Subjective Places

Wednesday 9.11.2011 / 20:00 h / BALi Cinemas

It is rarely obvious what a place really is. A shopping street, a football pitch, a bridge, a pine tree in a court yard. Trivial places at first sight which spring to life and become complex when people tell us their story about them. Taking us from Dakar to Greenland, the films in this program introduce us to places with the subjective view of a personal narrative. They play with the contrast between what we see and what we hear, and thereby trigger our curiosity for a life from a different angle.

SUSYA

A 60-year-old Palestinian and his son arrive at an archeological site of an ancient Jewish settlement and buy tickets to enter. This is their only way to return to their abandoned home village, which they have not visited for 25 years.

ECHOES

ECHOES is a soundscape documentary which takes place on a little island in Greenland, home to Anna Kuitse and her husband, sharing the (love) story about two people who met here in in the midst of international politics and war. The music documentary was recorded on abandoned military locations in Greenland, and it incorporates the sounds, structures and colours of the mosaic landscape of steep mountains. The film takes the viewer on a hypnotic journey through remnants from the Cold War and the Second World War left in the midst of breathtaking nature.

Home and away

The bigger and more chaotic a city is, the harder it becomes to find a random location. One that isn’t in the guidebooks.
Istanbul is one of the more impressively chaotic cities I have visited, but it seems there is always somebody who knows somebody who maybe knows the way. Insignificant places seem to almost disappear; they are impossible to find by cab drivers and even people from the neighbourhood. You have to be from there to get there. On the other hand, famous locations in a big city become navigation marks. Their reputation transcending the physical appearance.
The footage in the video are shots from locations I was referred to as I was searching for the interviewees’ houses in Esenler, Yeşilpınar, Kadırga and Yalova. These are accompanied by takes from the locations they named as special places in the city.
The work depicts life of three young people in Istanbul right now - Emir, Fazilet and Uğur. They contain longing from periphery to the centre, for freedom of choice, for better cultural infrastructure, for nature.

A Paradise Tree

The video work by Ugnius Gelguda documents the rise of a new neighbourhood of artists in Vilnius, Lithuania, which is often artificially compared to the New York’s SoHo.
A PARADISE TREE explores the boundaries of documentary and tells about the first forced steps of a new urban community. The story is ‘told’ through a hypertext link with the less known video work A Walk by Jonas Mekas created in 1990. During this one hour walk across the rainy SoHo neighbourhood, Mekas gives an intimate and chaotic recital of neighbourhood creation, tells about the first tree planted in the then industrial area by himself and his colleague Machiunas, and notes the transformation of SoHo streets and their inhabitants. Ugnius Gelguda’s video work revisits a community sustained by the relationship of an urban space and a uniting idea, and the inevitable change of this relationship under the influence of time and strong commercial mechanisms. The video camera slowly follows the shapes of lofts that are being set up on Sevcenkos Street as well as the carcass of a former factory which still exists but has already changed its function, combining the views of rough and dull buildings with the hopes of future settlers and thus transplanting real spaces into a fictional or potential story.

Look

A panoramic portrait of football fields and fortune camps in Keur Masaar/Malika in the outskirt of Dakar commented by an inhabitant from the neighbourhood. Images on and off-screen (and off-side) of these football places which are ever present in Senegalese society.

The High Level Bridge

Edmonton’s High Level Bridge is a frequent spot for suicides. Trevor Anderson documents the bridge’s history and its place in collective psychology with insight and wit. Finding humour in dark territory, The High Level Bridge showcases chilling shots of the North Saskatchewan River, and pays homage to the people and events surrounding an odd landmark.