The criteria for our selection are underlined by modern cinephilia but also by a critical world view which is inspired by a Foucauldian focus on subaltern and despised forms of knowledge, developed by various group of peasants and workers, either indigenous or of mixed race, women and children. Our choices constitute a genealogy that grafts the knowledge of intellectuals with that of ordinary people, because in there are ingrained the memories of past struggles or even their defeats.
Lav Diaz will present in person his film, History of Ha, which draws from the life of a famous vaudeville artist to reflect on the defeat of democratic forces in the Philippines in the 1950s. Kiro Russo will also present in person his award winning film, The great movement, which narrates the story of a group of Bolivian miners who try to survive after losing their jobs in La Paz. Nates Hedge with masterly written story and shooting on location in remote Indian village, in his film Pedro, underlines the double bind of poverty and prejudice.
Paz Encina, in her poetic film Eami, through the ritual transformation of a bird-god-woman, narrates the wounds inflicted by colonialism on an indigenous tribe in Paraguay. From a militant female perspective, the hybrid film, between documentary and fiction, western and queer manifesto, Dry ground burning by Joana Pimenta and Adirley Queirós, tells the story of the illegal activities of
an all-female group in a Brazilian favela. The film Beatrix, by Milena Czernovsky and Lilith Kraxner, shot in 16mm film, focuses on the female body and explores a female gaze, in a way reminiscent of Chantal Akerman. Joana Pimenta and Lilith Kraxner will be in Athens to present their films.
From the perspective of American family life, the documentary Nuclear family, by Erin and Travis Wilkerson is a road-movie that raises current as well as timeless ecological and political questions, related to pacifist groups in the US. Set in a different milieu, The cathedral by Ricky D'Ambrose shows the trauma experienced by the only child of an American family in a particularly impressionistic way.
Finally, in the documentary See you Friday, Robinson, Mitra Farahani (also our guest), by inventing an original narrative form, brings together the filmmaker-philosopher Jean-Luc Godard and the important representative of the new Iranian wave Ebrahim Golestan, who reflect on the role of poets in our times of distress.
Film selection: Maria Komninos, Nepheli Gambade, Jacob Skenderidis, Ehsan Khoshbakht
Programming: Nepheli Gambade, Jacob Skenderidis
Introduction: Maria Komninos, Ioulia Mermigka, Nepheli Gambade
