I posted this entry in "nouvelle vague" and got no response whatsoever. So I'm trying it out here: I have the feeling that these people's work should be better known (and probably will be):

Has anyone heard of the Straub-Huillet couple?

It's pretty austere stuff: don't even consider watching one of their films if you haven't slept enough the night before. But when you can summon up the energy to focus it can really work. Especially, if you like hearing actors reciting verses from Holderlin or lines from Pavese or Cézanne while you"re staring at 5mn long virtually still shots of the most amazing scenery, long enough for you to actually start realizing what your eyes are doing when they're looking at something still and what your brain is doing with the stuff you're hearing when there's nothing else you can do. Very uncompromising!

Sadly, Danielle Huillet died of cancer a few weeks ago and this was mostly unnoticed, which is odd because quite a few people (Godard, Deleuze) regard this demanding work as really "important stuff."

i think their "Chronicles of Anna Magdalena Bach" exist in DVD format in the USA. (haven't seen that one yet: it's on this week in Paris) "

I feel like adding that ultimately their work is deeply political. It is difficult to figure out in what sense in some of the films (Cézanne, Empedocles) but some of them are very clearly marxist orientated.

I think what impresses me and stimulates me the most is their degree of ideological and aesthetic independance.