernism, with Barbara Rose, Roberto Polo Productions, Belgium/USA, 2018, 45 min., Digital Betacam
Michelle Perrot, dans l’intimité des chambres, Cinétévé/France Télévisions, Complices Films, France, 2024, (public premiere), television broadcast scheduled for 2025, 52 min., Digital Betacam
Independent films (made for an exhibition and/or not for distribution) and other audiovisual productions
Tresse/ Voyage à Laversine, dir. with François Rouan and Hubert Damisch, Villeneuve d’Ascq, 1995, 25 min., Bétacam numérique
Essai de description d’un objet: Le Labyrinthe de Robert Morris à la fattoria di Celle, dir. with Hubert Damisch, Italy, France, 1999, 6 min., DV cam
Michael Snow with Paul Dutton and Oswald, The CCMC trio, filmed at the Music Gallery Toronto, 1999
Jean Dubuffet, Le Spectacle de la Vie, Prod. Fondation Dubuffet, CD-ROM, 2001
Je me souviens/Micro Mondes, Centre Pompidou, France, 2013, 11 min., (an animated film about Teri Wehn Damisch’s collection of miniature monuments)
Hubert Damisch, déplacé, Prod. C.R.A.L. (EHESS), France, 2013, 16 min., DV cam
La Modernité – Promesse et Menace, co-author: Jean Louis Cohen, produced by the Institut Français and the Cité de l’Architecture, created for the French Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale, France, 2014, “cinematic collage,” four parts projected simultaneously, Betacam SP
A contre-pente, a visit to Le Corbusier’s convent, Sainte Marie de La Tourette, with Hubert Damisch, Jacqueline Salmon, and Marc Chauveau, edited by Elsa Laurent, 2014, 16 min.
Stanislaw Ignacy Witkievicz (1885-1939) : Visages photographiés de près, produced as part of the series “Visages photographiques, de près et de loin,” Prod. Galerie de France, with the support of the Ministère de la Culture, the Patrimoine de Pologne and the Institut Adam Mickiewicz, Editing: Etienne Zucker, Paris, France, 2015, 22 min.
Script
Les suaires de Véronique, literary adaptation, co-written with Pierre Desfons, dir. Pierre Desfons, Antenne 2, France, 1980, 60 min., 16 mm
Flagrant Délit, animated film, co-written with Madelon Vriesendorp, based on her drawings, dir. Jean-Pierre Jacquet, Prod. Cartoon Farms, France 2/INA, 10 min., 1979; English version exhibited under the title In the Act at MoMA/New York, 2016
Biographical note
Teri Wehn Damisch is a French-American documentary filmmaker, born in Paris in 1936. She emigrated to the United States in 1941. After studying at Yale University, she began her television career in educational programming at New York’s WNYC/TV. She chose Paris as her home with philosopher and art historian Hubert Damisch. In 1970, Pierre Schaeffer invited her to join his research team at ORTF (French national television and radio broadcasting company). In 1971, Jean-Marie Drot hired her as an artistic collaborator and set photographer for his film Le raid américain. Between 1976 and 1982, she was executive producer, screenwriter, and journalist for numerous documentary films for France Télévision and the Musées de France. In 1984, she obtained her director’s license from France Télévision and wrote and directed her own documentary films.
Source (biography): Centre Pompidou/MNAM-CCI/Kandinsky Library, Teri Wehn Damisch Collection (Entry No. 2013019) and INA/Institut national de l’audiovisuel, Teri Wehn Damisch Collection (Entry No. 27347).
April 30th, 2025 — Rosa Mercedes / 07