Olympic fragments

United States, 1980

Film

Commissioned for the 1980 Winter Olympic Games in Lake Placid, New York, Olympic Fragments is a taut, expressive reinterpretation of athletic movement, a tour-de-force of dynamic editing and post-production techniques. Through sophisticated visual and aural juxtapositions, Fitzgerald and Sanborn isolate the gestures and movements of athletes in a controlled, powerful display. Eschewing the ‘thrill of victory’ tradition of broadcast television sports coverage, they allow a portrait of individual skill and grace under pressure to emerge from their manipulation of highly fragmented and choreographed imagery — what they term the ‘skill, beauty and sheer joy of kineticism.’

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Collection

In ACMI's collection

Credits

creator

John Sanborn

Kit Fitzgerald

editor

Bob Artell

John J. Godfrey

Duration

00:10:35:00

Production places
United States
Production dates
1980

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

B1000100

Language

English

Audience classification

unclassified

Colour

Colour

Holdings

Digital Betacam [PAL]; Master

Digital Betacam [PAL]; Sub-master

VHS [PAL]; Reference - timecoded

MOV file ProRes4444; Digital Preservation Master - overscan

MPEG-4 Digital File; ACMI Digital Access Copy - overscan

Please note: this archive is an ongoing body of work. Sometimes the credit information (director, year etc) isn’t available so these fields may be left blank; we are progressively filling these in with further research.

Cite this work on Wikipedia

If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/107928--olympic-fragments/ |title=Olympic fragments |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=21 June 2025 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}