The story of a community of black people in the American South during the summer 2017, when a string of brutal killings of black men sent shockwaves throughout the country. A meditation on the state of race in America, this film is an intimate portrait into the lives of those who struggle for justice, dignity, and survival in a country not on their side. DIRECTOR’S NOTES. I have told stories of the American South which were unfolding before my eyes in unexpected ways. I have documented clusters of today’s America where the seeds of anti-institutional, reactionary anger (which gifted the country with Donald Trump as the new president) were already planted, but no one cared to notice. This time, I intended to dig even deeper into the roots of social inequality in America, by focusing on the condition of African Americans. While preparing the film, we were able to establish deep bonds with several people, and gained access to neighbourhoods and communities that are off-limits to most. I soon realised that most of the people I met felt strongly about two dramatic events in Louisiana’s recent history: Hurricane Katrina (2005) and the killing of Alton Sterling (2016). Both events are the result of institutional negligence, of a socioeconomic divide between rich and poor, and of strong endemic racism. Moved by anger and fear, people wanted to get a chance to tell their stories out loud. I hope that this film can facilitate a much-needed discussion on race and the current plight of African Americans who, now more than ever, are witnessing the intensification of hate crimes and discriminatory policies.
VISAGES VILLAGES by Agnès Varda. A masterpiece.
Agnès Varda goes on the road with street artist JR to create remarkable, moving portraits of the people they meet. Here’s a wonderful warmth and playful indirectness to this essay/road movie in the classic nouvelle vague spirit, conjuring a semi-accidental narrative in the midst of what is ostensibly a documentary. It is a collaboration between the 90-year-old director Agnès Varda and a 35-year-old French street artist who styles himself simply JR and always wears a hat and dark glasses, indoors and out – an opaque mannerism, almost a disguise, which Varda compares to her old comrade Jean-Luc Godard, and which irritates her a little bit.
VISAGES VILLAGES by Agnès Varda. A masterpiece.
Agnès Varda goes on the road with street artist JR to create remarkable, moving portraits of the people they meet. Here’s a wonderful warmth and playful indirectness to this essay/road movie in the classic nouvelle vague spirit, conjuring a semi-accidental narrative in the midst of what is ostensibly a documentary. It is a collaboration between the 90-year-old director Agnès Varda and a 35-year-old French street artist who styles himself simply JR and always wears a hat and dark glasses, indoors and out – an opaque mannerism, almost a disguise, which Varda compares to her old comrade Jean-Luc Godard, and which irritates her a little bit.
ALL THESE SLEEPLESS NIGHTS > Best Director Sundance Film Festival
Many of us know the freedom of our twenties-unfettered by responsibilities or mortality, inventing ourselves in the rush of the moment. ALL THESE SLEEPLESS NIGHTS viscerally summons that feeling, chronicling life across two Warsaw summers when students Kris and Michal resolve to experience life to the limit. After Kris breaks up with his long-time girlfriend, anything seems possible and Warsaw is his playground. Along with best friend Michal, handsome and wide-eyed, they roam the metropolis at night, floating from party to party, dancing until dawn in makeshift clubs and city squares.
STATION TO STATION di Doug Aitken, Leone d’oro Biennale Venezia e Nam June Paik Art Center Prize
A train travelling from one coast of North America to the other is home to a revolving community of artists, performers and musicians, including Patti Smith and Beck. They collaborate and share their visions in a series of short happenings. First release at the Sundance Film Festival. Doug Aitken is an American artist and filmmaker. Defying definitions of genre, he explores every medium, from film and installations to architectural interventions. His work has been featured in numerous exhibitions around the world, in such institutions as the Whitney Museum of American Art, The Museum of Modern Art, the Vienna Secession, the Serpentine Gallery in London and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. He participated in the both the 1997 and 2000 Whitney Biennials, and earned the International Prize at the Venice Biennale in 1999 for the installation “electric earth”. Aitken received the 2012 Nam June Paik Art Center Priz
LA DONNA ELETTRICA di Benedikt Erlingsson. Festival di Cannes 2018
Halla, a woman in her forties, declares war on the local aluminum industry to prevent it from disfiguring her country. She risks all she has to protect the highlands of Iceland-but the situation could change with the unexpected arrival of a small orphan in her life.