October 23rd, 2013

Those who might think of Romy Schneider in the eponymous film by Claude Sautet, may be disappointed now - this will not be screened in this year's Viennale program.

Instead, other things of life are fully present by themselves, through ten works of the Sensory Ethnography Lab (Special Program): the obvious, the "too obvious",  therefore just outside our view, becomes the incentive of the images in these documentaries - rather anthropological studies. No search for traces a la world of wonder, no examination of the concealed, no romanticized nor psychologizing glimpses into hearts and minds, no interpretation of meaning and significance where they are within reach.
 
The rice that had fallen to the ground, the useless and the marriageable children, the strategies in the field and at home: the mother or grandmother, sits there and talks...her gait, her gestures, her spoken word - moments of everyday life in a village in Nepal (AS LONG AS THERE 'S BREATH)
In CHAIQIAN, controlled demolition of a neighborhood is documented, old things have to make way for new, housing estates are razed to the ground. Or : Old things are collected to return to the circuit: mirrors and exhaust pipes, alloy wheels and steering wheel columns, tires and more tires, in all dimensions, roofs, floors, windows and antennas : Nothing that this junkyard won't offer (FOREIGN PARTS)

The fact, that our ears contribute significantly to the formation of our worldview, is being proved in particular by the two works SWISS MOUNTAIN TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS, RADIO VERSION and DEAD ICE, that are dedicated to the aural aspects of things around us.

Furthermore, running in the Special : Sensory Ethnography Lab:
STILL LIFE, THE YELLOW BANK, SWEETGRASS, MANAKAMANA and the winners of last year's STANDARD-Viennale Audience Award: LEVIATHAN.

Trailer of MANAKAMANA