The Pool Group: Borderline

The film Borderline, by the Pool Group (Bryher, H. D., Kenneth Macpherson), was produced in 1930, when psychoanalytic-(sur)realist cinema was at its height. Because of the racial and sexual topics dealt with in the film, it is considered a pioneering work today. The group hired African American singer and civil rights activist Paul Robeson and his wife, Eslanda, for the film, which was one reason for the film’s limited reception in the 1930s. The group also published a magazine about cinema as a modern art form. Bryher, H. D., and Kenneth Macpherson lived together and were involved in a bisexual, three-way relationship.

François Bovier gave an introduction about the importance of the Pool group, which was followed by a screening of their film Borderline.

The event was supported by the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia.

François BOVIER teaches history of cinema at the University of Lausanne. His PhD dissertation, H. D. et le groupe Pool: des avant-gardes littéraires au cinéma visionnaire, was published in 2009.