This material contained outtakes from Beckett's 1965 production, including a prologue long-thought lost.
[2] Notfilm reconstructs this prologue and integrates rare audio of Beckett's voice, surreptitiously recorded by Rosset, in a self-described "Kino Essay" that analyzes the philosophical foundation of Film, arguing it was an expression of Samuel Beckett's own distaste for the public eye.
Director Ross Lipman's narration outlines the philosophical foundation of Film as a rebuttal of the Irish philosopher George Berkeley’s premise that “to be is to be perceived.” Audio secretly recorded by Rosset at a production meeting leads into an examination of Beckett's own distaste for being filmed and photographed.
[6] It appeared on several Best of the Year lists, including Nicole Brenez's published in Artforum,[7] in The New Republic[8] and in Paste.
[9] Notfilm was reviewed in the Los Angeles Times, Film Comment, The New Yorker, The Village Voice and Slate.