AN UNUSUAL SUMMER
Dir.: Kamal Aljafari, GER/PLE 2020, 80 min., Arabic OwEs – German Premiere
The images contain their chronology, down to the minutes and seconds: In 2006, a surveillance camera in the Arab quarter of Ramla films a car that a short while ago became the victim of vandalism. Neighbours and passersby walk past it as if nothing has happened. Do they have something to hide? Then someone puts his hand on the trunk… An absurdly patient everyday thriller that doubles as an experimental film. Images that change according to the weather become almost indecipherable at night. The device performs its function only half-heartedly. Kamal Aljafari scans its grainy recordings for traces of his late father, who years ago attached the camera to the wall. A search for life and death becomes both a game and a sincere study of what holds the world together.
HORSE TAIL (KUTHIRAI VAAL)
Dir.: Manoj Leonel Jahson, Shyam Sunder, C: Kalaiyarasan, Anjali Patil, DOP: Karthik Muthukumar, IND 2020, 121 min., Tamil OwEs – International Premiere
First, there is the transformation: a horse’s tail has emerged, and the protagonist’s body has become a hybrid being. In a feverish trance, he slips through time and space, encountering a dream interpreter and a mad professor. The journey enters a yawning abyss of interpretations in which history, mythology, and psychoanalysis start swirling together, confusing the senses and sabotaging any attempt at making sense. With eye-popping colors and an unpredictable camera, Manoj Leonel Jahson and Shyam Sunder direct an unbridled gallop through a grotesque wonderland that bucks all stereotypes of Indian cinema.
Debate: LOST & FOUND – March 6, 8 PM
What cinephiles dream about: to lose themselves in the sea of images. Sometimes it is the images themselves which get lost – for example, when films are pushed to the periphery of the industry or denied a role within the larger picture of cinema. Our guests explore which routines and centers of power guide the lifespan of films and who decides on their visibility. And, of course, we want to understand what the characters in HORSE TAIL and AN UNUSUAL SUMMER are actually looking for. A debate about obsessions with cinema and the cinema of obsessions.
Guests: Manoj Leonel Jason, Shyam Sunder, Kamal Aljafari, Amy Taubin
Moderation: Devika Girish