Becoming Air

Ivan Melnychuk documents the changes in Kyiv, focusing on the ruins of buildings constructed from the late 60s for workers. As an architect, he observes the ‘improvements’ of public spaces, highlighting small gestures common in Ukraine. These actions, driven by pragmatism, involve occupying spaces without considering broader effects, reflecting a persistent situation where public spaces are subtly manipulated.

A human larva, viscous, faceless, covered in wounds, moves through an ordinary day of its existence: bathing, getting a haircut, watching its favorite film, and working on its art. A self-portrait about the loneliness and self-acceptance of filmmaking.

About this experimental short, director Robert Darroll wrote, "Ultimately everything is an interpretation of a reconstruction. Paleontology of the future is necessarily a reconstruction and interpretation of the present and our interpretation of the past as seen through the templates of a future ideology. The quest for new narrative forms, the investigation into the way we derive meanings, whether intended or not, determined the form of this work."

About this experimental short, director Robert Darroll wrote, "One meaning or many meanings? But not any meaning! A field of meaning. Better. Intended meaning? Yes, but not compelling. Conventional meaning? Definitely not. Is this a narrative? Yes, but new narrative has infinite possibilities for the viewer to collaborate with the author. It isn't finished after one reading." Intended as as an epilogue to Darroll's previous work Future Paleontology.

Maxed out, burnt out, and sex-starved, Amber Su falls under the spell of glamorous self-help guru Coco Ging, whose mentorship turns desire and ambition into different kinds of debt. Repression evolves into possession as Amber molts into a new ego: a worksona.

It is a documentary about mostly inner-city birds. It is meant to examine their lives in a more metropolitan context as they become increasingly tangled in our everyday lives.

In late August 2016, the band of Floating Points travelled to the Mojave desert to rehearse and record before their tour of the Southern states of America. Whilst visiting Joshua Tree national park, they were struck not only by its physical beauty, but also of the sonic reflections from the rock formations. A unique sound of reverb, echo and phase shifting modulating the sound from its surroundings.They took advantage of this environment to write and record some new music at the base of some of these natural sculptures which was documented in this short film.

13 figures de Sarah Beauchesne au 71, rue Blanche

One of Rimmer's early 2000s video works which he made by hand-painting 35mm film, running it on a flatbed viewer, and shooting it off the screen with a video camera to then subject it to further manipulation.

Smoke

Filmed on 16mm film, this visual expression is rooted in its archival materials and backed up by the poem by Hans Magnus Enzensberger. It speaks of the forgotten people, their lives and their deeds. These two Archives have been found on the flea market in Zagreb. One is of a famous architect and the other one is of a famous composer. This film ponders on this occurrence, on the vanishing of and forgetfulness of humans.

A 16mm archive from 1964 intervened as an emotional diary during the first three months of the COVID-19 pandemic is the basis of this film, reinterpreted in the montage of the sound design, in which the images are reinterpreted, emphasizing the soundscape of the protests from 2020 to 2023 in the streets of Cajamarca, Cusco and Lima, three regions of Peru, questioning the constant political and social crisis.

Through interspersed conversation and prose, this experimental documentary follows a poet and a neuroscientist as they explore the definition of love, what it means, and why it matters.

How do German couples communicate in private? What are they arguing about? Is the way to a man’s heart really through his stomach? This docu-fictional hybrid production discusses such questions with the help of authentic interview snippets that were edited under the staged plot. We get an insight into the life of an animal couple, who experience typical everyday situations on behalf of us humans. At first, our fox is emotionally contained, while the penguin lady may get wild as hell. With a wink, the filmmakers hold up a mirror to the audience in the cinema.

A short experimental film that thematizes dreams and nightmares in a surrealistic way. The basis of the movie is found in the poetry created by the two directors, so the film partly seems like stringed lyrical motifs, open to arbitrary interpretation, giving the impression of poetic images arranged in sequences. Combined techniques were used, so in addition to recording with a camera, pixilation, object animation, collage and liquid animation are featured.

Fireworks

Six million tons, suspended by the slightest gesture. Mother of the World presents a series of brief vignettes of Cairo just prior to the 2011 Egyptian Revolution. These fragmented scenes choreograph class structure and foreign influence into an intimate, poetic view of a nation about to change.

GIRI CHIT tells a tale of the subtle trace of irreconcilable worlds. A worker driving a mobile sweeper in hypnotic circles across an already immaculate surface. The high drama of cosplay aficionados clamoring to be seen. A cast of thousands toiling hundreds of feet above the street. Giri translates as ‘duty’ in Japanese, but the concept is in fact far more complicated. Giri is a sort of interpersonal political capital that informs careers, family relations, and much more. Its presence and flow is palpable in Japan, where this film was shot. A “giri chit” then may be a hypothetical voucher for this intangible flow (with a tip of the cap to Thomas Pynchon’s “Vineland”). Selected Screenings and Awards: DaVinci Film Festival (Best Experimental Film), Chicago Underground Film Festival, Athens International Film and Video Festival, Dallas Videofest, ICDOCS Film Festival, NewFilmmakers at Anthology Film Archives, Oxford Film Festival, Director’s Lounge Berlin

A film of and through the trees. Leaves catch, consume and resist the light through the seasons.

Daner's mission is to get someone to the border, but he'll need the help of everyone at Benbas to do it, will they succeed?