Farther Than the Eye Can See Friday, March 28 at 7pm Flaherty on the Road PROGRAM 1: POLITICAL MEMORY Farther than the Eye Can See dir. Basma Alsharif, 2012, digital, 13 min.
An oral history from another time and place. Centered on the account of a Palestinian woman’s exodus from Jerusalem in 1948, Alsharif uses language not as a direct address, but rather as aural and visual material through which to explore personal and political memory and a landscape that no longer exists. Printed Matter dir. Sirah Foighel Brutmann & Eitan Efrat, Belgium, 2011, digital, 29 min.
Printed Matter unpacks an archive of photographs left behind by AndrÊ Brutmann, who was a freelance photographer for the international press in the Middle East. His collection includes both a familiar visual history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (funerals, speeches, armed violence in the streets during both the First and Second Intifadas) and, after the birth of his daughter, Sirah Foighel Brutmann, in 1983, a record of his family life. The archive is presented on a light table by the artist’s mother, Hanne Foighel. As she leafs through the repeating grids of captured moments, both intimate and banal, Foighel reflects on the images, sometimes struggling to recall the exact scenarios, delivering a narrative commentary that layers personal and political histories.
ihousephilly.org
Bete&Deise Bete&Deise dir. Wendelien van Oldenborgh, The Netherlands, 2012, 40 min.
A filmed encounter between two women in an unfinished building in Rio de Janeiro. Exchanging stories about their life and work, Bete Mendes and Deise Tigrona engage in a biographical dialogue about the personal voice in the public sphere. As in much of her previous work, van Oldeborgh casts specific individuals, in lieu of actors, to speak as themselves in her films. Bete Mendes (b. 1949) has been an actress in Brazilian telenovelas since the late 1960s. Alongside this history as a very public figure on television, Mendes maintained a position in political activism and resistance: from being a part of the resistance against the military dictatorship to her involvement in the labor movement, during which time she co-founded the working party Partido dos Trabalhadores. Deise Tigrona (b. 1979) is one of the most powerful voices in the Funk Carioca movement today. Growing up and performing as a singer in the impoverished community of Cidade de Deus, she rose to great international popularity with her music in 2005. The public life that came with fame made it difficult to concentrate on family life, which led to the decision to take a step back from her music career and return to a job closer to home. She has recently started performing again. Though separated by more than a generation, these paired autobiographical monologues come together in conversation, highlighting both the similarities and the differences they encountered in their lives. Wendelien van Oldenborgh weaves together these stories to speak to politics within cultural production and the manifestation of these ideas in the public and the personal lives of these women.