curated by Ricarda Vidal - at 3pm on saturday 15 March
Behind every image there is a story and behind every story there is an image. Though one is inclined to think that there is more to life than what we see, that one has to tear away the veil of appearance and scratch the surface to find the truth of ‘real life’, sometimes it is the surface that tells us more than the stories behind it. The films of ‘The Stuff of Life’ all explore the art and artifice of story-telling. At the core of all of them there is a real event, an experience of ‘real life’.
The programme also includes three shorts made by the art students of Morpeth School during a four-week workshop led by Josephine Wood.
Vacancy
Dir: Matthias Müller
Brazil/Germany, 1998, 13:52 min, 16 mm
Brasília, the 'city of hope', 'the ultimate utopia of the 20th century' (Umberto Eco), is being conserved as a cultural heritage today. It is a place as old as the filmmaker. Segments of amateur footage and of feature films shot on location in the early sixties are inserted in his 1998 travelogue. The utopian city as represented in VACANCY is a place abandoned from its inhabitants, a museum kept alive by its staff only.
Weirdo
(Dziwadio)
Dir: Ireneusz ‘Parkos’ Prokopiuk
Poland, 2006, 8:50 min, DVD
A tongue-in-cheek documentary about the strange sightings of an ape in a forest close to a small village in rural North-Eastern Poland. A film about the origin of stories and the beautiful simplicity of real life.
E3
Dir: Robert Seidel
Germany/UK, 2002, 3:00min
In E3 (∞, E = eternity, 3 = 3 month) Seidel captures explores the transition from water colour and gouache painting into the moving image. The movie is a 3-month-diary he created while studying in the UK. It captures the beginning, with all its enthusiasm, energy and more or less sub-conscious hope that things develop differently in a new space. Followed by the phase where everything slows down to finally result in a complete breakdown into everyday life. This cycle happens over and over again, in all scales, in all relations … sometimes it can be a cosy, pleasant state … while at other times it seems like Don Quixote fighting against windmills …
Under Construction
Dir: Zhenchen Liu
France, 2007, 10 min, Beta SP Pal 16:9
Due to Shanghai’s regeneration scheme, old buildings are being demolished, and consequently almost 100,000 families are being forced to move each year. Under Construction explores the human implications of the operations of the Shanghai Planning Office and its Property Developers. Photographs are composed and animated in documentary shots. The film proposes a haunting journey through the destruction of an entire inner city district.
Lavé
Dir: Daan Milius & Tim Rutten
Netherlands, 2007, 9:52 min, DVD
In a dark bar a mini-society drowned in apathy appears to its anonymous audience. Time and space seem to move independently of each other, set to work by the camera. While time passes, time itself seems to go back and forth, only to come to its final destination.
Hey Jimmy
Dir: Ming-Chieh Sung
Taiwan, 2004,15:41 min, DV-NTSC
Hey Jimmy is a short documentary about "Black Jimmy", a black Taiwanese drag queen. The piece considers the socio-cultural complexities of the protagonist's mixed parentage. Inspired by Yu-Huan Lee's music this contemporary urban narrative incorporates animation to create an affectionately comical insight into Taiwan's youth culture.
Rally
Dir: Yasu Ichige,
UK, 1996
In Rally a racing driver in full garb takes part in a bloodcurdling race on an amusement arcade game. He handles his vehicle so adroitly that he breaks a record. Pleased, he stands up and leaves the pub where the machine is located. This absurd mixing of two worlds - the virtual and the real, the safe and unsafe – puts things in perspective and corresponds with Ichige next film Burnout, where the racing driver reappears. This time, however, in a real car. Nonetheless the driving experience is as unproductive as in Rally.
Burnout
Dir: Yasu Ichige
UK, 1996, 3:45 min
Burnout is a film about futility, absurdity, stubbornness and beauty. It starts and ends with a long still shot of a tranquil sea on an overcast day. The tranquil maritime images form the frame for Ichige's Burnout, which is filmed on a parking next to the seafront and literally explores the systematic burning out of car tyres by stubbornly driving a car against the low wall that separates the parking from the beach. Despite or perhaps because of the apparent absurdity of the action the images of the white hot smoking rubber are stunningly beautiful. At the same time they reflect the unimportance of human action in the face of the overpowering force of nature, the tranquil indifferent sea with its endless repetition of lazy rolling waves.
Out There (tbc)
Dir: Herve Constant
UK, 2006, 10min, 4:3
Guy de Maupassant’s chilling tale of a man’s descent into madness “The Horla” was published shortly before the author was institutionalised for insanity. Indeed, the author worked for years on “The Horla”’s themes and form, first drafting it as “Letters of a Madman”, then telling it from a doctor’s point of view, before finally releasing the terrified protagonist to speak for himself in its devastating final version. The film is a direct adaptation of Maupassant’s story, using minimal visual and audio resources to subtly change a simple room into a threatening and alien environment.
+ three films made by pupils of Morpeth School, during workshops with artist Josie Wood:
Do you believe in ghosts? 3.5 mins
by Rupa Akthar, Fatema Begum & Salma Begum
Metamorphosis 1 min
by Rimu Begum, Farhana Begum & Farzana Khatun
Mind Your Head 2.5 mins
by Indea Barbe-Wilson
For more information about the artist and their films please email Ricarda at ricarda@bettingonshorts.com
