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The Maltese Cross Movement

Name: The Maltese Cross Movement
Director: Alexander Keewatin Dewdney
Released: 1967
Duration: 7 min

Representation Score

0.0/10

Minimal

1967

Director

Alexander Keewatin Dewdney

Runtime

7 minutes

Average Rating

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New Showbiz Analysis

Alexander Keewatin Dewdney’s work is a structuralist meditation on the mechanics of film projection. It functions as a technical and philosophical exploration of the medium's physical constraints rather than a narrative experience. The film focuses on the 'Maltese cross' mechanism and the dialectic of movement, which results in a lack of traditional cast, dialogue, or character arcs. Without human subjects, the film does not engage with identity-based commentary or social representation. Ultimately, the low diversity score is a result of the genre. The film eschews the spectacle of human identity to study the rhythmic and mechanical essence of the cinematic apparatus.

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Category Breakdown

Does The Maltese Cross Movement have LGBTQ+ representation?

Minimal

The film focuses on the mechanical components and rhythmic movements of the projector. It does not include any characters or gendered identities, making this category inapplicable.

How does The Maltese Cross Movement portray gender?

Minimal

The work does not feature any human subjects. There are no portrayals of gendered hierarchies, as the focus is on the mechanical operation of the projector.

How racially and ethnically diverse is The Maltese Cross Movement?

Minimal

The film operates in a purely abstract, non-representational space. It does not use human actors or ethnic metaphors, focusing instead on light and mechanical motion.

How does The Maltese Cross Movement represent religion and culture?

Minimal

The film prioritizes the machine over any message. Its avant-garde philosophy challenges standard Western cinematic experiences through anti-narrative structures.

Does The Maltese Cross Movement include disability representation?

Minimal

There are no depictions of individuals or characters. Consequently, there is no representation of neurodivergence or physical disability within the work.

Present on Screen

Challenges conventional cinematic expectations by removing human spectacle.
Provides a unique, formalist deconstruction of the film medium's physical mechanics.

Limited or Absent

Lacks any human element, making it inaccessible for those seeking social or identity-based representation.
Does not engage with systemic or institutional critiques due to its abstract nature.

Official Synopsis

The film reflects Dewdney's conviction that the projector, not the camera, is the filmmaker's true medium. The form and content of the film are shown to derive directly from the mechanical operation of the projector - specifically the maltese cross movement's animation of the disk and the cross illustrates graphically (pun intended) the projector's essential parts and movements. It also alludes to a dialectic of continuous-discontinuous movements that pervades the apparatus, from its central mechanical operation to the spectator's perception of the film's images... (His) soundtrack demonstrates that what we hear is also built out of continuous-discontinuous 'sub-sets.' Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2009.

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