November 6th – 10th, 2019 / Cinema Muzeul Țăranului / the 9th edition

The Human Flow: Home in the Age of Displacement

Curatorial text by Ioana Florescu

How does one show stories of displacement? In a time when nationalism is on the rise in Europe, mass-media still misuses the images of migrants and (inconsiderately) dealing with the so-called refugee crisis has become an trend in film and video works, the competition programme THE HUMAN FLOW: HOME IN THE AGE OF DISPLACEMENT proposes five films that undermine the common ways of approaching the topic, offering new perspectives on migration through unusual combinations of visual and narrative means. In March 2019 the European Union declared the ‘crisis’ to be over, yet the need to tell the stories of displacement lingers on.

Whether it’s by examining the damaged personal items of those who lost their lives trying to reach Europe in MUM I’M SORRY, by using voice-over confession and CGI in 15 DAYS, or by juxtaposing a model of a bombed city with a sober commentary that sums up on man’s attempts to reach a safe zone in VIEW FROM ABOVE, most films in this programme deal with the stories of those who had to leave their homes by avoiding to actually show them. Providing a sudden shift of temporal perspective and employing sci-fi elements, THIRD KIND looks at today’s migration stories as understood by humans of a distant future, while THE MIGRATING IMAGE places under scrutiny the visual material produced during the ‘crisis’.

28'

Directed by:

STEFAN KRUSE

What happens if we examine what we call the so-called refugee crisis from a different angle: Military recordings, drone photographs, a 360° camera or satellite photographs? What if we look for images we have never seen – or revisit those we have seen but never noticed – and start wondering how they came about and who they are intended for? THE MIGRATING IMAGE follows the pictorial flow of refugees on their journey to and up through Europe. The film is based on photos of refugees and turns the camera back on us – as we created them and ultimately consume them. (Stefan Kruse)

MUM, I’M SORRY

Italy

2017

17'

Directed by:

MARTINA MELILLI

The camera slowly examines family photographs and other severely damaged objects. Arranged on a table, passports, cell phones, and birth control pills in blister packs are handled with gloves and pincers. As the film links the images of personal items damaged beyond repair, with extreme close-ups of skin and a dark shot of a seashore at night, there is no way to avoid thinking of the people they belonged to and of the actual damage - the weathering of the bodies in the water, the loss of life. (Ioana Florescu, BIEFF 2019)

15 DAYS

UK / France

2018

13'

Directed by:

IMRAN PERRETTA

Distressing glimpses of the ground covered in leaves and litter make the backdrop for a prayer whispered in Arabic. In the second part of the film, they give way to a static shot of a set in a forest: leaves and litter again, a tent, dead trees with partially amputated branches, a hoodie hanging from one of them. Unseen forces tear the tent down and the voice is back. It is a poetic and disjointed confession of a migrant. And there is a second screen, where the forest becomes the background for images from the daily life of the refugees living in the forests of Northern France. And the prayer goes: “first,/ there are some / things that you should know about/ me/ i said:/ that /the only nation I have ever known is /my mother/ and that/ i am not/ flesh/ made to endure/ but something full”. (Ioana Florescu, BIEFF 2019)

VIEW FROM ABOVE

Germany

2017

11'

Directed by:

HIWA K

While the camera drifts over a model of the city of Kassel which was devastated during World War ll, we hear a story of our times. In order to achieve refugee status and stay away from an unsafe zone labeled as safe by the United Nations, M. needs to persuade the authorities that he comes from a place that is considered unsafe. To succeed, he must provide the right answers: those that are right judging solely by a map. By linking destroyed Kassel and contemporary Irak, HIWA K delivers a far-reaching meditation on the absurdity of war. (Ioana Florescu, BIEFF 2019)

THIRD KIND

Greece

2018

32'

Directed by:

YORGOS ZOIS

“It is a brilliant idea to place the Earth at the heart of a science fiction film, a planet abandoned by those who could afford to do so. Three extra-terrestrials or rather ancient-terrestrials, alerted by a sign of life on Earth, come back to have a look. The exquisite, ample and majestic mise-en-scène, in the middle of an abandoned airport, unfolds the layers of times in concentric circles, unveiling the life and the memories carved into the walls by sounds and physicality. Both subtle and terrifying, Yorgos Zois’ film reveals the social dislocation that has now become ubiquitous, both on Earth and other planets. Welcome to the social deconstruct of the 3rd kind.” (Charles Tesson, artistic director of Cannes’ Critics’ Week)

The Human Flow: Home in the Age of Displacement

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The Human Flow: Home in the Age of Displacement