This march, Evaporating Borders took me to Tempo Documentary Film Festival in Stockholm where I met my friend Francesco Scarel who flew in from Trieste. Francesco showed up with a rabbit mask and since it was the first time in Sweden for the both of us we decided to hit the streets. We loved Stockholm so much it inspired us to record our wanderings, all through the eyes of the rabbit. We only had THREE DAYS, A RABBIT MASK, and an iPHONE to play with... and some obsessive thoughts to go along with the journey. In addition, a quote from Todd Haynes’ Poison was recently stamped on my brain and we used it as our starting point...this silly little short film is what came out as a result.
Love Comes Slyly, Like A Thief
I was also asked to come up with a theme and list of inspiring films that I’ve seen and would recommend. Since Stockholm had made a strong impression and our little rabbit film can in a way be read as a kind of tribute and portrait of Stockholm, the idea of portraits popped up on the surface as the main theme for this list. It would be a list of films that read as portraits of places, portraits of people, portraits of emotional states.
And here is what I came up with (in no particular order) ::: Enjoy <3
Belovy or The Belovs by Viktor Kossakovsky - 1992, Russia, 58min
“We are ordinary people, why would you want to film us?” - Anna’s confusion opens the film. And this may be too obvious a set up for the viewer, thought it does lure us into the curiosity of discovery. Magic indeed unfolds in the tiniest of moments, in gestures, in the combination of words, the ridiculous exchanges, the freedom of emotion. Kossakovsky knows that the extraordinary lives in the ordinary, that everything lives in nothing and by the last minutes of Belovy life itself begins to sing. You can see it here.
From the Reports Of Security Guards & Patrol Services No.1 by Helke Sander - 1985, Germany, 10min
A woman with a baby and small child sneaks into a contraction site. She straps her children onto herself and continues to climb up to the very edge of a crane that overlooks the city. She holds flyers and tosses them to fall onto the city. Based on a true story, the film a visceral portrait of desperation by a brilliant feminist filmmaker. See it here.
Costa Da Morte or Coast of Death by Lois Patiño - 2013, Spain, 81min
The Coast of Death situates the viewer into the lusciousness of the Spanish Galician coast and has them rest there, meditate. Each immaculate shot takes its leisurely time, it demands patience. It overstays its welcome and if the viewer chooses to stay with it, if they practice that patience, patience, patience…slowly you they transported into the sublime. Everything folds into that one moment and life simply is. The political and historical appears subtly and unobtrusively to soak the feet and embed the audience into its wet soil.
66 Scenes From America by Jørgen Leth - 1982, Denmark, 39min
In this film Jørgen Leth travels the Unites States to collect a series of postcards, literally 66 scenes. These postcards are intelligent, on the surface they fool us with what we’ve already seen but then penetrate deeper to concentrate on the nuance. Gorgeously filmed and brilliantly executed, it’s a portrait of a culture. Sprinkled throughout are iconic figures that represent it. See it here.
La Bocca del Lupo or The Mouth of The Wolf by Pietro Marcello - 2009, Italy, 68min
This is as much a portrait of Genoa as it is of Vincenzo Motta. Everything is mysterious and in beautiful decay here. While in prison he meets and falls in love with a transsexual prisoner Mary Monaco, and the two are reunited once they are both freed. The film oscillates between their love affair and the love affair with with the city itself. In a similarly poetic and musical way it travels between documentary and fiction, joy and sadness, beauty and ugliness…it all eventually blends into one.
Portrait Of Jason by Shirley Clarke - 1967, USA, 105min
Jason is a gay, black hustler and artist who laughing through the 105 minutes of this film tells us of orgies, scams, stories his youth, his abusive father, of Miles Davis. He sings, he performs and he gets more and more intoxicated as time progressed. The stories blend into each other as reality is diffused, and made unclear. The interviewers goad him to misery until he breaks down into tears. But which Jason is he authentic Jason? After all, Jason is not even his real name. Is his misery “put on” for the camera or it real? Is it a hustle? Are we being hustled? What’s real, what’s not? Through Jason, Shirley Clarke shows us her vision of life. See excerpt here.
The Private Life of Fenfen by Leslie Tai - 2013, USA, 29min
Leslie Tai’s filmic experiment is a story of a tragic love affair, in which she gives a camera to a young migrant worker in the south of China. Fenfen starts a video diary, confessing tales of her love life and eventually assembling 100 hours of footage. The footage is broadcast as a “live” reality show on TV screens in various migrant locations throughout China, including restaurants, hair salons, fruit shops. And Fenfen’s life is consumed as entertainment everyone watches her story unfold. The film is brilliantly conceived, again blurring the lines as we go down into he rabbit hole. Fenfen is on display, the viewers watch Fenfen and as they offer their side comments, they too are put on display, and we watch the viewers, watch Fenfen…See it here.