Filmklub 2011

FILMKLUB 2011 at Future Garden

PROGRAMME

13.12.2010 – EXPERIMENTAL SHORT DOC NIGHT: FILMS OF ETHNOCINECA

CAUGHT IN BETWEEN DARKNESS AND LIGHT
Alessandra D’Onofrio | Italy, France, Great Britain 2009 | 16 Min. | OV

Whilst intertwining narratives of people’s life stories, this experimental video composed by still images and audio recordings, aims to give an alternative representation of refugee experiences of flight to those offered by most official media, by giving importance to the voices and individual stories of struggle, determination, disorientation and hope. These are the stories of a journey perceived through the metaphors of the imaginary, which infuse some meaning to otherwise absurd and depriving circumstances.

MESSAGE TO HUMANITY
Ernesto Livon-Grossman | Argentina 2008 | 5 Min. | OV

A poetry performance that builds a narrative based on the abstract phonetic representation of different languages. The video extends this exploration through the interplay with found footage and navigates the moment of contact between word and image.

INTIME/MONDE
Yuen Yeung Fun | Canada 2010 | 23 Min. | OV

Intimate/World is a multidisciplinary project of video creation, associating image, research, sound creation, and the intervention of a performer. Sound creation is at the centre of the project and questions the notion of place, environment, proximity or distance. Intimate/World is a photography in movement in a monumental architecture, the city of Hong Kong, overwhelming, crossed by the performer.


17.01.2011

I AM JESUS
Valerie Blankenbyl and Heloisa Sartorato | Austria, Romania, Great Britain, Brazil 2010 | 75 Min. | OmeU)

I am Jesus is a documentary that was co-directed by Valerie Gudenus and Heloisa Sartorato. It portrays three communities that have formed around different characters claiming to be the Second Coming of Christ. An organic farming community in Siberia has evolved around a charismatic, but introvert man called Vissarion. His teachings focus on developing a society prepared to survive in a scarce future. In Brazil INRI Cristo, a simple but educated man has become a media phenomenon. While appearing in almost every TV show of the country he has built a safe haven for his mainly female followers.David Shayler is a former secret service agent in the UK who has become spiritual after going to prison. He is part of a young squatting community fighting capitalism and rejecting the system. The documentary shows the everyday life of each community and explores differences and similarities between them while raising questions about leadership and spiritual belonging.


21.02.2011

COWBOYS IN INDIA
Simon Chambers | Great Britain, India 2009 | 77 Min. | OV

British journalist Simon Chambers, director of this gently self-mocking travelogue, journeys to India in the hope of finding the answer to an honorable journalistic question: is it possible for a large industrial company to help a local community through charity? But the local community of Orissa will surely regret the day that Chambers drove into their town. First off, he recruits guides whose competence turns out to be questionable: on a mountain climb, they are unable to locate the promised river water, the chauffeur takes off, and the remaining guides come up with all kinds of excuses – from leg pains to toothaches – to avoid working. But Chambers’ amusing lament (accompanied by a Western-style soundtrack) changes tone when he discovers the real reason for his guides’ reluctance. Vedanta, the British mining company that he is investigating, holds the entire community in its grip. Rumors surrounding the murder of a resistance leader feed fears of reprisals by Vedanta, which is suspected of dubious practices. Chambers stumbles upon hospitals built by Vedanta with no doctors, toxic waste dumps, and stories of trucks running people over, but he seldom uncovers the truth. In the end, Chambers has to change his opinion of the guides. He realizes that far from being wimps, they are heroes for daring to accompany the foolish foreigner despite threats from Vedanta.