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- You are here: Home > NEW ACID
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Wednesday, November 25, 2020 - 21:00
Written by:
Basim Magdy
Cinematography:
Basim Magdy
Editing:
Basim Magdy
Sound:
Basim Magdy
Special effects:
Danielle Küchler Flores
Producer:
Basim Magdy
A zoo în which all animals have joined the chat. Between resplendent 16mm shorts, messages from a collective super-id seep into the cracks: from „wanna go back to ur place?” and Twitteresque humor, to existentialist and quasi-apocalyptic messages. Creating tension between images of the natural world with the surrealist automatism of text algorithms which, at times, seem to be sentient, Basim Magdy fuses together two worlds that are polar opposites, thus obtaining a strange new world, in which the aberrations of online digital are laid bare in front of us. (Flavia Dima, BIEFF 2020)
Director:
BASIM MAGDY (b. 1977) is an artist of Egyptian origin based in Basel, Switzerland. An alumnus of the Fine Arts Faculty of the Helwan University of Cairo, he has shown his works in numerous solo and group exhibitions around the world, at prestigious institutions such as MoMA, the Royal Academy of London and Kunsthalle Berlin. Winner of the "Artist of the Year 2016" Award of the Deutsche Bank and of the Abraaj Art Prize, BASIM MAGDY has directed a total of 13 films, which have been awarded in festivals such as CPH:DOX and Curtas Vila do Conde.
Contact:
Basim Magdy
Festivals, awards:
Locarno Film Festival 2019 / International Film Festival Rotterdam 2020 / Vancouver International Film Festival 2019
“Several animals chat via text messages. Between their mundane exchanges of words void of life, conflict and rivalry emerge. Their mirrored physical appearance hints to entrapment inside a reality T.V. show, one where uncertainty and doubt prevail. Social media-induced insecurities and escapism become evidence that at least some of them are not bots. They question selfishness, self-love and self-destruction as the “ugly ones” arrive wearing their “cheesy sunglasses”. Is tradition an alter ego of racism? What about nostalgia and nationalism? Have they become what they always despised? Human? A giraffe finally understands why this has been hell all along.” (BASIM MAGDY)