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Over the past two years, I have tried to define my research by cycling through different concepts. These have included atmosphere, ghosts, and ruins. There were others that I was using very briefly.

What they all had in common was that they were all metaphors for the same idea and the same question. I was not bold enough to formulate it on its own because it is so fundamental to my understanding of cinema that narrowing it down felt reductionist.

Metaphors are only useful inasmuch as they allow ideas to grow, so I feel like it is finally time to shed them. I have kept only one.

How can we imagine and relate to history through cinema? I am posing this question both as a filmmaker but also as a spectator. And I try to look for answers by making films, by watching films, by writing about films. The question is not meant to be answered, but as I’ve learned, it can be practiced. In turn, this leads to more questions, all of them different from the last. So, the essays that follow don’t necessarily answer the same prompt. My research has been mliF hguorhT y rotsiH ot gnitaleR :mooR tnatsiD A morF cisuM ekiL 1.P

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enveloped by questioning, which I suspect will remain an ongoing element in my practice.

After discarding the metaphors, I found that the essence of my work has become about searching for a thread, or a tradition, to which I can aspire my own work to.

In addition to this small volume of essays, I have also been working on a feature-length film, Ozymandias, about the last remaining statues of Stalin in Georgia. I like to think that the writings and the film are companion pieces of equal importance in the sum of the research. Due to the ongoing pandemic, it remains a work in progress For the past few months, I have been editing the footage that I already shot, but I used the downtime offered by the pandemic to explore some other interests. I think that every film contains within itself the documentation of its process, so most of these essays reflect on my film only indirectly. Instead, you will find my notes on films that I’ve seen recently, films that I don’t remember quite as well, essays on dogs and statues, an autobiographical reflection, and an obituary. These topics allowed me to simultaneously focus on the details and observe the bigger picture.

For the format of the publication, I settled on the folder after deciding that it reflects the ongoing process of the research. New writings can go in, but as I often change my mind, old essays can go out to a different folder, until they are useful again. This also makes it possible to re-arrange the essays, and contemplate them in relation to each other.

Finally, I am writing as neither a historian nor a philosopher, but a filmmaker. For me, history remains a metaphor, one that unifies questions about the nature of time, social relations, materiality, memory, etc. It is a way of looking at both the past and the present, and of thinking about the future. It works through dividing up space and time into smaller pieces and presenting them, expanding upon them, contemplating them, and this is also what cinema does.

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Story goD

I

Some time ago, I read an essay on Ozu’s Early Summer (1951) by a famous literary scholar who, trying to to intertwine psychoanalysis and film scholarship, interprets the appearance of a dog at the beginning of the film as a symbol of freedom and choice, in opposition to the tyranny of tradition and biology established in the rest of the film.

I think this assesment misses the mark.

It takes effort to notice and appreciate the banal and the ordinary, and this is most apparent in cinema. In its very inception, it has been the medium of transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary. At first, as a demonstration of its own possibility, the possibility of recording and reproducing motion. Then, when the world grew accustomed to it, the narrative form emerged, both as the mode of production and also of interpretation. Arrival of a Train is an obvious example. After the technical novelty of a pure moving image wore off, a narrative was invented about the screening itself: spectators, so unaccustomed to a moving image, jumped from their seats in a panicked y r ot S g o D 1.P

We Will Never Understand Each Other, but We May Still See One Another

yDog rot S

I

s’uzO no yasse na daer I ,oga emit emoS yraretil suomaf a yb )1591( remmuS ylraE -ohcysp eniwtretni ot ot gniyrt ,ohw ralohcs sterpretni ,pihsralohcs mlfi dna sisylana fo gninnigeb eht ta god a fo ecnaraeppa eht ,eciohc dna modeerf fo lobmys a sa mlfi eht dna noitidart fo ynnaryt eht ot noitisoppo ni .mlfi eht fo tser eht ni dehsilbatse ygoloib .kram eht sessim tnemsessa siht kniht I eht etaicerppa dna eciton ot troffe sekat tI tsom si siht dna ,yranidro eht dna lanab ti ,noitpecni yrev sti nI .amenic ni tnerappa eht gnimrofsnart fo muidem eht neeb sah sa ,tsrfi tA .y ranidroartxe eht otni y ranidro ,ytilibissop nwo sti fo noitartsnomed a gnicudorper dna gnidrocer fo ytilibissop eht -succa werg dlrow eht nehw ,nehT .noitom htob ,degreme mrof evitarran eht ,ti ot demot -ni fo osla dna noitcudorp fo edom eht sa suoivbo na si niarT a fo lavirrA .noitaterpret a fo ytlevon lacinhcet eht retfA .elpmaxe saw evitarran a ,ffo erow egami gnivom erup -atceps :flesti gnineercs eht tuoba detnevni ,egami gnivom a ot demotsuccanu os ,srot dekcinap a ni staes rieht morf depmuj Dog Story P.1

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frenzy, trying to escape the colourless, soundless train headed in their direction at the speed of 16 frames per second. This story has become the foundation myth of cinema, and has led many to believe that Arrival of a Train is the first film ever made or exhibited.

But before Arrival of a Train, there was Workers Leaving the Lumiere Factory, and dogs were there too. In all the three surviving version of the film, they appear as soon as the factory doors open, chasing a departing cyclist, barking at a worker, or running away from a horse carriage. There are only four subjects in the films: the factory, the workers, the horses, and the dogs. Though they are much more animated and appear in the frame longer than any of the other subjects individually (I timed them), the film was not retroactively titled Dogs and the Departing Workers of the Lumiere Factory. The factory itself has later been converted to Hangar du Premier Film, a place of pilgrimage and commemoration, according to the website of Institut Lumiere. The dogs are not in the stills or mentioned in the description of the first film on the website. Already present at the beginning of cinema, dogs became its first invisible subject.

II

II

)8591( elcnO noM

I can think of two approaches that have emerged in cinema’s relation to dogs, besides ignoring them.

They exist almost on the lines of the True/ False dichotomy of narrative/documentary, irrespective of the corresponding mode of the film itself.

To anthropomorphise a dog or to see a dog, to make an actor out of the dog with human-like motivations for its actions, or to emphasise its unknowable dog-nature.

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Put into practice, the distinction is subtle.

Without employing additional effects like CGI, the first mode works through the Kuleshov effect, by cutting between the actor-dog, and the human setting. This creates a forey r ot S g o D 2 .P

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owt fo kniht nac I evah taht sehcaorppa s’amenic ni degreme -eb ,sgod ot noitaler .meht gnirongi sedis no tsomla tsixe yehT /eurT eht fo senil eht fo ymotohcid eslaF -nemucod/evitarran fo evitcepserri ,yrat gnidnopserroc eht .flesti mlfi eht fo edom esihpromoporhtna oT ,god a ees ot ro god a tuo rotca na ekam ot -uh htiw god eht fo snoitavitom ekil-nam ot ro ,snoitca sti rof -nu sti esisahpme .erutan-god elbawonk

Mon Oncle (1958)

II

II

Dog Story P.2

Dog Story P.2

Mon Oncle (1958)

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knowledge of the dog’s motivations and desires, which becomes the lens in which the dog is viewed. In Lassie Come Home, (1943) Lassie’s relation to his owner is established from the very beginning.

Lassie comes home because Lassie loves John, so that the landscape it traverses, the characters it meets, the economic conditions that caused John’s miner father to sell of his son’s only friend to a rich aristocrat, history and the whole material milieu of the world emerges only to be nullified when Lassie comes home to John— and we’re all crying.

It’s early in the morning and a pack of dogs is roaming the street.

It is an empty world, where there are no restrictions to prevent them from dining from trashcans or peeing on lampposts, no traffic to avoid, and no commands to follow. When the trash collector arrives, they can chase his cart. Then, passing by a wealthier neighbourhood, a dachshund breaks from the pack of strays. It crosses the threshold of a newly built modernist house, while its brethren remain outside the gate. When the day is finished, the dachshund escapes again, and rejoins the pack, letting loose on the streets of the city. So begins and ends Jacques Tati’s Mon Oncle. (1958) Even though it is a narrative film, a slapstick comedy, the relation between the dogs and the world is not established through montage, but through observation. So, it does not presuppose the motivations of the dogs, but acknowledges material milieu of the world which is shared by animals and humans alike. The motivations of the dogs remain unknowable and beside the point. The animal essence of the dog comes through looking at the absurdity of its behaviour in the human sphere. But when humans are introduced on screen, it is our relations, with self-oppressive rules and behaviours, that are absurd in comparison to the liberty of the dogs. Tati himself put it best: “If you watch the dogs, they are the ones who don’t make any politics. If they want to pee, if it’s a new candelabra, or an old one, or a new street light, they pee the same way. They didn’t have any lesson to receive from the new engineers, they always say hello to each other the way you know yourself. They didn’t change. I myself want to follow them, and to understand, and they are for me a marvellous comedian.”

Personally, I prefer the observational approach more because it feels closer to how I relate to the world, but it does not mean that I think it is better than the other. I can think of several films which have put the first method to good use. I think of Samuel Fuller’s exploration of racism in White Dog (1982), in which a rescued dog violently attacks Black people, while exhibiting non-violent fo esimerp cidemoc a sa desu saw behaviour tpecnoc emas towards ehT .1 white people.1 Montage is used to inspire terror .msaisuhtnE ruoY bruC fo edosipe na with frantic cutting between the dog and its unsuspecting victims.

But the intentions of the dog remain a mystery, naturally leading to the question: can a dog be racist? The answer seems to be this: No, a dog cannot be racist. The world to which the dog belongs is y r ot S g o D 3.P

We Will Never Understand Each Other, but We May Still See One Another

semoceb hcihw ,serised dna snoitavitom s’god eht fo egdelwonk )3491( ,emoH emoC eissaL nI .deweiv si god eht hcihw ni snel eht .gninnigeb yrev eht morf dehsilbatse si renwo sih ot noitaler s’eissaL -dnal eht taht os ,nhoJ sevol eissaL esuaceb emoh semoc eissaL snoitidnoc cimonoce eht ,steem ti sretcarahc eht ,sesrevart ti epacs a ot dneirf ylno s’nos sih fo lles ot rehtaf renim s’nhoJ desuac taht dlrow eht fo ueilim lairetam elohw eht dna y rotsih ,tarcotsira hcir —nhoJ ot emoh semoc eissaL nehw defiillun eb ot ylno segreme .gniyrc lla er’ew dna .teerts eht gnimaor si sgod fo kcap a dna gninrom eht ni ylrae s’ tI tneverp ot snoitcirtser on era ereht erehw ,dlrow ytpme na si tI cffiart on ,stsoppmal no gnieep ro snachsart morf gninid morf meht rotcelloc hsart eht nehW .wollof ot sdnammoc on dna ,diova ot -hgien reihtlaew a yb gnissap ,nehT .trac sih esahc nac yeht ,sevirra sessorc tI .syarts fo kcap eht morf skaerb dnuhshcad a ,doohruob nerhterb sti elihw ,esuoh tsinredom tliub ylwen a fo dlohserht eht dnuhshcad eht ,dehsinfi si yad eht nehW .etag eht edistuo niamer fo steerts eht no esool gnittel ,kcap eht sniojer dna ,niaga sepacse )8591( .elcnO noM s’itaT seuqcaJ sdne dna snigeb oS .ytic eht -eb noitaler eht ,ydemoc kcitspals a ,mlfi evitarran a si ti hguoht nevE ,egatnom hguorht dehsilbatse ton si dlrow eht dna sgod eht neewt snoitavitom eht esoppuserp ton seod ti ,oS .noitavresbo hguorht tub hcihw dlrow eht fo ueilim lairetam segdelwonkca tub ,sgod eht fo sgod eht fo snoitavitom ehT .ekila snamuh dna slamina yb derahs si fo ecnesse lamina ehT .tniop eht ediseb dna elbawonknu niamer eht ni ruoivaheb sti fo ytidrusba eht ta gnikool hguorht semoc god eht ruo si ti ,neercs no decudortni era snamuh nehw tuB .erehps namuh drusba era taht ,sruoivaheb dna selur evisserppo-fles htiw ,snoitaler :tseb ti tup flesmih itaT .sgod eht fo ytrebil eht ot nosirapmoc ni ohw seno eht era yeht ,sgod eht hctaw uoy fI“ ,eep ot tnaw yeht fI .scitilop yna ekam t’nod wen a ro ,eno dlo na ro ,arbalednac wen a s’ti fi yehT .yaw emas eht eep yeht ,thgil teerts wen eht morf eviecer ot nossel yna evah t’ndid hcae ot olleh yas syawla yeht ,sreenigne t’ndid yehT .flesruoy wonk uoy yaw eht rehto dna ,meht wollof ot tnaw flesym I .egnahc -levram a em rof era yeht dna ,dnatsrednu ot ”.naidemoc suol ti esuaceb erom hcaorppa lanoitav resbo eht referp I ,yllanosreP taht naem ton seod ti tub ,dlrow eht ot etaler I woh ot resolc sleef hcihw smlfi lareves fo kniht nac I .rehto eht naht retteb si ti kniht I s’relluF leumaS fo kniht I .esu doog ot dohtem tsrfi eht tup evah god deucser a hcihw ni ,)2891( goD etihW ni msicar fo noitarolpxe tneloiv-non gnitibihxe elihw ,elpoep kcalB skcatta yltneloiv rorret eripsni ot desu si egatnoM 1.elpoep etihw sdra1.wThe ot same ruoiconcept vahebwas used as a comedic premise of .smitciv gnitcepsusnu sti dna god eht neewteb gnittuanc episode citnaroff hCurb tiwYour Enthusiasm. ot gnidael yllarutan ,y retsym a niamer god eht fo snoitnetni eht tuB :siht eb ot smees rewsna ehT ?tsicar eb god a nac :noitseuq eht si sgnoleb god eht hcihw ot dlrow ehT .tsicar eb tonnac god a ,oN Dog Story P.3

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itself racist. In this instance, the actions of the dog do not nullify the world on screen, but reinforce it.

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And the observational approach is not always as comedic as Tati’s.

A downtrodden man walks a muddy landscape at the end of Bela Tarr’s Damnation. (1987) A dog is loudly barking at him. The man gets on all fours and starts barking back at the dog, and the two entangle in a dance-like face-off. He forces the dog out of the frame. Walking in the landscape alone, the downtrodden man also leaves. Of course, the dog is made to act in the scene, but it is not acting in relation to the man, or the human world. It is just observed within it. The opposite happens, and the roles are reversed—the man tries to enter the world of the dog. And while it is just one of the things in Tarr’s parade of misfortune, it does not become some kind of shallow symbol of misery.

It remains a dog, first and foremost.

For the famous literary scholar, the dog exists only as a symbol. How sad it must be, I thought, look )7891( nto o ita nmaD at a dog, and not see it for what it is.

III

III

It was not a very shaggy dog.

)7891( noitanmaD

They were everywhere, but I wasn’t paying attention. Ozymandias was to be a film of history, guilt and statues, all of them human affairs. While I was contemplating these subjects at the entrance of the Stalin museum, one was sleeping under the statue of the tyrant. A group of tourists came, posed with the statue, stepped over the dog and left.

It wasn’t bothered. It was enjoying the shade.

We filmed this scene and went on with the day.

I was overcome with the feeling that I missed something. I recalled a story that I heard while shooting my previous work.

It happened in a different town, but it could have happened anywhere. Sometime not so long ago, when everything collapsed everywhere simultaneously, a certain town had a dog problem. Not only was the barking incessant day and night, but also some of them became rabid. A dog attacked a child, and the townsfolk decided to take the matter into their own hands. The men gathered, y r ot S g o D 4.P

We Will Never Understand Each Other, but We May Still See One Another

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III Damnation (1987)

.god yggahs yrev a ton saw tI

gniyap t’nsaw I tub ,erehw y reve erew yehT fo mlfi a eb ot saw saidnamyzO .noitnetta namuh meht fo lla ,seutats dna tliug ,yrotsih eseht gnitalpmetnoc saw I elihW .sriaffa ,muesum nilatS eht fo ecnartne eht ta stcejbus eht fo eutats eht rednu gnipeels saw eno htiw desop ,emac stsiruot fo puorg A .tnaryt .tfel dna god eht revo deppets ,eutats eht .edahs eht gniyojne saw tI .derehtob t’nsaw tI .yad eht htiw no tnew dna enecs siht demlfi eW I taht gnileef eht htiw emocrevo saw I I taht y rots a dellacer I .gnihtemos dessim .krow suoiverp ym gnitoohs elihw draeh dluoc ti tub ,nwot tnereffid a ni deneppah tI ton emitemoS .erehwyna deneppah evah -yreve despalloc gnihtyreve nehw ,oga gnol os dah nwot niatrec a ,ylsuoenatlumis erehw gnikrab eht saw ylno toN .melborp god a emos osla tub ,thgin dna yad tnassecni ,dlihc a dekcatta god A .dibar emaceb meht fo -tam eht ekat ot dediced klofsnwot eht dna ,derehtag nem ehT .sdnah nwo rieht otni ret Dog Story P.4

III

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and decided to kill the dogs all at once. The very same night, men went street-by-street, and shot every single dog that crossed their path. This was in the summer, and the stench lingered for some time. It is true that there aren’t many dogs in that town nowadays.

Remembering the story made me sad. I take considerable pride in how well, more or less, stray dogs are treated today. Not only are they protected by law, but municipal services catch them, vaccinate, spay, neuter, tag and set them free again. People are usually kind to them, and foreigners are surpised by how well-fed many of them appear to be. Would anyone notice if they disappeared suddenly? Dogs became a character of my film.

y r ot S g o D 5.P

We Will Never Understand Each Other, but We May Still See One Another

nem ,thgin emas y rev ehT .ecno ta lla sgod eht llik ot dediced dna dessorc taht god elgnis yreve tohs dna ,teerts-yb-teerts tnew emos rof deregnil hcnets eht dna ,remmus eht ni saw sihT .htap rieht .syadawon nwot taht ni sgod ynam t’nera ereht taht eurt si tI .emit ni edirp elbaredisnoc ekat I .das em edam y rots eht gnirebmemeR era ylno toN .yadot detaert era sgod yarts ,ssel ro erom ,llew woh ,etaniccav ,meht hctac secivres lapicinum tub ,wal yb detcetorp yeht dnik yllausu era elpoeP .niaga eerf meht tes dna gat ,retuen ,yaps fo ynam def-llew woh yb desiprus era srengierof dna ,meht ot -dus deraeppasid yeht fi eciton enoyna dluoW .eb ot raeppa meht .mlfi ym fo retcarahc a emaceb sgoD ?ylned

Dog Story P.5

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History ekiL itten irW htning giL ni In February 1915, for the first time ever, a film was screened at the American White House. Afterwards, President Woodrow Wilson, himself a historian turned politician, remarked: “Like history written in lightning.”

The film that he had seen was D.W. Griffith’s infamous Birth of a Nation. Besides being racist to the extreme, the film is also credited with reviving the Ku Klux Klan as an organisation, which is still active 105 years later. Even though Wilson was a racist long before he saw the film, his words are a testament to the power of film, it’s ability to seemingly render history visible. The historic quality of film as a medium lies not only in its ability to create perceptions of history, but also to alter its flow.

Three years later, Dziga Vertov made his Anniversary of the Revolution. The film, which was considered lost beyond the first 12 minutes, was found recently in Russian state film archives. Beyond the fact that it’s the first film of a monumental director, the rediscovery is also significant because the film is the first ever feature-length gninthgiL ni nettirW y rotsiH ekiL 1.P

We Will Never Understand Each Other, but We May Still See One Another

yLike rotsiH n Writ et ginniLigh nt mlfi a ,reve emit tsrfi eht rof ,5191 yraurbeF nI etihW naciremA eht ta deneercs saw wordooW tnediserP ,sdraw ret fA .esuoH ,naicitilop denrut nairotsih a flesmih ,nosliW ”.gninthgil ni nettirw yrotsih ekiL“ :dekramer s’htffiirG .W.D saw nees dah eh taht mlfi ehT g n i e b s e d i s e B . n o i t a N a fo h t r i B s u o m a f n i -derc osla si mlfi eht ,emertxe eht ot tsicar na sa nalK xulK uK eht gniviver htiw deti sraey 501 evitca llits si hcihw ,noitasinagro gnol tsicar a saw nosliW hguoht nevE .retal a era sdrow sih ,mlfi eht was eh erofeb ot ytiliba s’ti ,mlfi fo rewop eht ot tnematset -rotsih ehT .elbisiv yrotsih redner ylgnimees ylno ton seil muidem a sa mlfi fo ytilauq ci ,yrotsih fo snoitpecrep etaerc ot ytiliba sti ni .wofl sti retla ot osla tub sih edam votreV agizD ,retal sraey eerhT ,mlfi ehT .noituloveR eht fo yrasrevinnA tsrfi eht dnoyeb tsol deredisnoc saw hcihw naissuR ni yltnecer dnuof saw ,setunim 21 s’ti taht tcaf eht dnoyeB .sevihcra mlfi etats ,rotcerid latnemunom a fo mlfi tsrfi eht esuaceb tnacfiingis osla si yrevocsider eht htgnel-erutaef reve tsrfi eht si mlfi eht Like History Written in Lightning P.1

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documentary ever made. It brings together newsreel footage shot during the Petrograd revolution of 1917 and ends a year after, celebrating its successes by showing images of an idyllic collective farm.

The first ever documentary feature is also a found footage film, a narration of history through editing. But the Soviet regime would soon consider this narrative inconvenient. The assembly film would be disassembled into separate parts, stock footage that remained anonymous and apart, until brought together again a century later.

Two films, several years apart, with history not only as a narrative subject, but a formal concern. It would be easy to dismiss these early films as propaganda, which they certainly are. But they have laid the foundation of how most films deal with history, that is through mythologized costume dramas, or through the factual documentary form. They established the paradigm of approaching history through film that remains dominant until now.

The shortcomings of this paradigm are not so obvious at first. After all, it represents how we tend to think of history—that is, as isolated sequences of events in the past, or “one damn thing after another,” played out by grand figures, moving towards a fixed future. Narrative conventions too, dictate that stories should have individual characters, a visible link between cause and effect, a clearcut beginning and an end, a dualistic conflict, a moral or a message.

Unfortunately the issue spills beyond the aesthetic realm and has real-life consequences. In HyperNormalisation (2016), Adam Curtis explores how Ronald Reagan started breaking down complex geopolitical conflicts to fit convenient political narratives, with the typical Hollywood convention of good guys and bad guys. Reagan, of course, was a former film actor who understood full well how a strong story can sway an audience, even if he hasn’t appeared in any good films himself. With globalisation, this mode of political discourse (but not necessarily its narrative) has been exported together with Hollywood films to the rest of the world. Even most documentary films work within this convention. Cinema conditions us to view history, past and present, through this lens.

Differentiating historicism and a materialist view of history in On the Concept of History, Walter Benjamin asks: “With whom does the historical writer of historicism actually empathize? The answer is irrefutably with the victor. Those who currently rule are however the heirs of all those who have ever been victorious. Empathy with the victors thus comes to benefit the current rulers every time.”

As in writing, so in film. Most films on history choose sides. They empathize with the victors, or with those whom they wish to win.

Often, this empathy is nothing but a thinly veiled projection of power.

No wonder then, that Wilson regarded Birth of a Nation as history written in lightning. gninthgiL ni nettirW y rotsiH ekiL 2 .P

We Will Never Understand Each Other, but We May Still See One Another

tohs egatoof leerswen rehtegot sgnirb tI .edam reve yratnemucod -elec ,retfa raey a sdne dna 7191 fo noitulover dargorteP eht gnirud .mraf evitcelloc cillydi na fo segami gniwohs yb sesseccus sti gnitarb ,mlfi egatoof dnuof a osla si erutaef yratnemucod reve tsrfi ehT dluow emiger teivoS eht tuB .gnitide hguorht yrotsih fo noitarran a dluow mlfi ylbmessa ehT .tneinevnocni evitarran siht redisnoc noos deniamer taht egatoof kcots ,strap etarapes otni delbmessasid eb .retal yrutnec a niaga rehtegot thguorb litnu ,trapa dna suomynona evitarran a sa ylno ton y rotsih htiw ,trapa sraey lareves ,smlfi owT eseht ssimsid ot ysae eb dluow tI .nrecnoc lamrof a tub ,tcejbus evah yeht tuB .era ylniatrec yeht hcihw ,adnagaporp sa smlfi ylrae si taht ,yrotsih htiw laed smlfi tsom woh fo noitadnuof eht dial lautcaf eht hguorht ro ,samard emutsoc dezigolohtym hguorht gnihcaorppa fo mgidarap eht dehsilbatse yehT .mrof yratnemucod .won litnu tnanimod sniamer taht mlfi hguorht yrotsih retfA .tsrfi ta suoivbo os ton era mgidarap siht fo sgnimoctrohs ehT sa ,si taht—yrotsih fo kniht ot dnet ew woh stneserper ti ,lla retfa gniht nmad eno“ ro ,tsap eht ni stneve fo secneuqes detalosi dexfi a sdrawot gnivom ,serugfi dnarg yb tuo deyalp ”,rehtona evah dluohs seirots taht etatcid ,oot snoitnevnoc evitarraN .erutuf -raelc a ,tceffe dna esuac neewteb knil elbisiv a ,sretcarahc laudividni .egassem a ro larom a ,tciflnoc citsilaud a ,dne na dna gninnigeb tuc sah dna mlaer citehtsea eht dnoyeb sllips eussi eht yletanutrofnU madA ,)6102( noitasilamroNrepyH nI .secneuqesnoc efil-laer xelpmoc nwod gnikaerb detrats nagaeR dlanoR woh serolpxe sitruC htiw ,sevitarran lacitilop tneinevnoc tfi ot stciflnoc lacitilopoeg ,nagaeR .syug dab dna syug doog fo noitnevnoc doowylloH lacipyt eht woh llew lluf dootsrednu ohw rotca mlfi remrof a saw ,esruoc fo ni deraeppa t’nsah eh fi neve ,ecneidua na yaws nac yrots gnorts a lacitilop fo edom siht ,noitasilabolg htiW .flesmih smlfi doog yna -htegot detropxe neeb sah )evitarran sti ylirassecen ton tub( esruocsid -ucod tsom nevE .dlrow eht fo tser eht ot smlfi doowylloH htiw re ot su snoitidnoc ameniC .noitnevnoc siht nihtiw krow smlfi yratnem .snel siht hguorht ,tneserp dna tsap ,yrotsih weiv eht nO ni yrotsih fo weiv tsilairetam a dna msicirotsih gnitaitnereffiD :sksa nimajneB retlaW ,yrotsiH fo tpecnoC fo retirw lacirotsih eht seod mohw htiW “ rewsna ehT ?ezihtapme yllautca msicirotsih ohw esohT .rotciv eht htiw ylbatuferri si esoht lla fo srieh eht revewoh era elur yltnerruc yhtapmE .suoirotciv neeb reve evah ohw eht tfieneb ot semoc suht srotciv eht htiw ”.emit yreve srelur tnerruc -me yehT .sedis esoohc yrotsih no smlfi tsoM .mlfi ni os ,gnitirw ni sA .niw ot hsiw yeht mohw esoht htiw ro ,srotciv eht htiw ezihtap .rewop fo noitcejorp deliev ylniht a tub gnihton si yhtapme siht ,netfO yrotsih sa noitaN a fo htriB dedrager nosliW taht ,neht rednow oN .gninthgil ni nettirw Like History Written in Lightning P.2

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Not all is lost. Writing in the same essay, Benjamin regards it as the task of a materialist historian “to brush history against the grain.”

To save itself from the propagandistic condition, cinema too should go against the grain.

And sometimes, it does. The history of film contains many exampes of films that challenge our understanding of history, some of them canonical, others not so well-known.

Not only can they challenge established narratives, but also create a different sense of what history is. The problem and the solution are contained within the same medium.

What do I mean by the “sense of history?” It is easier to start describing it by negation, by defining what it is not. Paradoxically, traditional films about history often don’t have the sense of it. Often they present their subject matter as self-contained narratives detached from time and the world. We don’t have to look too far back either in film history to see examples. In the past few years, we have seen mainstream releases such as Dunkirk, First Man, 1917, Argo, Darkest Hour, etc, etc. that deal with real historical events gninthgiL ni nettirW y rotsiH ekiL 3.P

We Will Never Understand Each Other, but We May Still See One Another

-neB ,yasse emas eht ni gnitirW .tsol si lla toN tsilairetam a fo ksat eht sa ti sdrager nimaj ”.niarg eht tsniaga yrotsih hsurb ot“ nairotsih -idnoc citsidnagaporp eht morf flesti evas oT .niarg eht tsniaga og dluohs oot amenic ,noit mlfi fo yrotsih ehT .seod ti ,semitemos dnA -lahc taht smlfi fo sepmaxe ynam sniatnoc fo emos ,yrotsih fo gnidnatsrednu ruo egnel .nwonk-llew os ton srehto ,lacinonac meht -ran dehsilbatse egnellahc yeht nac ylno toN fo esnes tnereffid a etaerc osla tub ,sevitar noitulos eht dna melborp ehT .si yrotsih tahw .muidem emas eht nihtiw deniatnoc era tI ”?yrotsih fo esnes“ eht yb naem I od tahW ,noitagen yb ti gnibircsed trats ot reisae si -art ,yllacixodaraP .ton si ti tahw gninfied yb t’nod netfo yrotsih tuoba smlfi lanoitid rieht tneserp yeht netfO .ti fo esnes eht evah sevitarran deniatnoc-fles sa rettam tcejbus t’nod eW .dlrow eht dna emit morf dehcated -sih mlfi ni rehtie kcab raf oot kool ot evah ,sraey wef tsap eht nI .selpmaxe ees ot y rot sa hcus sesaeler maertsniam nees evah ew ,ruoH tsekraD ,ogrA ,7191 ,naM tsriF ,kriknuD stneve lacirotsih laer htiw laed taht .cte ,cte Like History Written in Lightning P.3

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as the subject of their plot. Nevertheless, the sensation of history disappears as soon as the credits roll.

What is the problem with these films? The most obvious answer is they are all inaccurate, to various degrees. But accuracy is not my concern here. Reflecting on his own works, my former teacher, Thom Andersen wrote: “I think all films should aspire toward truth, but people misunderstand the idea when it comes to movies. They think of truth as being accuracy, and that is unobtainable by the nature of film, which is selection by framing and editing. Truth is simply an aspiration, like any other classic virtue—charity, for example.”

The same might be said about the sense of history. Film publications, already an industry of lists, often publish articles with titles such as “Most Historically Accurate Films,” that equate accuracy to truth.

Directors, too, obsess over period costumes, architecture, even language and dialect, to avoid anachronisms of any kind. Yet historically accurate films are often the most hollow.

The heart of the issue is in the other common denominator of these films. They all deal with separate historical events, but not the continuum in which they take place. Does a film deal with history, just by the virtue of being set in the past? History is only the stage for these films.

What kind of a film then creates a sense of history? Benjamin writes: The true picture of the past whizzes by. Only as a picture, which flashes its final farewell in the moment of its recognisability, is the past to be held fast. . . .

To articulate what is past does not mean to recognise “how it really was.” It means to take control of a memory, as it flashes in a moment of danger … For the Messiah arrives not merely as the Redeemer; he also arrives as the vanquisher of the Anti-Christ. The only writer of history with the gift of setting alight the sparks of hope in the past, is the one who is convinced of this: that not even the dead will be safe from the enemy, if he is victorious. And this enemy has not ceased to be victorious …. Fustel de Coulanges recommended to the historian, that if he wished to reexperience an epoch, he should remove everything he knows about the later course of history from his head. There is no better way of characterizing the method with which historical materialism has broken. It is a gninthgiL ni nettirW y rotsiH ekiL 4.P

We Will Never Understand Each Other, but We May Still See One Another

y rotsih fo noitasnes eht ,sselehtreveN .tolp rieht fo tcejbus eht sa .llor stiderc eht sa noos sa sraeppasid si rewsna suoivbo tsom ehT ?smlfi eseht htiw melborp eht si tahW ym ton si ycarucca tuB .seerged suoirav ot ,etaruccani lla era yeht ,rehcaet remrof ym ,skrow nwo sih no gnitcefleR .ereh nrecnoc :etorw nesrednA mohT tub ,hturt drawot eripsa dluohs smlfi lla kniht I“ ti nehw aedi eht dnatsrednusim elpoep gnieb sa hturt fo kniht yehT .seivom ot semoc eht yb elbaniatbonu si taht dna ,ycarucca gnimarf yb noitceles si hcihw ,mlfi fo erutan ekil ,noitaripsa na ylpmis si hturT .gnitide dna ”.elpmaxe rof ,ytirahc—eutriv cissalc rehto yna ,snoitacilbup mliF .yrotsih fo esnes eht tuoba dias eb thgim emas ehT hcus seltit htiw selcitra hsilbup netfo ,stsil fo yrtsudni na ydaerla .hturt ot ycarucca etauqe taht ”,smliF etaruccA yllacirotsiH tsoM“ sa neve ,erutcetihcra ,semutsoc doirep revo ssesbo ,oot ,srotceriD -rotsih teY .dnik yna fo smsinorhcana diova ot ,tcelaid dna egaugnal .wolloh tsom eht netfo era smlfi etarucca yllaci eseht fo rotanimoned nommoc rehto eht ni si eussi eht fo traeh ehT eht ton tub ,stneve lacirotsih etarapes htiw laed lla yehT .smlfi ,y rotsih htiw laed mlfi a seoD .ecalp ekat yeht hcihw ni muunitnoc egats eht ylno si yrotsiH ?tsap eht ni tes gnieb fo eutriv eht yb tsuj .smlfi eseht rof nimajneB ?yrotsih fo esnes a setaerc neht mlfi a fo dnik tahW :setirw ylnO .yb sezzihw tsap eht fo erutcip eurt ehT lleweraf lanfi sti sehsafl hcihw ,erutcip a sa eht si ,ytilibasingocer sti fo tnemom eht ni . . . .tsaf dleh eb ot tsap ot naem ton seod tsap si tahw etalucitra oT ot snaem tI ”.saw yllaer ti woh“ esingocer a ni sehsafl ti sa ,yromem a fo lortnoc ekat sevirra haisseM eht roF … regnad fo tnemom sevirra osla eh ;remeedeR eht sa ylerem ton ehT .tsirhC-itnA eht fo rehsiuqnav eht sa gnittes fo tfig eht htiw y rotsih fo retirw ylno eht si ,tsap eht ni epoh fo skraps eht thgila neve ton taht :siht fo decnivnoc si ohw eno eh fi ,ymene eht morf efas eb lliw daed eht desaec ton sah ymene siht dnA .suoirotciv si -cer segnaluoC ed letsuF .… suoirotciv eb ot dehsiw eh fi taht ,nairotsih eht ot dednemmo evomer dluohs eh ,hcope na ecneirepxeer ot esruoc retal eht tuoba swonk eh gnihty reve retteb on si erehT .daeh sih morf yrotsih fo hcihw htiw dohtem eht gniziretcarahc fo yaw a si tI .nekorb sah msilairetam lacirotsih Like History Written in Lightning P.4

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procedure of empathy. Its origin is the heaviness at heart, the acedia, which despairs of mastering the genuine historical picture, which so fleetingly flashes by.

I think of films that aspire to “setting alight the sparks of hope in the past,” that feel heavy at the heart, that proceed with empathy.

I think of the works of Hou-Hsiao Hsien, Chantal Akerman, Alexei German, Kira Muratova, Sergei Loznitsa, Andrei Ujica, Deborah Stratman, Kelly Reichardt, James Benning, Thom Andersen, Yasujiro Ozu, even John Ford and others. I think all of these films have a sense of history, the one that I am trying to describe.

What do the films of these directors have in common? Not very much.

Except that they go against the grain of both historical understanding and the history of cinema. They each find their form, and by applying them to different subjects, expand upon them, and place them in the context of history. The films are often not even directly about history. Unlike the films discussed earlier, they bleed into the milieux of the real world, not hesitating to subtly pass judgement.

One other thing: there is a feeling of absence in these films. As Benjamin points out, the genuine historical picture “fleetingly flashes by.”

To grasp history is to acknowledge this, to know that it is a flicker, and impossible to see it in its totality. This is where the sense of history lies.

)8991( raC yM ,voylatsurhK

gninthgiL ni nettirW y rotsiH ekiL 5.P

gninthgiL ni nettirW y rotsiH ekiL 5.P

)8991( raC yM ,voylatsurhK

We Will Never Understand Each Other, but We May Still See One Another We Will Never Understand Each Other, but We May Still See One Another

-ivaeh eht si nigiro stI .yhtapme fo erudecorp sriapsed hcihw ,aideca eht ,traeh ta ssen ,erutcip lacirotsih eniuneg eht gniretsam fo .yb sehsafl ylgniteefl os hcihw eht ni epoh fo skraps eht thgila gnittes“ ot eripsa taht smlfi fo kniht I .yhtapme htiw deecorp taht ,traeh eht ta yvaeh leef taht ”,tsap iexelA ,namrekA latnahC ,neisH oaisH-uoH fo skrow eht fo kniht I harobeD ,acijU ierdnA ,astinzoL iegreS ,avotaruM ariK ,namreG orijusaY ,nesrednA mohT ,gninneB semaJ ,tdrahcieR ylleK ,namtartS a evah smlfi eseht fo lla kniht I .srehto dna droF nhoJ neve ,uzO .ebircsed ot gniyrt ma I taht eno eht ,yrotsih fo esnes .hcum yrev toN ?nommoc ni evah srotcerid eseht fo smlfi eht od tahW -rednu lacirotsih htob fo niarg eht tsniaga og yeht taht tpecxE dna ,mrof rieht dnfi hcae yehT .amenic fo yrotsih eht dna gnidnats dna ,meht nopu dnapxe ,stcejbus tnereffid ot meht gniylppa yb neve ton netfo era smlfi ehT .yrotsih fo txetnoc eht ni meht ecalp deelb yeht ,reilrae dessucsid smlfi eht ekilnU .yrotsih tuoba yltcerid ssap yltbus ot gnitatiseh ton ,dlrow laer eht fo xueilim eht otni .tnemegduj :gniht rehto enO fo gnileef a si ereht eseht ni ecnesba nimajneB sA .smlfi -uneg eht ,tuo stniop erutcip lacirotsih eni ”.yb sehsafl ylgniteefl“ si yrotsih psarg oT ,siht egdelwonkca ot a si ti taht wonk ot elbissopmi dna ,rekcifl -ilatot sti ni ti ees ot eht erehw si sihT .yt .seil yrotsih fo esnes

Khrustalyov, My Car (1998)

Khrustalyov, My Car (1998)

Like History Written in Lightning P.5

Like History Written in Lightning P.5

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nda Listening gnikooL Invisible eht ot nscript) arT( As the Covid-19 pandemic forced us into lockdown, my friend and the graphic designer Monika Grūzīte asked me to give an online talk about my practice to her students in Graphic Design at ArtEZ Institute of the Arts.

Taking into consideration the young age of the audience and that these weren’t film students, I tried to keep the talk easily accesible in its terminology and examples. The following are the notes that I wrote for the lecture.

If ever there was a time when we are paying attention to the invisible, it is the current moment. Again the invisible isn’t exclusive to the realm of mysticism, religion or theoretical physics. We are aware of its presence in our everyday lives. I think that the feelings that the feelings most of are experiencing right now are similar to those that have always associated with the invisible. It is a mixture of fear, respect and fascination – very similar to a religious feeling, or a mystical feeling.

It is easy to see why. Our distant ancestors must have had similar experiences when encountering anything that would influence their lives, without necessarily appearing in )tpircsnarT( elbisivnI eht ot gninetsiL dna gnikooL 1.P

We Will Never Understand Each Other, but We May Still See One Another

gLooking ninetsiL an d eto lbisthe ivn I )t(Tran pircs otni su decrof cimednap 91-divoC eht sA rengised cihparg eht dna dneirf ym ,nwodkcol enilno na evig ot em deksa etīzūrG akinoM ni stneduts reh ot ecitcarp ym tuoba klat .strA eht fo etutitsnI ZEtrA ta ngiseD cihparG fo ega gnuoy eht noitaredisnoc otni gnikaT -uts mlfi t’nerew eseht taht dna ecneidua eht elbisecca ylisae klat eht peek ot deirt I ,stned -wollof ehT .selpmaxe dna ygolonimret sti ni .erutcel eht rof etorw I taht seton eht era gni -yap era ew nehw emit a saw ereht reve fI tnerruc eht si ti ,elbisivni eht ot noitnetta gni ot evisulcxe t’nsi elbisivni eht niagA .tnemom -teroeht ro noigiler ,msicitsym fo mlaer eht ecneserp sti fo erawa era eW .scisyhp laci sgnileef eht taht kniht I .sevil yadyreve ruo ni thgir gnicneirepxe era fo tsom sgnileef eht taht syawla evah taht esoht ot ralimis era won fo erutxim a si tI .elbisivni eht htiw detaicossa ralimis yrev – noitanicsaf dna tcepser ,raef .gnileef lacitsym a ro ,gnileef suoigiler a ot srotsecna tnatsid ruO .yhw ees ot ysae si tI nehw secneirepxe ralimis dah evah tsum ecneuflni dluow taht gnihtyna gniretnuocne ni gniraeppa ylirassecen tuohtiw ,sevil rieht Looking and Listening to the Invisible (Transcript) P.1

rehhtO toh nc AaeEndOne Wlltiu ehtO hcaE dnatsrednU reveN lliW eW rehtonA enO eeS llitS yaM eW tub ,re ae tsSrellditnSUya reMveeN Wbe,rW

front of them. No wonder medicine, religion, and mysticism often went hand in hand. Where I’m from, I’ve met old people whose parents still thought that measles and similar diseases were invisible spirits that went from village to village, who liked to be treated with respect, sung songs to, and given treats. But this is besides the point.

Today we will discuss how cinema, the medium of the visible, and of the audible, has dealt with invisibility. I’ll try to give some examples from classic films, to more contemporary ones. And briefly touch upon how it’s affected my own practice.

Let’s start at the obvious question. What do we talk about when we talk about the invisible? The word itself assumes that we’re talking about something that exists, but does not appear. There might be many reasons for something not to appear. It might be hidden of its own volition – as in mythology and religion, where deities choose when to appear and disappear – and to whom. It might be hidden because it’s a sinister presence – like a curse, or a ghost. Or it might be hidden because we are not equipped to see it, because we are not looking in the right way. This ranges from objects that are too small or too far away, to people whom we consciously or subconsciously fail to register, people who are other to our own experience.

What all of these categories have in common is that the invisible is presupposed to exist. It is always the human perspective, most often which matches with the perspective of the viewer, that is lacking in capacity to see it. Perhaps, it is simply because the characters are not equipped with the right tools, as in John Carpenter’s classic They Live (1989), or because they lack the right approach, or the right perspective, the right pattern of thinking. After the invisible becomes present, it overwhelms the film. Usually, the film ends soon after. Consider a detective film. Would you keep watching long after the perpetrator is revealed and apprehended?

But how does all of this apply to our given situation? What can we learn, as artists, from understanding the presence of the invisible in film? As a documentary filmmaker, the most interesting thing for me is that it greatly expands the subjects and themes with which we can )8891( eviL yehT )8891( eviL yehT work, because we can work with the abstract as much as with the concrete. And I think there’s something for every kind of artistic practitioner. How can we structure our practices around the invisible?

)tpircsnarT( elbisivnI eht ot gninetsiL)td pn iracsgnnaikrTo(oeLlbisivnI eht ot gninetsiL dna gnikooL 2 .P 2 .P

We Will Never Understand Each Other, Webut WillWe Never MayUnderstand Still See One Each Another Other, but We May Still See One Another

netfo msicitsym dna ,noigiler ,enicidem rednow oN .meht fo tnorf esohw elpoep dlo tem ev’I ,morf m’I erehW .dnah ni dnah tnew elbisivni erew sesaesid ralimis dna selsaem taht thguoht llits stnerap htiw detaert eb ot dekil ohw ,egalliv ot egalliv morf tnew taht stirips .tniop eht sediseb si siht tuB .staert nevig dna ,ot sgnos gnus ,tcepser fo dna ,elbisiv eht fo muidem eht ,amenic woh ssucsid lliw ew yadoT selpmaxe emos evig ot yrt ll’I .ytilibisivni htiw tlaed sah ,elbidua eht hcuot yfleirb dnA .seno y raropmetnoc erom ot ,smlfi cissalc morf .ecitcarp nwo ym detceffa s’ti woh nopu ew nehw tuoba klat ew od tahW .noitseuq suoivbo eht ta trats s’teL gniklat er’ew taht semussa flesti drow ehT ?elbisivni eht tuoba klat eb thgim erehT .raeppa ton seod tub ,stsixe taht gnihtemos tuoba fo neddih eb thgim tI .raeppa ot ton gnihtemos rof snosaer ynam esoohc seitied erehw ,noigiler dna ygolohtym ni sa – noitilov nwo sti neddih eb thgim tI .mohw ot dna – raeppasid dna raeppa ot nehw thgim ti rO .tsohg a ro ,esruc a ekil – ecneserp retsinis a s’ti esuaceb era ew esuaceb ,ti ees ot deppiuqe ton era ew esuaceb neddih eb llams oot era taht stcejbo morf segnar sihT .yaw thgir eht ni gnikool ton ylsuoicsnocbus ro ylsuoicsnoc ew mohw elpoep ot ,yawa raf oot ro .ecneirepxe nwo ruo ot rehto era ohw elpoep ,retsiger ot liaf si elbisivni eht taht si nommoc ni evah seirogetac eseht fo lla tahW netfo tsom ,evitcepsrep namuh eht syawla si tI .tsixe ot desoppuserp ni gnikcal si taht ,reweiv eht fo evitcepsrep eht htiw sehctam hcihw era sretcarahc eht esuaceb ylpmis si ti ,spahreP .ti ees ot yticapac cissalc s’retnepraC nhoJ ni sa ,sloot thgir eht htiw deppiuqe ton thgir eht ro ,hcaorppa thgir eht kcal yeht esuaceb ro ,)9891( eviL yehT -eb elbisivni eht retfA .gnikniht fo nrettap thgir eht ,evitcepsrep noos sdne mlfi eht ,yllausU .mlfi eht smlehwrevo ti ,tneserp semoc gnol gnihctaw peek uoy dluoW .mlfi evitceted a redisnoC .retfa ?dedneherppa dna delaever si rotarteprep eht retfa fo lla seod woh tuB ruo ot ylppa siht tahW ?noitautis nevig sa ,nrael ew nac -rednu morf ,stsitra -serp eht gnidnats elbisivni eht fo ecne -ucod a sA ?mlfi ni ,rekammlfi yratnem gnitseretni tsom eht ti taht si em rof gniht eht sdnapxe yltaerg semeht dna stcejbus nac ew hcihw htiw They Live (1988) ew esuaceb ,krow They Live (1988) dnA .etercnoc eht htiw sa hcum sa tcartsba eht htiw krow nac woH .renoititcarp citsitra fo dnik yreve rof gnihtemos s’ereht kniht I ?elbisivni eht dnuora secitcarp ruo erutcurts ew nac

Looking and Listening to the Invisible Looking (Transcript) and Listening to the Invisible (Transcript) P.2 P.2

toh ncAaeEndOne Wlltiu ehtO hcaE dnatsrednU reveN lliW eW rehtonA enO eeS llitS yaM eW tub ,rerehhtO atesSrellditnSUya reMveeN Wbe,rW

Let’s start with acknowledging our first limitation. We are always in the realm of the visible. We can only suggest the presence of the invisible in our lived world. One of the most fantastic solutions is also the most obvious. We can always work in sound. In fact, we are more easily deceived by sounds than by images. Consider how likely we are to trust any voice-over imposed on an image.

But the drawbacks of a voice-over like this are also obvious. If the audience starts to question a part of the voice-over, it will inevitably question the rest. I always prefer to manipulate (because all films manipulate) with the diegetic sound or the sound within the frame. It gives the audience a feeling that they experienced everything themselves, and came to their own conclusions.

.tnenitnoc tsav eht fo roiretni eht otn.ti nffeongitnnio dcaetshasv’eehh,tefroerhodirneA tn“i eht otni ffo gnidaeh s’eh ,ereh dnA“ ”.htaed niat rec sdrawot gnidaeh s’eh”.,hmtaihed fondiaaterh ea c srdertaewmoot lgikn0 id0a0eh,5sh’etihW,mih fo daeha sretemolik 000 ,5 htiW )8002to ,dlsuggest roW eht fo dnthe E ehTinvisible ta sretn)u8o0c0nis 2E,(dthrough lroW eht fo dmontage nE ehT ta sretand nuocnE( The second way

editing, the basic act of juxtaposition in film. Those of you who know the basic history of film will not be surprised by this. I assume many of you have heard of the Kuleshov effect. So, I won’t explain it myself but use Hitchcock’s example.

There’s more to it than simple manipulation. It reveals how much that we take for granted in cinema is actually invisible, and between the frames. Intention and desire, in this example. But emotions, intentions, and most of all, thoughts are not necessarily read through the acting but through cinematic structure and nam dlo y t riD - 2 woR ,nam dlo dniK n- a1 m wodRlo y t riD - 2 woR ,nam We dlo dn i K - 1 wo R grammar. also see that the realm of the invisible is not only mystical, but concerns very everyday acts. How do you show thinking? A film can employ )tpircsnarT( elbisivnI eht ot gninetsiL)td pn iracsgnnaikrTo(oeLlbisivnI eht ot gninetsiL dna gnikooL 3.P 3.P

We Will Never Understand Each Other, MayUnderstand Still See One Another Webut WillWe Never Each Other, but We May Still See One Another

ni syawla era eW .noitatimil tsrfi ruo gnigdelwonkca htiw trats s’teL eht fo ecneserp eht tseggus ylno nac eW .elbisiv eht fo mlaer eht si snoitulos citsatnaf tsom eht fo enO .dlrow devil ruo ni elbisivni ew ,tcaf nI .dnuos ni krow syawla nac eW .suoivbo tsom eht osla woh redisnoC .segami yb naht sdnuos yb devieced ylisae erom era .egami na no desopmi revo-eciov yna tsurt ot era ew ylekil fo skcabward eht tuB siht ekil revo-eciov a fI .suoivbo osla era strats ecneidua eht fo trap a noitseuq ot lliw ti ,revo-eciov eht noitseuq ylbativeni syawla I .tser eht etalupinam ot referp smlfi lla esuaceb( eht htiw )etalupinam ro dnuos citegeid eht nihtiw dnuos eht eht sevig tI .emarf gnileef a ecneidua -irepxe yeht taht gnihtyreve decne dna ,sevlesmeht nwo rieht ot emac .snoisulcnoc

“And here, he’s heading off into the interior of the vast continent.

“And here, he’s heading off into the interior of the vast continent.

000 kilometers ahead of him, he’s heading towards certain death.”

With 5, 000 kilometers ahead of him,With he’s5,heading towards certain death.”

(Encounters dna egat atThe noEnd m hofgthe uoWorld, rht (Encounters s2008) i elbisivatniThe ehEnd t tsofethe ggWorld, us ot2008) yaw dnoces ehT

ohw uoy fo esohT .mlfi ni noitisopatxuj fo tca cisab eht ,gnitide emussa I .siht yb desirprus eb ton lliw mlfi fo yrotsih cisab eht wonk nialpxe t’now I ,oS .tceffe vohseluK eht fo draeh evah uoy fo ynam .elpmaxe s’kcochctiH esu tub flesym ti

ti ot erom s’erehT -upinam elpmis naht woh slaever tI .noital ekat ew taht hcum amenic ni detnarg rof ,elbisivni yllautca si eht neewteb dna dna noitnetnI .semarf -maxe siht ni ,erised ,snoitome tuB .elp tsom dna ,snoitnetni era sthguoht ,lla fo daer ylirassecen ton gnitca eht hguorht -enic hguorht tub dna erutcurts citam Row 1 - Kind old man, Row 2 - Dirty old man Row o 1 -sKind man la eold Wman, .ramRow ma2r-gDirty old snrecnoc tub ,lacitsym ylno ton si elbisivni eht fo mlaer eht taht ees yolpme nac mlfi A ?gnikniht wohs uoy od woH .stca yadyreve yrev Looking and Listening to the Invisible Looking (Transcript) and Listening to the Invisible (Transcript) P.3 P.3

tohncAaeEndOna etesSrellditnSUyraeM WlltiW ube,rW ehtO hcaE dnatsrednU reveN lliW eW rehtonA enO eeS llitS yaM eW tub ,rerehhtO veeN

a voice-over, but that’s too easy. What if the intention is to conceal what the character is thinking about?

What we have discussed so far are very basic demonstrations of narrative structuring within film. We are inching towards, what I think is one of the most important question of making films, which is the question of framing. I’m not simply referring to aesthetics here, but towards a more fundamental question: what remains in the frame? What remains beyond? How can a frame suggest the beyond? Whose perspective is the frame? What motivates the movement, or why is it still? How long will this frame be on screen?

The world of the frame, does it belong to only the film, or to our reality? I think that films which address this question successfully do so precisely because of the awareness of the flexibility of these questions.

One of the most interesting strategies of approaching the framing of the invisible is to switch the usual perspective. That is, the film and the main characters are the ones that are invisible. Perhaps, the most iconic, famous example of this is Wings of Desire. Angels fly over Berlin and they make audible the thoughts of the people they encounter. It tackles two basic problems at once—filming the invisible, and listening to the inaudible.

It’s also worth mentioning that invisibility is also an extremely political matter. Think, for example, about how Pinochet’s regime in Chile “disappeared” its dissidents. After all, to make invisible is to disappear. Patricio Guzman’s Nostalgia for the Light dealt with this by exploring the saddening, unexpected connection between astronomy and history. In the Atacama desert, where many of the dissidents were killed in secret by the regime, mothers of the deceased still look for their remains. It is also where one of the world’s leading astronomical observatories is located. Guzman connects the search for the dead, to the search of intelligent life in the universe.

Finally, a tiny bit about my practice.

The form that I’ve mostly been working through so far can be described as observational documentary, although I don’t necessarily like this term. My last film was, in brief, about the sudden gold rush of cryptocurrency mining in rural Georgia. )9102( tsev raH ehT )9102( tsev raH ehT But I wanted to see if it’s possible to visualise the internet without showing the screen, and also see what this phenomenon meant in )tpircsnarT( elbisivnI eht ot gninetsiL)tdpniracsgnnaikrT o(oeLlbisivnI eht ot gninetsiL dna gnikooL 4.P 4.P

We Will Never Understand Each Other, MayUnderstand Still See One Another Webut WillWe Never Each Other, but We May Still See One Another

laecnoc ot si noitnetni eht fi tahW .ysae oot s’taht tub ,revo-eciov a ?tuoba gnikniht si retcarahc eht tahw fo snoitartsnomed cisab y rev era raf os dessucsid evah ew tahW I tahw ,sdrawot gnihcni era eW .mlfi nihtiw gnirutcurts evitarran hcihw ,smlfi gnikam fo noitseuq tnatropmi tsom eht fo eno si kniht scitehtsea ot gnirrefer ylpmis ton m’I .gnimarf fo noitseuq eht si ni sniamer tahw :noitseuq latnemadnuf erom a sdrawot tub ,ereh eht tseggus emarf a nac woH ?dnoyeb sniamer tahW ?emarf eht eht setavitom tahW ?emarf eht si evitcepsrep esohW ?dnoyeb ?neercs no eb emarf siht lliw gnol woH ?llits ti si yhw ro ,tnemevom ruo ot ro ,mlfi eht ylno ot gnoleb ti seod ,emarf eht fo dlrow ehT yllufsseccus noitseuq siht sserdda hcihw smlfi taht kniht I ?ytilaer eseht fo ytilibixefl eht fo ssenerawa eht fo esuaceb ylesicerp os od .snoitseuq gnimarf eht gnihcaorppa fo seigetarts gnitseretni tsom eht fo enO mlfi eht ,si tahT .evitcepsrep lausu eht hctiws ot si elbisivni eht fo ,spahreP .elbisivni era taht seno eht era sretcarahc niam eht dna slegnA .eriseD fo sgniW si siht fo elpmaxe suomaf ,cinoci tsom eht elpoep eht fo sthguoht eht elbidua ekam yeht dna nilreB revo yfl eht gnimlfi—ecno ta smelborp cisab owt selkcat tI .retnuocne yeht .elbiduani eht ot gninetsil dna ,elbisivni -tilop ylemertxe na osla si ytilibisivni taht gninoitnem htrow osla s’tI ni emiger s’tehconiP woh tuoba ,elpmaxe rof ,knihT .rettam laci si elbisivni ekam ot ,lla retfA .stnedissid sti ”deraeppasid“ elihC htiw tlaed thgiL eht rof aiglatsoN s’namzuG oicirtaP .raeppasid ot neewteb noitcennoc detcepxenu ,gnineddas eht gnirolpxe yb siht fo ynam erehw ,tresed amacatA eht nI .y rotsih dna ymonortsa eht fo srehtom ,emiger eht yb terces ni dellik erew stnedissid eht eht fo eno erehw osla si tI .sniamer rieht rof kool llits desaeced namzuG .detacol si seirotav resbo lacimonortsa gnidael s’dlrow efil tnegilletni fo hcraes eht ot ,daed eht rof hcraes eht stcennoc .esrevinu eht ni tib ynit a ,yllaniF .ecitcarp ym tuoba ev’I taht mrof ehT -krow neeb yltsom raf os hguorht gni sa debircsed eb nac -cod lanoitavresbo hguohtla ,yratnemu ylirassecen t’nod I yM .mret siht ekil ,feirb ni ,saw mlfi tsal neddus eht tuoba -pyrc fo hsur dlog gninim ycnerrucot .aigroeG larur ni The Harvest (2019) The Harvest (2019) tuohtiw tenretni eht esilausiv ot elbissop s’ti fi ees ot detnaw I tuB ni tnaem nonemonehp siht tahw ees osla dna ,neercs eht gniwohs Looking and Listening to the Invisible Looking (Transcript) and Listening to the Invisible (Transcript) P.4 P.4

rehtonA enO eeS llitS yaM eW tub ,rehtO hcaE dnatsrednU reveN lliW eW

relation to history. How would I go about this? What started first as a study of contrasts between technology and agriculture in the region, lead me to see how many threads there are between the two. In the end, I didn’t even think of them as separate things.

But how would I link all of it in film? I used sound to connect unrelated objects, like beehives and Bitcoing-mining CPUs, and weather to connect separate landscapes. We also got lucky, as we were able to film lightning at night behind far-away mountains, and on a different day from a “databank.”

But I don’t want to go into too many technical details. I want to end on this—looking for the invisible while filming is not so different from looking for the invisible while watching films. And that’s something that all of us can practice.

)tpircsnarT( elbisivnI eht ot gninetsiL dna gnikooL 5.P

We Will Never Understand Each Other, but We May Still See One Another

sa tsrfi detrats tahW ?siht tuoba og I dluow woH .yrotsih ot noitaler ni erutlucirga dna ygolonhcet neewteb stsartnoc fo yduts a neewteb era ereht sdaerht ynam woh ees ot em dael ,noiger eht .sgniht etarapes sa meht fo kniht neve t’ndid I ,dne eht nI .owt eht -ernu tcennoc ot dnuos desu I ?mlfi ni ti fo lla knil I dluow woh tuB rehtaew dna ,sUPC gninim-gnioctiB dna seviheeb ekil ,stcejbo detal erew ew sa ,ykcul tog osla eW .sepacsdnal etarapes tcennoc ot a no dna ,sniatnuom yawa-raf dniheb thgin ta gninthgil mlfi ot elba ”.knabatad“ a morf yad tnereffid dne ot tnaw I .sliated lacinhcet ynam oot otni og ot tnaw t’nod I tuB tnereffid os ton si gnimlfi elihw elbisivni eht rof gnikool—siht no -emos s’taht dnA .smlfi gnihctaw elihw elbisivni eht rof gnikool morf .ecitcarp nac su fo lla taht gniht

Looking and Listening to the Invisible (Transcript) P.5

rehtonA enO eeS llitS yaM eW tub ,rehtO hcaE dnatsrednU reveN lliW eW

Hsiao -uoHHsien nO

How much should a spectator know about a place to understand a film with its history as the subject? My knowledge of Taiwan is very superficial, certainly not enough to create an appropriate cultural understanding. Yet, when I’m watching the films of Hou Hsiao-Hsien, I know that I am looking at Taiwanese history. They relate stories of love, family, youthful rebellion, life and death.

They foreground real events and periods.

As Taiwan becomes independent, in A City of Sadness the Lin family comes together and falls apart. At the center of the film is the February 28 massacre of 1947, that unleashed the White Terror of Chiang Kai-Shek’s KMT government. Lin Wen-Ching, who is a deaf-mute photographer, gets beaten up in a crackdown by KMT forces, who suspect that he’s feigning his inability to speak so as to hide his Mainland accent, thus embodying the traumas of early Taiwanese independence.

Are these films like didactic history lessons? In Hsien’s films, history is like a melody from a distant room, that suddenly ne i s H o ai s H -u o H n O 1.P

We Will Never Understand Each Other, but We May Still See One Another

nOn eisHHou-H oais

tuoba wonk rotatceps a dluohs hcum woH yrotsih sti htiw mlfi a dnatsrednu ot ecalp a si nawiaT fo egdelwonk yM ?tcejbus eht sa ot hguone ton ylniatrec ,laicfirepus yrev -dnatsrednu larutluc etairporppa na etaerc fo smlfi eht gnihctaw m’I nehw ,teY .gni gnikool ma I taht wonk I ,neisH-oaisH uoH fo seirots etaler yehT .yrotsih esenawiaT ta .htaed dna efil ,noilleber lufhtuoy ,ylimaf ,evol .sdoirep dna stneve laer dnuorgerof yehT ytiC A ni ,tnednepedni semoceb nawiaT sA rehtegot semoc ylimaf niL eht ssendaS fo mlfi eht fo retnec eht tA .trapa sllaf dna taht ,7491 fo ercassam 82 y raurbeF eht si gnaihC fo rorreT etihW eht dehsaelnu ,gnihC-neW niL .tnemnrevog TMK s’kehS-iaK steg ,rehpargotohp etum-faed a si ohw ,secrof TMK yb nwodkcarc a ni pu netaeb ytilibani sih gningief s’eh taht tcepsus ohw ,tnecca dnalniaM sih edih ot sa os kaeps ot ylrae fo samuart eht gniydobme suht .ecnednepedni esenawiaT -sel yrotsih citcadid ekil smlfi eseht erA -lem a ekil si yrotsih ,smlfi s’neisH nI ?snos ylneddus taht ,moor tnatsid a morf ydo On Hou-Hsiao Hsien P.1

rehtonA enO eeS llitS yaM eW tub ,rehtO hcaE dnatsrednU reveN lliW eW

overwhelms the picture, and quietens again. It is always there, but not always audible. As a spectator, one should be sensitive to this melody, even without understanding the lyrics.

Photography is a recurring theme in the films of Hou-Hsiao Hsien.

Staged family photographs bookend the beginning and end of A City of Sadness, and appear in A Time To Live, and a Time To Die, and Good Men, Good Women. They measure change over time, betraying the glimpses of tragedies that occur in between. Likewise, these films offer history as a glimpse of the past, as it continues to fade into the present.

)9891( ssendaS fo ytiC

ne i s H o ai s H -u o H n O 2 .P

We Will Never Understand Each Other, but We May Still See One Another

tub ,ereht syawla si tI .niaga sneteiuq dna ,erutcip eht smlehwrevo siht ot evitisnes eb dluohs eno ,rotatceps a sA .elbidua syawla ton .sciryl eht gnidnatsrednu tuohtiw neve ,ydolem .neisH oaisH-uoH fo smlfi eht ni emeht gnirrucer a si yhpargotohP fo dne dna gninnigeb eht dnekoob shpargotohp ylimaf degatS ,eiD oT emiT a dna ,eviL oT emiT A ni raeppa dna ,ssendaS fo ytiC A ,emit revo egnahc erusaem yehT .nemoW dooG ,neM dooG dna ,esiwekiL .neewteb ni rucco taht seidegart fo sespmilg eht gniyarteb seunitnoc ti sa ,tsap eht fo espmilg a sa yrotsih reffo smlfi eseht .tneserp eht otni edaf ot

City of Sadness (1989)

On Hou-Hsiao Hsien P.2

rehtonA enO eeS llitS yaM eW tub ,rehtO hcaE dnatsrednU reveN lliW eW

ngihcFilms taW rong rW

)3002( nnI nogarD ,eybdooG

I have a hard time watching movies, even the ones I love. Suspense and tense narratives turn me off and tune me out. Dramas, especially involving children in vulnerable situations, give me anxiety. I couldn’t watch anything for weeks after Rosselini’s Germany, Year Zero. I still haven’t seen The 400 Blows. Horror films are a no go.

Watching It Follows, I inadvertently twisted the arm of my companion around the third jump scare. At home, I try to see films (and series) that are just above the threshold of stupidity to be watchable, but dull enough to let me rest. My Netflix algorithm recommends mostly forgettable detectives. Perhaps, it’s because I never learned to watch movies in the right way.

I remember the first time I was in a cinema.

My mother took me to see Disney’s Mulan.

Since it came out in 1998, I can estimate that I was five or six years old. I did not care much for the plot. But, I remember yelling “Great Wall of China!” when it appeared on screen. Everyone laughed. I was embarrassed. Afterwards, I did not go to the gnorW seivoM gnihctaW 1.P

We Will Never Understand Each Other, but We May Still See One Another

sWatchin mliF g gWro no

Goodbye, Dragon Inn (2003)

eht neve ,seivom gnihctaw emit drah a evah I -arran esnet dna esnepsuS .evol I seno ,samarD .tuo em enut dna ffo em nrut sevit elbarenluv ni nerdlihc gnivlovni yllaicepse hctaw t’ndluoc I .yteixna em evig ,snoitautis s’inilessoR retfa skeew rof gnihtyna nees t’nevah llits I .oreZ raeY ,ynamreG .og on a era smlfi rorroH .swolB 004 ehT detsiwt yltnetrevdani I ,swolloF tI gnihctaW driht eht dnuora noinapmoc ym fo mra eht dna( smlfi ees ot y rt I ,emoh tA .eracs pmuj fo dlohserht eht evoba tsuj era taht )seires ot hguone llud tub ,elbahctaw eb ot ytidiputs -mocer mhtirogla xiflteN yM .tser em tel -reP .sevitceted elbattegrof yltsom sdnem hctaw ot denrael reven I esuaceb s’ti ,spah .yaw thgir eht ni seivom

.amenic a ni saw I emit tsrfi eht rebmemer I .naluM s’yensiD ees ot em koot rehtom yM etamitse nac I ,8991 ni tuo emac ti ecniS erac ton did I .dlo sraey xis ro evfi saw I taht gnilley rebmemer I ,tuB .tolp eht rof hcum no deraeppa ti nehw ”!anihC fo llaW taerG“ -rabme saw I .dehgual enoyrevE .neercs eht ot og ton did I ,sdraw retfA .dessar Watching Movies Wrong P.1

We Will Never Understand Each Other, but We May Still See One Another

cinema much, unless I was skipping school— which, thankfully, I did quite often. It was a safe harbour, because I knew I would not run into teachers or family friends. In the cinema, I could forget about grammar and maths, and let my mind be free. It hardly mattered what was playing on screen.

Besides, we don’t have cinephiles in my family. Recently, my mother called me fairly late at night, asking: “Why do movies have to be violent?” Turns out, she was flipping channels on television, and accidentally landed on Michael Haneke’s Funny Games. I tried to explain that the violence was the signifier of the presence of evil in this world, and that the director was (probably) not a deranged sadist. She was not convinced. Neither am I. I do not think movies have to be violent.

When movies get particularly tense, as most narrative films do, I try to keep myself distracted by focusing on other details. Sometimes, I count the cuts, or observe the changes in light. I pay more attention to the extras than the leads. I think about the process of subtitling.

I have been told that these are not the correct ways of watching a movie.

In Camera Lucida, Roland Barthes wrote that looking at a photograph taken in Russia in 1969: The photographer teaches me how the Russians dress, I note a boy’s big cloth cap, another’s necktie,an old woman’s scarf around her head, a youth’s haircut… I can enter still further into such details, observing tha many of the men photographed by Nadar have long fingernails: an ethnographical question: how long were nail: worn in a certain period?

Photography can tell me this much better than painted portraits. It allows me to accede to an infra-knowledge; it supplies me with a collection oj partial objects and can flatter a certain fetishism of mine: for this “me” which likes knowledge, which nourishes a kind of amorous preference for it. In the same way, I like certain biographical features which, in a writer’s life, delight me as much as certain photographs; I have called these features “biographemes;” Photography has the same relation to History that the biographeme has to biography.

Perhaps, Barthes was also looking at the photograph the wrong way.

To look at an image of impoverished life in the USSR in 1959, on top of that, one that was taken by an American photographer, and think about neckties and fingernails is to miss its point. But the possibility to look at it wrong is also the one that opens up the field to other meanings.

Watching Movies Wrong P.2

We Will Never Understand Each Other, but We May Still See One Another

did I ,yllufknaht ,hcihw —loohcs gnippiks saw I sselnu ,hcum amenic nur ton dluow I wenk I esuaceb ,ruobrah efas a saw tI .netfo etiuq tuoba tegrof dluoc I ,amenic eht nI .sdneirf ylimaf ro srehcaet otni derettam yldrah tI .eerf eb dnim ym tel dna ,shtam dna rammarg .neercs no gniyalp saw tahw rehtom ym ,yltneceR .ylimaf ym ni selihpenic evah t’nod ew ,sediseB eb ot evah seivom od yhW“ :gniksa ,thgin ta etal ylriaf em dellac dna ,noisivelet no slennahc gnippifl saw ehs ,tuo snruT ”?tneloiv ot deirt I .semaG ynnuF s’ekenaH leahciM no dednal yllatnedicca live fo ecneserp eht fo refiingis eht saw ecneloiv eht taht nialpxe degnared a ton )ylbaborp( saw rotcerid eht taht dna ,dlrow siht ni seivom kniht ton od I .I ma rehtieN .decnivnoc ton saw ehS .tsidas .tneloiv eb ot evah ot yrt I ,od smlfi evitarran tsom sa ,esnet ylralucitrap teg seivom nehW ,semitemoS .sliated rehto no gnisucof yb detcartsid flesym peek noitnetta erom yap I .thgil ni segnahc eht evresbo ro ,stuc eht tnuoc I .gniltitbus fo ssecorp eht tuoba kniht I .sdael eht naht sartxe eht ot a gnihctaw fo syaw tcerroc eht ton era eseht taht dlot neeb evah I .eivom hpargotohp a ta gnikool taht etorw sehtraB dnaloR ,adicuL aremaC nI :9691 ni aissuR ni nekat -suR eht woh em sehcaet rehpargotohp ehT ,pac htolc gib s’yob a eton I ,sserd snais dnuora fracs s’namow dlo na,eitkcen s’rehtona llits retne nac I …tucriah s’htuoy a ,daeh reh ynam aht gnivresbo ,sliated hcus otni rehtruf evah radaN yb dehpargotohp nem eht fo :noitseuq lacihpargonhte na :slianregnfi gnol ?doirep niatrec a ni nrow :lian erew gnol woh retteb hcum siht em llet nac yhpargotohP edecca ot em swolla tI .stiartrop detniap naht htiw em seilppus ti ;egdelwonk-arfni na ot a rettafl nac dna stcejbo laitrap jo noitcelloc a hcihw ”em“ siht rof :enim fo msihsitef niatrec fo dnik a sehsiruon hcihw ,egdelwonk sekil ,yaw emas eht nI .ti rof ecnereferp suoroma ni ,hcihw serutaef lacihpargoib niatrec ekil I niatrec sa hcum sa em thgiled ,efil s’retirw a serutaef eseht dellac evah I ;shpargotohp emas eht sah yhpargotohP ”;semehpargoib“ emehpargoib eht taht yrotsiH ot noitaler .yhpargoib ot sah .yaw gnorw eht hpargotohp eht ta gnikool osla saw sehtraB ,spahreP no ,9591 ni RSSU eht ni efil dehsirevopmi fo egami na ta kool oT dna ,rehpargotohp naciremA na yb nekat saw taht eno ,taht fo pot eht tuB .tniop sti ssim ot si slianregnfi dna seitkcen tuoba kniht dlefi eht pu snepo taht eno eht osla si gnorw ti ta kool ot ytilibissop .sgninaem rehto ot

Watching Movies Wrong P.2

rehtonA enO eeS llitS yaM eW tub ,rehtO hcaE dnatsrednU reveN lliW eW

Watching Ozu, I look at the layout of the room, the style of furniture; in color films, the color of the telephone, the patterns of clothing, the advertisements that appear. In my memory, the plot of these films is mixed up. But I never forget that Setsuko Hara cried, covering up her faces with both palms. I am sad each time I think of it.

Maybe I am watching films wrong. But maybe, that is the point.

gnorW seivoM gnihctaW 3.P

We Will Never Understand Each Other, but We May Still See One Another

;erutinruf fo elyts eht ,moor eht fo tuoyal eht ta kool I ,uzO gnihctaW ,gnihtolc fo snrettap eht ,enohpelet eht fo roloc eht ,smlfi roloc ni eseht fo tolp eht ,y romem ym nI .raeppa taht stnemesitrevda eht -voc ,deirc araH okusteS taht tegrof reven I tuB .pu dexim si smlfi .ti fo kniht I emit hcae das ma I .smlap htob htiw secaf reh pu gnire .tniop eht si taht ,ebyam tuB .gnorw smlfi gnihctaw ma I ebyaM

Watching Movies Wrong P.3

rehtonA enO eeS llitS yaM eW tub ,rehtO hcaE dnatsrednU reveN lliW eW

lliWNever eW d dEach natsreOther, dnU May eStill W tu See b Another enO In January, I read about an opening at Amsterdam’s Melkweg, of an exhibition titled “Everything Ok Not Ok” by Piet Osterbeek, a Dutch photographer. Feeling homesick as I was unable to travel home for the New Year’s holidays, I was excited to see it, as the series was about youth counterculture in Tbilisi. But the narrative presented through the images was reductive and simplistic. It left an aftertaste of the kind of Orientalism that has become acceptable for Western artists dealing with Eastern Europe.

Complex social conversations reduced to easy narratives with images of block towers against landscapes, oppressed youth against conservative society, sexuality against religion, East against West. Narratives that take history out of the equation and frame everything that happens East of Vienna as a struggle between Enlightened Westerners and Backward Easterners.

Which one of these two extremes do my European colleagues see me as, I wondered.

The disappointment was mitigated by a group of young artists making contact. rehtonA enO eeS llitS yaM eW tub ,rehtO hcaE dnatsrednU reveN lliW eW 1.P

We Will Never Understand Each Other, but We May Still See One Another

rWe eveNWil l ,rUnderstand ehtO hcaE ebut eS llWe itS yMa a rOne ehtonA -mA ta gninepo na tuoba daer I ,yraunaJ nI deltit noitibihxe na fo ,gewkleM s’madrets ,keebretsO teiP yb ”kO toN kO gnihtyrevE“ kcisemoh gnileeF .rehpargotohp hctuD a weN eht rof emoh levart ot elbanu saw I sa eht sa ,ti ees ot deticxe saw I ,syadiloh s’raeY ni erutlucretnuoc htuoy tuoba saw seires hguorht detneserp evitarran eht tuB .isilibT tI .citsilpmis dna evitcuder saw segami eht msilatneirO fo dnik eht fo etsatretfa na tfel -tseW rof elbatpecca emoceb sah taht .eporuE nretsaE htiw gnilaed stsitra nre ot decuder snoitasrevnoc laicos xelpmoC -wot kcolb fo segami htiw sevitarran ysae htuoy desserppo ,sepacsdnal tsniaga sre ytilauxes ,yteicos evitavresnoc tsniaga -arraN .tseW tsniaga tsaE ,noigiler tsniaga noitauqe eht fo tuo yrotsih ekat taht sevit fo tsaE sneppah taht gnihtyreve emarf dna denethgilnE neewteb elggurts a sa anneiV .srenretsaE drawkcaB dna srenretseW -uE ym od semertxe owt eseht fo eno hcihW .derednow I ,sa em ees seugaelloc naepor a yb detagitim saw tnemtnioppasid ehT .tcatnoc gnikam stsitra gnuoy fo puorg We Will Never Understand Each Other, but We May Still See One Another P.1

rehtonA enO eeS llitS yaM eW tub ,rehtO hcaE dnatsrednU reveN lliW eW

Some Eastern Europeans at Rietveld have formed a loose book club that was discussing issues of representation in art from and about Eastern Europe. We talked about the exhibition. We laughed about the clichés of block towers in photography, and how often people in the West assume we are all Russian. We realised that, hailing from a diverse geographical area, we don’t necessarily have too much in common in terms of culture, except being unified by outside misperceptions.

All of this lead to an important question: Can Western artists make fair work in and about Eastern Europe? It’s an uncomfortable question, because of its tangential implications. Posing it even requires an assumption of a kind of homogeneity between, for example, Armenia and Belarus, cultures that have no link besides a shared historical experience with the Soviet Union. Where does the East begin and end? And what does it say about us, artists working in the West? Are we doomed to only make work about places that we are from? Will everything we make be interpreted through that lens? And, as immigrants, how do we position ourselves? After all, our colleagues back home also view us with suspicion.

For these and many other reasons, I’ve never been a proponent of the idea that one’s cultural identity is the sole grantor of license to making work about (but not necessarily within) those cultures.

I have seen many exhibitions like Peet Osterbeek’s, and not too many works that are nuanced and respectful. Even so, I do not wish to change my views because if ever pressed on what my favourite film of all time is, I say it’s Chantal Akerman’s D’Est. A film that, for all its imperfections, offers a glimpse of history at one of Eastern Europe’s most difficult and defining periods. There might be only one Akerman for thousands of Osterbeeks, but the film could have only been made by an outsider looking in. Thinking about D’Est, I wrote the following essay.

rehtonA enO eeS llitS yaM eW tub ,rehtO hcaE dnatsrednU reveN lliW eW 2 .P

We Will Never Understand Each Other, but We May Still See One Another

bulc koob esool a demrof evah dlevteiR ta snaeporuE nretsaE emoS tuoba dna morf tra ni noitatneserper fo seussi gnissucsid saw taht tuoba dehgual eW .noitibihxe eht tuoba deklat eW .eporuE nretsaE elpoep netfo woh dna ,yhpargotohp ni srewot kcolb fo séhcilc eht morf gniliah ,taht desilaer eW .naissuR lla era ew emussa tseW eht ni hcum oot evah ylirassecen t’nod ew ,aera lacihpargoeg esrevid a edistuo yb defiinu gnieb tpecxe ,erutluc fo smret ni nommoc ni .snoitpecrepsim ekam stsitra nretseW naC :noitseuq tnatropmi na ot dael siht fo llA -seuq elbatrofmocnu na s’tI ?eporuE nretsaE tuoba dna ni krow riaf seriuqer neve ti gnisoP .snoitacilpmi laitnegnat sti fo esuaceb ,noit ,elpmaxe rof ,neewteb ytienegomoh fo dnik a fo noitpmussa na derahs a sediseb knil on evah taht serutluc ,suraleB dna ainemrA tsaE eht seod erehW .noinU teivoS eht htiw ecneirepxe lacirotsih ni gnikrow stsitra ,su tuoba yas ti seod tahw dnA ?dne dna nigeb taht secalp tuoba krow ekam ylno ot demood ew erA ?tseW eht taht hguorht deterpretni eb ekam ew gnihtyreve lliW ?morf era ew ,lla retfA ?sevlesruo noitisop ew od woh ,stnargimmi sa ,dnA ?snel .noicipsus htiw su weiv osla emoh kcab seugaelloc ruo fo tnenoporp a neeb reven ev’I ,snosaer rehto ynam dna eseht roF esnecil fo rotnarg elos eht si ytitnedi larutluc s’eno taht aedi eht .serutluc esoht )nihtiw ylirassecen ton tub( tuoba krow gnikam ot oot ton dna ,s’keebretsO teeP ekil snoitibihxe ynam nees evah I hsiw ton od I ,os nevE .luftcepser dna decnaun era taht skrow ynam etiruovaf ym tahw no desserp reve fi esuaceb sweiv ym egnahc ot rof ,taht mlfi A .tsE’D s’namrekA latnahC s’ti yas I ,si emit lla fo mlfi nretsaE fo eno ta yrotsih fo espmilg a sreffo ,snoitcefrepmi sti lla ylno eb thgim erehT .sdoirep gninfied dna tlucffiid tsom s’eporuE evah dluoc mlfi eht tub ,skeebretsO fo sdnasuoht rof namrekA eno ,tsE’D tuoba gniknihT .ni gnikool redistuo na yb edam neeb ylno .yasse gniwollof eht etorw I

We Will Never Understand Each Other, but We May Still See One Another P.2

rehtonA enO eeS llitS yaM eW tub ,rehtO hcaE dnatsrednU reveN lliW eW

When museums opened up again this summer, I went to see the Chantal Akerman retrospective at EYE. The piece that I was looking forward to the most was the installation view of D’Est, a film Akerman made by travelling from East Germany into Russia, as the Soviet Union was falling apart. Made up of long tracking shots and brief tableaux of interiors, D’Est shows parts of the collapsing Soviet Union, as it plunges into winter. Morose, angry, tired and disappointed, people wait for public transport that never seems to arrive, as everything is enveloped by darkness and snow, or listen to music, watch television, stare off into the space of their apartments.

The installation view comprised of rows of television screens, playing the long travelling shots from different locations. When a scene ends, it migrates to a different screen to start again. The dark exhibition space is lit up by the dim, blue winter light of the streets, and the glowing orange of several interiors. The sound, playing on loop, is atmospheric street noise with rehtonA enO eeS llitS yaM eW tub ,rehtO hcaE dnatsrednU reveN lliW eW 3.P

We Will Never Understand Each Other, but We May Still See One Another

siht niaga pu denepo smuesum nehW namrekA latnahC eht ees ot tnew I ,remmus saw I taht eceip ehT .EYE ta evitcepsorter -latsni eht saw tsom eht ot drawrof gnikool yb edam namrekA mlfi a ,tsE’D fo weiv noital ,aissuR otni ynamreG tsaE morf gnillevart edaM .trapa gnillaf saw noinU teivoS eht sa xuaelbat feirb dna stohs gnikcart gnol fo pu -loc eht fo strap swohs tsE’D ,sroiretni fo -niw otni segnulp ti sa ,noinU teivoS gnispal ,detnioppasid dna derit ,yrgna ,esoroM .ret reven taht tropsnart cilbup rof tiaw elpoep depolevne si gnihtyreve sa ,evirra ot smees ,cisum ot netsil ro ,wons dna ssenkrad yb fo ecaps eht otni ffo erats ,noisivelet hctaw .stnemtrapa rieht fo swor fo desirpmoc weiv noitallatsni ehT -levart gnol eht gniyalp ,sneercs noisivelet nehW .snoitacol tnereffid morf stohs gnil tnereffid a ot setargim ti ,sdne enecs a noitibihxe krad ehT .niaga trats ot neercs thgil retniw eulb ,mid eht yb pu til si ecaps egnaro gniwolg eht dna ,steerts eht fo no gniyalp ,dnuos ehT .sroiretni lareves fo h t i w e s i o n te e r t s c i r e h p s o m t a s i ,p o o l We Will Never Understand Each Other, but We May Still See One Another P.3

rehtonA enO eeS llitS yaM eW tub ,rehtO hcaE dnatsrednU reveN lliW eW

snippets conversations in Russian, sometimes directed at the camera crew, but mostly random. As in the film, it remains untranslated and without subtitles.

There are several scenes and locations in the film that are absent in the installation view, significantly altering its narrative structure, if it is possible to speak about an installation in cinematic terms.

For one, unlike the film, it is not a travelogue, but rather starts at the destination. The number of interiors is reduced, so the glimpses of joy, such as dancing and listening to music, are mostly gone.

Even the time of day is confined to night and twilight. The film starts in early fall. The installation exists in perpetual winter. But it was not because of these absences that the installation did not affect me quite as much as the film, when I first saw it on a laptop from a bad DVD copy several years ago.

I don’t doubt that my preference for cinema as a single-channel experience affected my viewing. Can we really feel the tiredness of the faces, or the rhythm and melody of language while we walk around in a gallery? A durational work like D’Est loses some of its power when there is no longer an implied contract between the maker and the audience to devote a chunk of their time to seeing it in a single viewing.

Akerman summarised her motivation to make D’Est in a sentence: “While there still is time…” anchoring the film in a sense of nostalgia.

But nostalgia for what? The culture of time that existed in the Soviet Union was two-fold. There was the official time, the Politbureau-sanctioned time of teleological certainty of a bright future under Communism, the future history that workers and peasants were toiling for. Then there was the lived time, suspended time, that made uncertainty of one’s fate the common denominator of the millions living in the USSR and its satellites. The former was a faith-based time, while the latter was real time. When the two became increasingly incompatible, Perestroika tried to merge the two, but it only shook the foundation of the state, and it collapsed.

But it is not these modes of time that the film is nostalgic for. Despite formally working through the long take, D’Est gives us only bits and pieces, glimpses of faces as the camera travels by, and scraps of sentences overheard in passing. It looks and listens, but does not pretend to understand. After all, the film is not subtitled.

Most of the viewers would not understand the phrases muttered under the breath of those standing in queues, and I imagine that they translate as anguished melodies of a foreign language.

Yet I speak Russian, and I can’t avoid listening to these sentences.

As the camera approaches a bus station, one man shouts at another: “Are you happy now? Yes, you are happy now. And I’ve been waiting for the bus for two hours.” We catch a glimpse of the angry man. He turns to another, who hasn’t said a word. “And you, you shut up!” He takes the abuse stoically. The camera passes. Another woman complains that she’s been waiting for longer than an hour, that she has a disability. “Do you want me to show you my disability card?” she says angrily to no-one in particular and starts walking rehtonA enO eeS llitS yaM eW tub ,rehtO hcaE dnatsrednU reveN lliW eW 4.P

We Will Never Understand Each Other, but We May Still See One Another

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si egaugnal ehT .1 dna deirav erom naissuR tub ,larolf t’nod seitinaforp -snart ysae ot dleiy .noital

r e h t o n A e n O e e S l l i t S ya

out of the frame. A younger man is leaning against a lamppost.

“Fuck your mother. Film faster and fuck off! Fuck you!1” he yells. si egaugnaThere l ehT .1 is more of a The old women next to him don’t bat an eyelid. dna deirav erom sense of history in this scene than in most naissdidactic uR tub ,larolfdocumentaries t’nod seitinafand orp visceral, felt about the fall of the Soviet Union. It is embodied -snart ysae ot dleiy on the faces and the voices of the people in front of the camera. .noital A few years after I first watched the film, I read Svetlana Alexievich’s Second-hand Time. I was immediately struck by the affinity between the two. Alexievich also documents the fall of the Soviet Union in Russia, through interviews. Like Akerman, she sometimes employs fragments of overheard conversations. The tapestry of voices tells a tale of a humiliated people who lost an empire, and with that, their purpose in life. Just like D’Est, Second-hand Time had to be about Russia and Russians, and not the people of other post-Soviet republics. When those were gaining independence, as arduous as that process was, Russians were simply losing their state. Alexievich records feelings of despair and humiliation all the way through the present day. Perhaps, they hold a key to understanding the sway of totalitarianism in Russia.

Some important characters in Second-hand Time do not speak, but are talked about, as Alexievich is interested in suicides that followed the fall of the Soviet Union in Russia. In the introduction, Alexievich reflects:

91( ta sElanguage. ’D )3991( tsE’D I’m searching)39for People speak many different languages: There’s the one they use with children, another one for love.

There’s the language we use to talk to ourselves, for our internal monologues. On the street, at work, while traveling—everywhere you go, you’ll hear something different, and it’s not just the words, there’s something else, too. There’s even a difference between the way people speak in the morning and how they speak at night. What happens between two people at night vanishes from

rehtonA enO eeS llitS yaM eW tub ,rerehhtO toh ncAaeEndOne atesSrellditnSUya reMveeN Wlltiu Wbe,rW ehtO hcaE dnatsrednU reveN lliW eW 5.P 5.P

r e h t o n A e n O e e S l l i t S ya

May Still See One Another

We Will Never Understand Each Other, MayUnderstand Still See One Another Webut WillWe Never Each Other, but We May Still See One Another

.tsoppmal a tsniaga gninael si nam regnuoy A .emarf eht fo tuo .slley eh ”1!uoy kcuF !ffo kcuf dna retsaf mliF .rehtom ruoy kcuF“ a fo erom si e1. rThe ehTlanguage .dileyise na tab t’nod mih ot txen nemow dlo ehT more varied and seiratnemucodfloral, citcbut adRussian id tsom ni naht enecs siht ni yrotsih fo esnes tlef ,larecsiv dprofanities na deiddon’t obme si tI .noinU teivoS eht fo llaf eht tuoba to easy trans.aremac eht fyield o t n o r f ni elpoep eht fo seciov eht dna secaf eht no lation.

1. The language is more varied and floral, but Russian profanities don’t yield to easy translation.

s’hciveixelA analtevS daer I ,mlfi eht dehctaw tsrfi I retfa sraey wef A -eb ytinffia eht yb kcurts yletaidemmi saw I .emiT dnah-dnoceS teivoS eht fo llaf eht stnemucod osla hciveixelA .owt eht neewt semitemos ehs ,namrekA ekiL .sweivretni hguorht ,aissuR ni noinU fo yrtsepat ehT .snoitasrevnoc draehrevo fo stnemgarf syolpme dna ,eripme na tsol ohw elpoep detailimuh a fo elat a sllet seciov emiT dnah-dnoceS ,tsE’D ekil tsuJ .efil ni esoprup rieht ,taht htiw rehto fo elpoep eht ton dna ,snaissuR dna aissuR tuoba eb ot dah ,ecnednepedni gniniag erew esoht nehW .scilbuper teivoS-tsop rieht gnisol ylpmis erew snaissuR ,saw ssecorp taht sa suoudra sa eht lla noitailimuh dna riapsed fo sgnileef sdrocer hciveixelA .etats -rednu ot yek a dloh yeht ,spahreP .yad tneserp eht hguorht yaw .aissuR ni msinairatilatot fo yaws eht gnidnats tub ,kaeps ton od emiT dnah-dnoceS ni sretcarahc tnatropmi emoS sa ,tuoba deklat era -retni si hciveixelA taht sedicius ni detse fo llaf eht dewollof ni noinU teivoS eht -ortni eht nI .aissuR hciveixelA ,noitcud :stcefler

D’Est ka(1993) ep s

elpoeP .egaugnaD’Est l a r(1993) of gnihcraes m’I eno eht s’erehT :segaugnal tnereffid ynam .evol rof eno rehtona ,nerdlihc htiw esu yeht -ruo ot klat ot esu ew egaugnal eht s’erehT eht nO .seugolonom lanretni ruo rof ,sevles erehwyreve—gnilevart elihw ,krow ta ,teerts dna ,tnereffid gnihtemos raeh ll’uoy ,og uoy gnihtemos s’ereht ,sdrow eht tsuj ton s’ti neewteb ecnereffid a neve s’erehT .oot ,esle dna gninrom eht ni kaeps elpoep yaw eht sneppah tahW .thgin ta kaeps yeht woh morf sehsinav thgin ta elpoep owt neewteb

May Still See One Another

We Will Never Understand Each Other, Webut WillWe Never MayUnderstand Still See One Each Another Other, but We May Still See One Another P.5 P.5

r e h t o n A e n O e e S l l i t S ya M etW nM atserW edtnuU reh ontu Abe,nreOhetO eShc lliatE Sd ya b ,rreevhetN O lhlicWaEeW dnatsrednU reveN lliW eW

history without a trace. We’re accustomed to looking at the history of people by day, while suicide is a nighttime state, when a person wavers on the edge between being and non-being. Waking and sleep.

Isn’t D’est also looking for a language, one that goes beyond words, in the nighttime liminality? As far as I am aware, the nighttime palette of blue and orange of the film did not exist anywhere else before D’Est in Russian film history, as if it was incompatible with emoc smlif etihw-dna-kcalebmyonciasrm gofficial lsif’neatm ihrw eG -dSoviet nieas-keclaAlb y .2nself-perception. iarg s’namreG ieskelA .22 I realise that the two works have bedeniamer meht fo tsom ddnean,iyalm laceirrem hp ehsot m fotatseosm olcdna ,yllacirehpsomta esolc comeitUnpermanently linked in my mind, and I can’t read Second-hand .noinU teivoS eht fo llaf e.hntoiln utediv evolSehesht fo llaf eht litnu devlehs Time, without feeling the atmosphere of D’Est. But the two works are also fundamentally different. Alexievich explores the territory that she grew up in. Akerman is an outsider looking in. Alexievich knows the history that she’s talking about, but Akerman’s exposure to the culture is a glimpse, which is reflected in the form of the film. Yet, there is a historical truth present in her film that could only be evoked by someone who does not know the language, and who is gazing at an unfamiliar landscape.

Only an outsider could have felt that the queue for a bus is a good premise for a film. Looking at the faces of the pedestrians 27 years on, one might find the seeds of the current political situation in Russia and its relation with the rest of Eastern Europe, and perhaps the world.

But to see D’Est and to think about geopolitics is to miss its point.

Sometimes, in the midsts of the murmurs and the traffic, a far-away cello can be heard faintly in the soundscape. In the penultimate scene, we see it, and we hear it as the renowned cellist Natalia Chakhovskaia, comes on stage and plays Prokofiev’s Adagio.

If there’s a future that D’Est is moving towards it’s this one, even if the twilight cityscape comes back again in the last scene.

There’s misery, but there’s beauty too.

Around the corner from the main installation at Eye, there’s an additional screen, that plays a scene that does not appear in the film version of D’Est. Akerman herself appears on the screen and talks about what moved her to make the film. She speaks of her parent’s exile during the Holocaust, of how they were forcibly removed from the East, of how images of queues resonated for Akerman in a tragic way. She says: Yesterday, today and tomorrow, there were, there will be, there are at this very moment people whom history (which no longer even has a capital H) whom history has struck down. People who were waiting there, packed together, to be killed, beaten or starved or who walk without knowing where they are going, in groups or alone. There is nothing to do. It is obsessive and I am obsessed. Despite the cello, despite cinema. r e h t o n A e n O e e S l l i t S ya M reh etW ontu Abe,nreOhetO eShc lliatE Sd ya nM atserW edtnuU b ,rreevhetN O lhlicWaEeW dnatsrednU reveN lliW eW 6.P 6.P

WeEach Will Other, Never Understand EachSee Other, We May Still See One Another We Will Never Understand but We May Still Onebut Another

ot demotsucca er’eW .ecart a tuohtiw yrotsih elihw ,yad yb elpoep fo yrotsih eht ta gnikool nosrep a nehw ,etats emitthgin a si edicius dna gnieb neewteb egde eht no srevaw .peels dna gnikaW .gnieb-non ,sdrow dnoyeb seog taht eno ,egaugnal a rof gnikool osla tse’D t’nsI emitthgin eht ,erawa ma I sa raf sA ?ytilanimil emitthgin eht ni esle erehw yna tsixe ton did mlfi eht fo egnaro dna eulb fo ettelap htiw elbitapmocni saw ti fi sa ,yrotsih mlfi naissuR ni tsE’D erofeb Aleksei black-and-white films come come -eb evah skrow owt eht taht esilaer I 2.2.nAleksei oitpeGerman’s crep-fgrainy les2.teblack-and-white ivoS German’s laicffifilms ograiny and most of them remained close atmospherically, andclose mostatmospherically, of them remained dnah-dnoceS daer t’nac I dna ,dnim ym ni deknil yltnena m repUnion. em oc shelved the fall of the Soviet Union. shelved until the fall of the Sovietuntil .tsE’D fo erehpsomta eht gnileef tuohtiw ,emiT hciveixelA .tnereffid yllatnemadnuf osla era skrow owt eht tuB redistuo na si namrekA .ni pu werg ehs taht yrotirret eht serolpxe ,tuoba gniklat s’ehs taht yrotsih eht swonk hciveixelA .ni gnikool -er si hcihw ,espmilg a si erutluc eht ot erusopxe s’namrekA tub tneserp hturt lacirotsih a si ereht ,teY .mlfi eht fo mrof eht ni detcefl ton seod ohw enoemos yb dekove eb ylno dluoc taht mlfi reh ni .epacsdnal railimafnu na ta gnizag si ohw dna ,egaugnal eht wonk doog a si sub a rof eueuq eht taht tlef evah dluoc redistuo na ylnO sraey 72 snairtsedep eht fo secaf eht ta gnikooL .mlfi a rof esimerp ni noitautis lacitilop tnerruc eht fo sdees eht dnfi thgim eno ,no spahrep dna ,eporuE nretsaE fo tser eht htiw noitaler sti dna aissuR .dlrow eht .tniop sti ssim ot si scitilopoeg tuoba kniht ot dna tsE’D ees ot tuB yawa-raf a ,cffiart eht dna srumrum eht fo stsdim eht ni ,semitemoS etamitlunep eht nI .epacsdnuos eht ni yltniaf draeh eb nac ollec ailataN tsillec denwoner eht sa ti raeh ew dna ,ti ees ew ,enecs .oigadA s’vefiokorP syalp dna egats no semoc ,aiaksvohkahC neve ,eno siht s’ti sdrawot gnivom si tsE’D taht erutuf a s’ereht fI .enecs tsal eht ni niaga kcab semoc epacsytic thgiliwt eht fi .oot ytuaeb s’ereht tub ,yresim s’erehT -da na s’ereht ,eyE ta noitallatsni niam eht morf renroc eht dnuorA mlfi eht ni raeppa ton seod taht enecs a syalp taht ,neercs lanoitid sklat dna neercs eht no sraeppa flesreh namrekA .tsE’D fo noisrev s’tnerap reh fo skaeps ehS .mlfi eht ekam ot reh devom tahw tuoba morf devomer ylbicrof erew yeht woh fo ,tsuacoloH eht gnirud elixe -gart a ni namrekA rof detanoser seueuq fo segami woh fo ,tsaE eht :syas ehS .yaw ci ,erew ereht ,worromot dna yadot ,yadretseY tnemom yrev siht ta era ereht ,eb lliw ereht neve regnol on hcihw( yrotsih mohw elpoep kcurts sah yrotsih mohw )H latipac a sah ,ereht gnitiaw erew ohw elpoeP .nwod ro netaeb ,dellik eb ot ,rehtegot dekcap erehw gniwonk tuohtiw klaw ohw ro devrats si erehT .enola ro spuorg ni ,gniog era yeht -bo ma I dna evissesbo si tI .od ot gnihton .amenic etipsed ,ollec eht etipseD .desses We Will Never Understand WeEach Will Other, Never Understand but We May Still EachSee Other, Onebut Another We May Still See One Another P.6 P.6

rehtonA enO eeS llitS yaM eW tub ,rehtO hcaE dnatsrednU reveN lliW eW rehtonA enO eeS llitS yaM eW tub ,rehtO hcaE dnatsrednU reveN lliW eW

There is no reverse shot in D’Est, and a feeling of absence permeates the film instead. In an interview with Artforum, Akerman said that her mother “recognises clothes she used to wear, she recognises faces. These images exist in her already.” And perhaps, this is where the sense of nostalgia comes from.

t sE ’ D t sE ’ D

e r ot s g u r d a , p m a l a , t e e r t s a , t h g i n A e r ot s g u r d a , p m a l a , t e e r t s a , t h g i n A th g i l l a m s i d d n a s s e l g n i n a e m A – s r u o p t u o y r u t n e c r et r a u q A .thgifl ot ecnahc oN .emas eht lla s’ tI th g i l l a m s i d d n a s s e l g n i n a e m A – – s r u o p t u o y r u t n e c r et r a u q A .thgifl ot ecnahc oN .emas eht lla s’ tI .nettogeb ,wena esir dna eid d’uoY :thgim reve sa taeper dluow llA – ,retaw delppir yci eht ,teerts ehT .th.g s’e T nienttyolegneobl ,ewhetn,p am esailredhnta,eeriodtd uh oY :thgim reve sa taeper dluow llA ,retaw delppir yci eht ,teerts ehT . t h g i n y l e n o l e h t , p m a l e h t , e r ot s e h T kolB rednaxelA 2 1 9 1 , h t 0 1 r e b ot c O aveyayleB aniD yb naissuR m f dred tanlsan alrA T kolrB xe 2 1 9 1 , h t 0 1 r e b ot c O aveyayleB aniD yb naissuR morf detalsnarT

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We Will Never Understand Each Other, but We May Still See One Another We Will Never Understand Each Other, but We May Still See One Another

setaemrep ecnesba fo gnileef a dna ,tsE’D ni tohs esrever on si erehT taht dias namrekA ,muroftrA htiw weivretni na nI .daetsni mlfi eht -caf sesingocer ehs ,raew ot desu ehs sehtolc sesingocer“ rehtom reh erehw si siht ,spahrep dnA ”.ydaerla reh ni tsixe segami esehT .se .morf semoc aiglatson fo esnes eht

D’Est D’Est

A night, a street, a lamp, a drugstore A night, a street, a lamp, a drugstore A meaningless and dismal light A quarter century outpours – It’s all the same. No chance to flight.

A meaningless and dismal light – A quarter century outpours – It’s all the same. No chance to flight.

You’d die and rise anew, begotten.

All – would repeat as ever might: The street, the icy rippled water, The store, therise lamp, the lonely night.

You’d die and anew, begotten.

All would repeat as ever might: The street, the icy rippled water, The store, the lamp, the lonely night.

Alexander Blok October 10th, 1912 Translated from Russian by Dina Belyayeva Alexander Blok October 10th, 1912 Translated from Russian by Dina Belyayeva

We Will Never Understand Each Other, but We May Still See One Another P.7

The epacsLan d is ytpEm

Chapte owT r

ndscape aL ehT mpty E si

ertpTwo ahC

Like mliFMusic hguorFrom hT y roAtsDistant iH ot gnRoom:  i tal eR

 Relating :mooR tnto atsHistory iD A moThrough rF cisuMFilm ekiL

y tp m E s i e p a c s d n a L e h T

ngimStatues liF nO

?peels raluces rieht morf ylneddus os / seutats pu ekaw ot yzarc ton ti sI

Touching it momentarily, )2391( teoP a foIdalmost oolB ehT - uburned a et c o C n a e J my hand. For some reason, I was not expecting the large mass of iron that has been laying out in the sun to be hot. I realised that I have never touched one before. Statues are meant to be looked at, not touched.

They stand above us, not with us. The plinth on which they stand is aspirational, a reminder that most of us will never occupy such a prominent place, overlooking others.

They are of iron and stone; rigid and immovable, they are not to be reasoned with.

Film and sculpture are antipodes. One is a medium of measuring change, the other of preventing it. Film is ephemeral, sculpture is permanent. Film is 2D, sculpture is 3D. Films are illusory, statues are real. Films are for copying and reproduction, statues are for places. Films are light, statues are a surface. One is of motion, the other of stasis.

I could continue elaborating on this dichotomy, but the point is obvious. In their essence, they are much closer to still photography, which has developed against its s e uta t S g n i m l i F n O 1.P

The Landscape is Empty

On seutFilmin atS g

Is it not crazy to wake up statues / so suddenly from their secular sleep?

deCocteau nrub -tsThe om la Iof,yaliPoet r a tn emom Jean Blood (1932)

ti gnihcuoT -xe ton saw I ,nosaer emos roF .dnah ym neeb sah taht nori fo ssam egral eht gnitcep desilaer I .toh eb ot nus eht ni tuo gniyal -tatS .erofeb eno dehcuot reven evah I taht .dehcuot ton ,ta dekool eb ot tnaem era seu htnilp ehT .su htiw ton ,su evoba dnats yehT -er a ,lanoitaripsa si dnats yeht hcihw no hcus ypucco reven lliw su fo tsom taht rednim .srehto gnikoolrevo ,ecalp tnenimorp a -vommi dna digir ;enots dna nori fo era yehT .htiw denosaer eb ot ton era yeht ,elba a s i e n O . s e d o p i tn a e r a e r ut p l u c s d n a m l i F rehto eht ,egnahc gnirusaem fo muidem erutplucs ,laremehpe si mliF .ti gnitneverp fo .D3 si erutplucs ,D2 si mliF .tnenamrep si era smliF .laer era seutats ,yrosulli era smliF era seutats ,noitcudorper dna gniypoc rof -rus a era seutats ,thgil era smliF .secalp rof .sisats fo rehto eht ,noitom fo si enO .ecaf

-tohcid siht no gnitarobale eunitnoc dluoc I rieht nI .suoivbo si tniop eht tub ,ymo -gotohp llits ot resolc hcum era yeht ,ecnesse sti tsniaga depoleved sah hcihw ,yhpar On Filming Statues P.1

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initial quality in becoming a medium of “in the moment.” In its inception as a medium of portraiture, photography required the stillness of its subject to imprint their likeness, essentially making statues out of the living. People pose for photographs, but act in films.

It would be reductive and incorrect to say that cinema is only a medium of movement. But it is a medium of the possibility of movement.

The appearance of a statue as a subject limits this possibility, in space and in time, turning a part of the frame into a photograph. How then, to film a statue?

I try to remember where I’ve seen statues on screen. The instance that comes to mind first is a fiction, Fritz Lang’s film within a film in Godard’s Le Mepris (1963). Lang plays himself, as a director brought in to adapt The Odyssey for the American producer Jerry, an archetype of sleaze.

Lang is screening rushes in the studio projection room. The other characters enter.

Jerry: What great stuff will we be seeing today, Fritz?

Fritz Lang: Each picture should have a definite point of view, Jerry. Here… (he points at the screen) it’s the fight of the individuals against the circumstances. The eternal problem of the old Greeks. I don’t know if you are able to understand, Jerry, I certainly hope you can.

It’s a fight against the Gods. It’s the fight of Prometheus and Ulysses.

The projection starts, and shows various statues of Greek gods, with painted eyes. The only two elements of the frame are the clear blue sky and the statues. The bust of Minerva turns from left to right.

The statue of Neptune is immobile, but the camera tracks up to a close-up of his face.

Jerry: Oh gods… I like them very much.

I know exactly how they feel… Exactly.

Lang: Jerry, remember. The gods have not created men. Men have created gods.

When Ulysses appears on Lang’s screen, he’s a human from flesh and blood. It’s almost like an illustration—the fight of humans against gods is like a fight against circumstances, which too, have been created by humans. In this case, it is Lang’s fight. A filmmaker against the studio system, which itself is not the created for film, but rather the economic circumstances of production. Statues, made by human hands, can’t be changed, but they can be destroyed. The statues on screen here are merely allegorical. In the nesting-doll of ideas that is Le Mepris, they mean everything but the statues themselves. s e uta t S g n i m l i F n O 2 .P

The Landscape is Empty

-pecni sti nI ”.tnemom eht ni“ fo muidem a gnimoceb ni ytilauq laitini ssenllits eht deriuqer yhpargotohp ,erutiartrop fo muidem a sa noit tuo seutats gnikam yllaitnesse ,ssenekil rieht tnirpmi ot tcejbus sti fo .smlfi ni tca tub ,shpargotohp rof esop elpoeP .gnivil eht fo -idem a ylno si amenic taht yas ot tcerrocni dna evitcuder eb dluow tI .tnemevom fo ytilibissop eht fo muidem a si ti tuB .tnemevom fo mu ecaps ni ,ytilibissop siht stimil tcejbus a sa eutats a fo ecnaraeppa ehT woH .hpargotohp a otni emarf eht fo trap a gninrut ,emit ni dna ?eutats a mlfi ot ,neht ecnatsni ehT .neercs no seutats nees ev’I erehw rebmemer ot y rt I ni mlfi a nihtiw mlfi s’gnaL ztirF ,noitcfi a si tsrfi dnim ot semoc taht thguorb rotcerid a sa ,flesmih syalp gnaL .)3691( sirpeM eL s’dradoG na ,yrreJ recudorp naciremA eht rof yessydO ehT tpada ot ni .ezaels fo epytehcra -cejorp oiduts eht ni sehsur gnineercs si gnaL .retne sretcarahc rehto ehT .moor noit gniees eb ew lliw ffuts taerg tahW :yrreJ ?ztirF ,yadot etinfied a evah dluohs erutcip hcaE :gnaL ztirF eht ta stniop eh( …ereH .yrreJ ,weiv fo tniop tsniaga slaudividni eht fo thgfi eht s’ti )neercs fo melborp lanrete ehT .secnatsmucric eht ot elba era uoy fi wonk t’nod I .skeerG dlo eht .nac uoy epoh ylniatrec I ,yrreJ ,dnatsrednu fo thgfi eht s’ tI .sdoG eht tsniaga thgfi a s’ tI .sessylU dna suehtemorP htiw ,sdog keerG fo seutats suoirav swohs dna ,strats noitcejorp ehT raelc eht era emarf eht fo stnemele owt ylno ehT .seye detniap .thgir ot tfel morf snrut avreniM fo tsub ehT .seutats eht dna yks eulb a ot pu skcart aremac eht tub ,elibommi si enutpeN fo eutats ehT .ecaf sih fo pu-esolc .hcum y rev meht ekil I …sdog hO :y rreJ .yltcaxE …leef yeht woh yltcaxe wonk I ton evah sdog ehT .rebmemer ,yrreJ :gnaL .sdog detaerc evah neM .nem detaerc dna hsefl morf namuh a s’eh ,neercs s’gnaL no sraeppa sessylU nehW tsniaga snamuh fo thgfi eht—noitartsulli na ekil tsomla s’tI .doolb -erc neeb evah ,oot hcihw ,secnatsmucric tsniaga thgfi a ekil si sdog tsniaga rekammlfi A .thgfi s’gnaL si ti ,esac siht nI .snamuh yb deta eht rehtar tub ,mlfi rof detaerc eht ton si flesti hcihw ,metsys oiduts eht namuh yb edam ,seutatS .noitcudorp fo secnatsmucric cimonoce no seutats ehT .deyortsed eb nac yeht tub ,degnahc eb t’nac ,sdnah taht saedi fo llod-gnitsen eht nI .lacirogella ylerem era ereh neercs .sevlesmeht seutats eht tub gnihtyreve naem yeht ,sirpeM eL si On Filming Statues P.2

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I want to dig deeper, see the evolution of the statue on screen.

The earliest films that I find are both dated by 1898, made only three years after the start of cinema.

One of them was a documentation of the Statue of Liberty )3691( sirpeM eL )3691( sirpeM eL in New York, made by the Thomas Edison Company. In the 30-second reel, the camera starts to encircle the statue, presumably from a boat, and then it cuts. The other film was George Méliès’ adaptation of the myth of Pygmalion and Galatea. Bearded Pygmalion is chiselling away at a statue of Galatea, when suddenly she comes to life. Smitten, he tries to embrace her, yet she slips away. When finally, he’s able to capture her in an embrace, her torso disappears and reappears in a different part of the room. Pygmalion rushes to her, yet Galatea eludes him again. Reappearing on the other side of the frame, she walks back to the plinth and turns back into her statue-form.

Pygmalion falls to the floor in despair. Although not exclusively for statues, Méliès’ Pygmalion set the narrative template for films to come. Any human likeness coming to life will inevitably lead to disaster, from Golem and Fritz Lang’s Metropolis to Ghostbusters and Blade Runner.

Notably, these works from the infancy of the medium, an Edison predocumentary, and Méliès’ early narrative, anticipate how cinema would deal formally with statues throughout most of its history. It seems that the cinematic instinct has always been to animate the image of a statue, either through the motion of the camera, or by animating the statue itself. It is as if cinema can’t stand the motionlessness of statues.

At least two films show a statue of Mary, Mother of Jesus, coming to life. In The Miracle (1912), a statue of the Virgin Mary secretly takes the place of a wayward Nun that has escaped the convent for a life of sin. In the end, the Nun returns a wretch, carrying in her hands a dead baby born out of wedlock. She prays in despair to the statue for forgiveness, which has returned to its original place, and the baby is restored back to life. The Nun resumes her life in the convent. An unimaginative idea, but the film is significant for another reason—it was intended to be shown with a live performance, with actors in full costume pantomiming as extras in front of the screen, and a full orchestra performing the score. It was as if to elevate the status of the secular, sinful, working-class entertainment of cinema to that of an operatic, religious event.

In Fritz Lang’s The Wandering Image (1920), a monk prays for a miracle, the salvation of an ill woman he (platonically) admires, to the statue of the Blessed Virgin on a mountain-slope. The Monk goes s e uta t S g n i m l i F n O 3.P

s e uta t S g n i m l i F n O 3.P

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,repeed gid ot tnaw I fo noitulove eht ees .neercs no eutats eht smlfi tseilrae ehT htob era dnfi I taht edam ,8981 yb detad retfa sraey eerht ylno .amenic fo trats eht a s aw m e h t f o e n O fo noitatnemucod ytrebiL fo eutatS eht Le Mepris (1963) edam ,kroY weN ni Le Mepris (1963) aremac eht ,leer dnoces-03 eht nI .ynapmoC nosidE samohT eht yb neht dna ,taob a morf ylbamuserp ,eutats eht elcricne ot strats htym eht fo noitatpada ’sèiléM egroeG saw mlfi rehto ehT .stuc ti yawa gnillesihc si noilamgyP dedraeB .aetalaG dna noilamgyP fo , n et t i m S . e f i l ot s e m o c e h s y l n e d d u s n e h w , a et a l a G fo e u t a t s a t a elba s’eh ,yllanfi nehW .yawa spils ehs tey ,reh ecarbme ot seirt eh sraeppaer dna sraeppasid osrot reh ,ecarbme na ni reh erutpac ot aetalaG tey ,reh ot sehsur noilamgyP .moor eht fo trap tnereffid a ni ehs ,emarf eht fo edis rehto eht no gniraeppaeR .niaga mih sedule .mrof-eutats reh otni kcab snrut dna htnilp eht ot kcab sklaw ylevisulcxe ton hguohtlA .riapsed ni roofl eht ot sllaf noilamgy P smlfi rof etalpmet evitarran eht tes noilamgyP ’sèiléM ,seutats rof ot dael ylbativeni lliw efil ot gnimoc ssenekil namuh ynA .emoc ot sretsubtsohG ot siloporteM s’gnaL ztirF dna meloG morf ,retsasid .rennuR edalB dna -erp nosidE na ,muidem eht fo ycnafni eht morf skrow eseht ,ylbatoN amenic woh etapicitna ,evitarran ylrae ’sèiléM dna ,yratnemucod tI .y rotsih sti fo tsom tuohguorht seutats htiw yllamrof laed dluow etamina ot neeb syawla sah tcnitsni citamenic eht taht smees ro ,aremac eht fo noitom eht hguorht rehtie ,eutats a fo egami eht eht dnats t’nac amenic fi sa si tI .flesti eutats eht gnitamina yb .seutats fo ssensselnoitom gnimoc ,suseJ fo rehtoM ,y raM fo eutats a wohs smlfi owt tsael tA ylterces yraM nigriV eht fo eutats a ,)2191( elcariM ehT nI .efil ot rof tnevnoc eht depacse sah taht nuN drawyaw a fo ecalp eht sekat reh ni gniyrrac ,hcterw a snruter nuN eht ,dne eht nI .nis fo efil a eht ot riapsed ni syarp ehS .kcoldew fo tuo nrob ybab daed a sdnah ,ecalp lanigiro sti ot denruter sah hcihw ,ssenevigrof rof eutats ni efil reh semuser nuN ehT .efil ot kcab derotser si ybab eht dna rof tnacfiingis si mlfi eht tub ,aedi evitanigaminu nA .tnevnoc eht ,ecnamrofrep evil a htiw nwohs eb ot dednetni saw ti—nosaer rehtona eht fo tnorf ni sartxe sa gnimimotnap emutsoc lluf ni srotca htiw etavele ot fi sa saw tI .erocs eht gnimrofrep artsehcro lluf a dna ,neercs fo tnemniatretne ssalc-gnikrow ,lufnis ,raluces eht fo sutats eht .tneve suoigiler ,citarepo na fo taht ot amenic -rim a rof syarp knom a ,)0291( egamI gnirednaW ehT s’gnaL ztirF nI eht ot ,serimda )yllacinotalp( eh namow lli na fo noitavlas eht ,elca seog knoM ehT .epols-niatnuom a no nigriV desselB eht fo eutats On Filming Statues P.3

On Filming Statues P.3

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away, and in a different house, the woman recovers from her illness. Meanwhile, a storm knocks down the Statue from the hill. The Monk returns to check on the statue, but instead he sees a living woman wearing robes, heading into the village below. The film is something of a reversal of The Miracle, as surprisingly, the Monk interprets this transformation as a sign that he’s egamI gnirednaW ehT egamI gnirednaW ehT been released from his vows and goes on to propose to the woman he loves. Lang also choses to only imply the transfiguration off-screen, between cuts, instead of employing a fade-in or a double-exposure. Unlike The Miracle, The Wandering Image is a celebration of secular life through the religious symbolism of a living statue, which itself is seen walking into the secular world.

I keep watching other films with statues. In each one that I find, a statue would either come to life (as in Lois Weber’s 1915 Hypocrites, which is also a religious allegory—the first mainstream film to feature full-frontal nudity) or the camera itself is moving. It is always either one or the other, but never both. When I find a static shot which features a statue, as in Charlie Chaplin’s City Lights and Woman of Paris, it is always as a prop.

None of the shots were about statues.

k c uL d r aH

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s e uta t S g n i m l i F n O 4.P

Something else was missing, I realised while watching Buster Keaton’s Hard Luck (1921). Buster has fallen on some hard luck and is unsuccessfully trying to kill himself by jumping in front of a tram, standing underneath furniture, k c uL d r aH and hanging himself

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The Landscape is Empty

-reffid a ni dna ,yawa -mow eht ,esuoh tne reh morf srevocer na ,elihwnaeM .ssenlli nwod skconk mrots a eht morf eutatS eht snruter knoM ehT .llih -tats eht no kcehc ot eh daetsni tub ,eu -mow gnivil a sees ,sebor gniraew na eht otni gnidaeh ehT .woleb egalliv fo gnihtemos si mlfi -riM ehT fo lasrever a ,ylgnisirprus sa ,elca sterpretni knoM eht noitamrofsnart siht s’eh taht ngis a sa The Wandering Image desaeler neeb The Wandering Image gnaL .sevol eh namow eht ot esoporp ot no seog dna swov sih morf neewteb ,neercs-ffo noitarugfisnart eht ylpmi ylno ot sesohc osla ekilnU .erusopxe-elbuod a ro ni-edaf a gniyolpme fo daetsni ,stuc efil raluces fo noitarbelec a si egamI gnirednaW ehT ,elcariM ehT si flesti hcihw ,eutats gnivil a fo msilobmys suoigiler eht hguorht .dlrow raluces eht otni gniklaw nees a ,dnfi I taht eno hcae nI .seutats htiw smlfi rehto gnihctaw peek I ,setircopyH 5191 s’rebeW sioL ni sa( efil ot emoc rehtie dluow eutats -aef ot mlfi maertsniam tsrfi eht—yrogella suoigiler a osla si hcihw syawla si tI .gnivom si flesti aremac eht ro )ytidun latnorf-lluf erut tohs citats a dnfi I nehW .htob reven tub ,rehto eht ro eno rehtie a serutaef hcihw eilrahC ni sa ,eutats sthgiL ytiC s’nilpahC ,siraP fo namoW dna .porp a sa syawla si ti stohs eht fo enoN .seutats tuoba erew saw esle gnihtemoS desilaer I ,gnissim -tsuB gnihctaw elihw draH s’notaeK re retsuB .)1291( kcuL emos no nellaf sah - n u s i d n a k c u l d r ah gniyrt yllufsseccus yb flesmih llik ot a fo tnorf ni gnipmuj -nu gnidnats ,mart ,erutinruf htaenred Hard flesLuck mih gnignah dna

Hard Luck

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On Filming Statues P.4

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from a tree. Police chase him, and he evades them by standing still next to a statue of a general and a soldier. Not only does Hard Luck break the taboo (although, not it is not first to do so) of attempted suicide as comedy, or establish the trope of a character pretending to be a statue to escape pursuers, but it is also the first instance that I’ve found where the statue is of an actual historical figure— a certain American Civil War General Otis.

Of course, this was almost certainly incidental. Keaton often filmed on location, yet, like this statue, the location was never identified.

Still, why was it that none of the statues up to this point were of historical human beings in public space? This is how we are most likely to encounter them, after all. Another division also became visible.

All the statues in film that I’ve seen to this point were of women, yet they were either religious personifications, like the Virgin Mary, or allegories, like the Statue of Liberty, Blind Lady Justice, Truth, and other immutable ideas.

The first diversion from this tradition that I found came with two developments, the technological development of sound cinema and the aesthetic breakthrough of avant-garde film. Jean Cocteau’s Blood of a Poet (1930), is a kind of anti-Pygmalion that could also be interpreted both as a work about the invention of sound cinema and its inability to look at statues. The Poet draws a mouth, and it transfers to his hand. It speaks, and the poet can’t get rid of it. He tries to rub it off on the Statue, transferring the mouth to its face.

It comes to life and keeps speaking to the Poet, and he becomes enraged. He smashes it to pieces. Then the Poet himself turns into a statue in a public square. There, boys have a snowball fight, ripping it apart as if the statue itself is made of snow. One of the snowballs kills a Boy. There’s nothing left of the statue of the Poet. The street transforms into a stage. Rich spectators come out from balconies. The first Statue returns as a woman and plays cards on a gamble to revive the Boy. Then, as the Statue stands up to go through a portal, the voice-over says:

)0391( teoP a fo doolB

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s e uta t S g n i m l i F n O 5.P

)0391( teoP a fo doolB

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llits gnidnats yb meht sedave eh dna ,mih esahc eciloP .eert a morf kcuL draH seod ylno toN .reidlos a dna lareneg a fo eutats a ot txen detpmetta fo )os od ot tsrfi ton si ti ton ,hguohtla( oobat eht kaerb gnidneterp retcarahc a fo eport eht hsilbatse ro ,ydemoc sa edicius taht ecnatsni tsrfi eht osla si ti tub ,sreusrup epacse ot eutats a eb ot —erugfi lacirotsih lautca na fo si eutats eht erehw dnuof ev’I .sitO lareneG raW liviC naciremA niatrec a demlfi netfo notaeK .latnedicni ylniatrec tsomla saw siht ,esruoc fO .defiitnedi reven saw noitacol eht ,eutats siht ekil ,tey ,noitacol no -sih fo erew tniop siht ot pu seutats eht fo enon taht ti saw yhw ,llitS ylekil tsom era ew woh si sihT ?ecaps cilbup ni sgnieb namuh lacirot .elbisiv emaceb osla noisivid rehtonA .lla retfa ,meht retnuocne ot ,nemow fo erew tniop siht ot nees ev’I taht mlfi ni seutats eht llA ,yraM nigriV eht ekil ,snoitacfiinosrep suoigiler rehtie erew yeht tey ,hturT ,ecitsuJ ydaL dnilB ,ytrebiL fo eutatS eht ekil ,seirogella ro .saedi elbatummi rehto dna owt htiw emac dnuof I taht noitidart siht morf noisrevid tsrfi ehT amenic dnuos fo tnempoleved lacigolonhcet eht ,stnempoleved s’uaetcoC naeJ .mlfi edrag-tnava fo hguorhtkaerb citehtsea eht dna osla dluoc taht noilamgyP-itna fo dnik a si ,)0391( teoP a fo doolB amenic dnuos fo noitnevni eht tuoba krow a sa htob deterpretni eb ti dna ,htuom a sward teoP ehT .seutats ta kool ot ytilibani sti dna eH .ti fo dir teg t’nac teop eht dna ,skaeps tI .dnah sih ot srefsnart .ecaf sti ot htuom eht gnirrefsnart ,eutatS eht no ffo ti bur ot seirt semoceb eh dna ,teoP eht ot gnikaeps speek dna efil ot semoc tI snrut flesmih teoP eht nehT .seceip ot ti sehsams eH .degarne ,thgfi llabwons a evah syob ,erehT .erauqs cilbup a ni eutats a otni eht fo enO .wons fo edam si flesti eutats eht fi sa trapa ti gnippir .yoB a sllik sllabwons tfel gnihton s’erehT eht fo eutats eht fo teerts ehT .teoP a otni smrofsnart -atceps hciR .egats morf tuo emoc srot tsrfi ehT .seinoclab s a s n r u te r e u t a t S syalp dna namow a e l b m ag a n o s dr a c .yoB eht eviver ot -tatS eht sa ,nehT og ot pu sdnats eu ,latrop a hguorht :syas revo-eciov eht

Blood of a Poet (1930)

Blood of a Poet (1930)

On Filming Statues P.5

On Filming Statues P.5

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y tp m E s i e p a c s d n a L e h T

Having achieved her purpose, the woman became a statue once more, or, in other words, an inhuman object with black gloves in contrast to the snow upon which her steps would no longer leave a trace.

The mortal tedium of immortality.

This was certainly a break, but it was not a break enough. The statue is indeed a main character; it speaks, and yet still, the paradigm of statues on screen persists. The Statue is symbolic of all statues.

My search soon becomes obsessive. I knew my destination— it was post-war cinema, and chronologically, the war was approaching. I wanted to find something, before the war, that would correspond to what I was looking for. But what was I looking for?

I should have been looking in poetry. In his poem Paterson, William Carlos Williams wrote: No ideas but in things, This phrase has become synonymous with his approach to poetry in general. Remembering the quote didn’t change my quest, but it did expand its meaning. Viewed through this lens, I was looking for a shot in film history that considered a statue on its very own terms—first as an object, only after as a vessel of representation.

Or, in crudely philosophical terms, the phenomenological consideration of a statue through film. If both the statue as a subject of the camera’s gaze and the camera itself are still, what would this reveal about the statue? And about the camera? Would this make it possible to consider an object and its image without the supplementary meaning created through film? I was looking for film not about sculpture, or as sculpture, but of sculpture.

I knew this was a futile quest. After all, I was watching mostly narrative and documentary films, which create meaning through the juxtaposition of images.

I knew I would not find a pure image of a sculpture because such an image could not exist under these conditions. The most I could hope for was a glimpse.

)8391( aipmylO

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I thought I found one. Leni Riefenstahl opens her Olympia )83ruined 91( aipmylO (1938) with a

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namow eht ,esoprup reh deveihca gnivaH rehto ni ,ro ,erom ecno eutats a emaceb sevolg kcalb htiw tcejbo namuhni na ,sdrow spets reh hcihw nopu wons eht ot tsartnoc ni .ecart a evael regnol on dluow .ytilatrommi fo muidet latrom ehT eutats ehT .hguone kaerb a ton saw ti tub ,kaerb a ylniatrec saw sihT mgidarap eht ,llits tey dna ,skaeps ti ;retcarahc niam a deedni si .seutats lla fo cilobmys si eutatS ehT .stsisrep neercs no seutats fo —noitanitsed ym wenk I .evissesbo semoceb noos hcraes yM -hcaorppa saw raw eht ,yllacigolonorhc dna ,amenic raw-tsop saw ti -erroc dluow taht ,raw eht erofeb ,gnihtemos dnfi ot detnaw I .gni ?rof gnikool I saw tahw tuB .rof gnikool saw I tahw ot dnops mailliW ,nosretaP meop sih nI .yrteop ni gnikool neeb evah dluohs I :etorw smailliW solraC ,sgniht ni tub saedi oN y rteop ot hcaorppa sih htiw suomynonys emoceb sah esarhp sihT ti tub ,tseuq ym egnahc t’ndid etouq eht gnirebmemeR .lareneg ni rof gnikool saw I ,snel siht hguorht deweiV .gninaem sti dnapxe did nwo yrev sti no eutats a deredisnoc taht yrotsih mlfi ni tohs a .noitatneserper fo lessev a sa retfa ylno ,tcejbo na sa tsrfi—smret -redisnoc lacigolonemonehp eht ,smret lacihposolihp yledurc ni ,rO eht fo tcejbus a sa eutats eht htob fI .mlfi hguorht eutats a fo noita laever siht dluow tahw ,llits era flesti aremac eht dna ezag s’aremac elbissop ti ekam siht dluoW ?aremac eht tuoba dnA ?eutats eht tuoba yratnemelppus eht tuohtiw egami sti dna tcejbo na redisnoc ot tuoba ton mlfi rof gnikool saw I ?mlfi hguorht detaerc gninaem .erutplucs fo tub ,erutplucs sa ro ,erutplucs a saw siht wenk I ,lla retfA .tseuq elituf gnihctaw saw I dna evitarran yltsom ,smlfi yratnemucod -naem etaerc hcihw -xuj eht hguorht gni .segami fo noitisopat ton dluow I wenk I fo egami erup a dnfi esuaceb erutplucs a dluoc egami na hcus eseht rednu tsixe ton tsom ehT .snoitidnoc saw rof epoh dluoc I .espmilg a dnuof I thguoht I lhatsnefeiR ineL .eno aipmylO reh snepo Olympia deni(1938) ur a htiw )8391(

Olympia (1938)

On Filming Statues P.6

On Filming Statues P.6

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Greek temple. The camera supposedly tracks inside, where various Greek statues appear, shrouded by mist. The camera keeps moving, like it does in the other films, and then the close-ups of statues start fading into each other. A statue of Venus appears.

This particular Venus is fully intact, but for some reason its face is left outside the frame. Even though the lights and mist create an illusion of movement, the statue itself does not move. I think this might very well be the first time in the history of film that the materiality of the statue is considered on its terms. Neither the camera, nor the statue move. Yet the image does eventually fade away, thus continuing the tradition of animating statues, and through a series of fades, gets to the Discobolus. It rotates and then, in turn, fades to a contemporary, idealised Germanic disc-thrower training for the Olympics.

More than with any other Nazi artist, there’s been an attempt to whitewash Riefenstahl of any moral responsibility for the atrocities of the regime. Riefenstahl herself has claimed that she was outraged that her Triumph of the Will was used as a propaganda film, as hard as it is to believe. Advocates of this argument argue that Riefenstahl was simply staging a spectacle simply as an artist in Triumph of the Will. They find her absolution in Olympia, forming a ridiculous argument that she was not a Nazi propagandist by pointing out that the film does not belittle, on the grounds of race, the Black American gold medallist in running, Jesse Owens.

The opposite is true. Even the first few minutes of Olympia prove that Riefenstahl is a Nazi propagandist par excellence. The images of Classical ruins and statues aren’t an innocent allusion to the Greek origin of the Olympics. As with any other fascist regime, the Nazis equated antiquity to legitimacy. Albert Speer even developed a theory of Ruin Value, that proposed creating buildings that would leave beautiful ruins. The idea became enshrined in the economic plan of 1937. Speer wrote that he was inspired by seeing the ruins of the Parthenon. Riefenstahl’s consideration of statues as ‘things’ is contaminated by the ideology of a regime that legitimised itself through her images. In this light, the few brief seconds of the appearance of the statue on screen “as itself” hardly pass the phenomenological test.

In this story of statues and film, Fritz Lang comes up again. According to his own words, Lang was asked by Goebbels to become the informal head of the Nazi film industry. Lang refused and fled Germany the same night. Riefenstahl apparently accepted.

The film preceded the start of the War by a few years, but in film history, the War had already started. Cinema would start to lean towards wartime conditions of making propaganda or reflecting on moral decay. The major formal break in the history of film happens here too. As described by Deleuze, the break between cinema thinking through time subjugated to movement (MovementImage), and images of time liberated from instances of movement (Time-Image). Of course, this shift created completely new conditions for statues on screen. s e uta t S g n i m l i F n O 7.P

The Landscape is Empty

suoirav erehw ,edisni skcart yldesoppus aremac ehT .elpmet keerG speek aremac ehT .tsim yb deduorhs ,raeppa seutats keerG fo spu-esolc eht neht dna ,smlfi rehto eht ni seod ti ekil ,gnivom .sraeppa suneV fo eutats A .rehto hcae otni gnidaf trats seutats si ecaf sti nosaer emos rof tub ,tcatni ylluf si suneV ralucitrap sihT na etaerc tsim dna sthgil eht hguoht nevE .emarf eht edistuo tfel thgim siht kniht I .evom ton seod flesti eutats eht ,tnemevom fo noisulli ytilairetam eht taht mlfi fo yrotsih eht ni emit tsrfi eht eb llew yrev eht ron ,aremac eht rehtieN .smret sti no deredisnoc si eutats eht fo suht ,yawa edaf yllautneve seod egami eht teY .evom eutats seires a hguorht dna ,seutats gnitamina fo noitidart eht gniunitnoc ,nrut ni ,neht dna setator tI .sulobocsiD eht ot steg ,sedaf fo gniniart reworht-csid cinamreG desilaedi ,yraropmetnoc a ot sedaf .scipmylO eht rof -etihw ot tpmetta na neeb s’ereht ,tsitra izaN rehto yna htiw naht eroM fo seiticorta eht rof ytilibisnopser larom yna fo lhatsnefeiR hsaw degartuo saw ehs taht demialc sah flesreh lhatsnefeiR .emiger eht sa ,mlfi adnagaporp a sa desu saw lliW eht fo hpmuirT reh taht -nefeiR taht eugra tnemugra siht fo setacovdA .eveileb ot si ti sa drah hpmuirT ni tsitra na sa ylpmis elcatceps a gnigats ylpmis saw lhats suolucidir a gnimrof ,aipmylO ni noitulosba reh dnfi yehT .lliW eht fo tuo gnitniop yb tsidnagaporp izaN a ton saw ehs taht tnemugra kcalB eht ,ecar fo sdnuorg eht no ,elttileb ton seod mlfi eht taht .snewO esseJ ,gninnur ni tsilladem dlog naciremA taht evorp aipmylO fo setunim wef tsrfi eht nevE .eurt si etisoppo ehT fo segami ehT .ecnellecxe rap tsidnagaporp izaN a si lhatsnefeiR keerG eht ot noisulla tneconni na t’nera seutats dna sniur lacissalC sizaN eht ,emiger tsicsaf rehto yna htiw sA .scipmylO eht fo nigiro yroeht a depoleved neve reepS treblA .ycamitigel ot ytiuqitna detauqe evael dluow taht sgnidliub gnitaerc desoporp taht ,eulaV niuR fo n a l p c i m o n o c e e h t n i d e n i r h s n e e m a c e b a e d i e h T . s n i u r l u f i tu a e b eht fo sniur eht gniees yb deripsni saw eh taht etorw reepS .7391 fo -imatnoc si ’sgniht‘ sa seutats fo noitaredisnoc s’lhatsnefeiR .nonehtraP reh hguorht flesti desimitigel taht emiger a fo ygoloedi eht yb detan eht fo ecnaraeppa eht fo sdnoces feirb wef eht ,thgil siht nI .segami .tset lacigolonemonehp eht ssap yldrah ”flesti sa“ neercs no eutats -cA .niaga pu semoc gnaL ztirF ,mlfi dna seutats fo yrots siht nI emoceb ot slebbeoG yb deksa saw gnaL ,sdrow nwo sih ot gnidroc defl dna desufer gnaL .yrtsudni mlfi izaN eht fo daeh lamrofni eht .detpecca yltnerappa lhatsnefeiR .thgin emas eht ynamreG mlfi ni tub ,sraey wef a yb raW eht fo trats eht dedecerp mlfi ehT nael ot trats dluow ameniC .detrats ydaerla dah raW eht ,yrotsih gnitcefler ro adnagaporp gnikam fo snoitidnoc emitraw sdrawot -pah mlfi fo yrotsih eht ni kaerb lamrof rojam ehT .yaced larom no amenic neewteb kaerb eht ,ezueleD yb debircsed sA .oot ereh snep -tnemevoM( tnemevom ot detagujbus emit hguorht gnikniht tnemevom fo secnatsni morf detarebil emit fo segami dna ,)egamI wen yletelpmoc detaerc tfihs siht ,esruoc fO .)egamI-emiT( .neercs no seutats rof snoitidnoc On Filming Statues P.7

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Off the top of my head, I can remember one film that tries to approach the object-quality of statues on their own terms, despite the voiceover, despite the non-diegetic music. The 1953 Alain Resnais/Chris Marker collaboration on African art, Statues Also Die contains mostly moving shots of statues, yet it also allows for moments of stillness and silence. In terms of film history, there’s a massive gap between 1945 and 1953. For now, I suspend my search here. I anticipate that it is here that I will find my treasure-trove because it seems likely that, after the moral shock of the war as films tried to grapple with the very idea of history, there would be more dedicated reflections on the nature of monuments.

In a recent online talk for Lisson Gallery, filmmaker John Akomfrah reflects on the recent toppling of monuments of colonialists: “It was really strange, looking at Edward Colston’s statue rolling down the street, suddenly he was just a tin can. Because the work was being done while he was upright in place, in situ. The minute he’s dethroned, dislodged, he just becomes an object— suddenly the whole symbolic order disappeared.”

Reading this, I think about my search for images that convey the object-quality of statues. Besides toppling one, the best way to feel the object-essence of a statue is to touch it, and acknowledge that like any object, it can fall.

Can film achieve something similar? We were standing in a dusty roadside storage depot. The massive iron statue I just touched was a likeness of Stalin. It arrived here 10 years ago, from the dictator’s nearby hometown. The removal was not a popular toppling, but an attempt by the government to project a pro-Western image of the country. Some locals still demand that it be restored to its previous place.

Hopefully, that will never happen. Yet, as old films teach us—any statue can come to life. For now, it was inanimate, and a spider has made a nest in his ear. We framed the image, and started filming.

s e uta t S g n i m l i F n O 8.P

The Landscape is Empty

hcaorppa ot seirt taht mlfi eno rebmemer nac I ,daeh ym fo pot eht ffO -eciov eht etipsed ,smret nwo rieht no seutats fo ytilauq-tcejbo eht sirhC/sianseR nialA 3591 ehT .cisum citegeid-non eht etipsed ,revo sniatnoc eiD oslA seutatS ,tra nacirfA no noitaroballoc rekraM -llits fo stnemom rof swolla osla ti tey ,seutats fo stohs gnivom yltsom -eb pag evissam a s’ereht ,yrotsih mlfi fo smret nI .ecnelis dna ssen etapicitna I .ereh hcraes ym dnepsus I ,won roF .3591 dna 5491 neewt smees ti esuaceb evort-erusaert ym dnfi lliw I taht ereh si ti taht elpparg ot deirt smlfi sa raw eht fo kcohs larom eht retfa ,taht ylekil -cefler detacided erom eb dluow ereht ,yrotsih fo aedi yrev eht htiw .stnemunom fo erutan eht no snoit harfmokA nhoJ rekammlfi ,yrellaG nossiL rof klat enilno tnecer a nI :stsilainoloc fo stnemunom fo gnilppot tnecer eht no stcefler drawdE ta gnikool ,egnarts yllaer saw tI“ ,teerts eht nwod gnillor eutats s’notsloC eht esuaceB .nac nit a tsuj saw eh ylneddus thgirpu saw eh elihw enod gnieb saw krow ,denorhted s’eh etunim ehT .utis ni ,ecalp ni —tcejbo na semoceb tsuj eh ,degdolsid -pasid redro cilobmys elohw eht ylneddus ”.deraep eht yevnoc taht segami rof hcraes ym tuoba kniht I ,siht gnidaeR ot yaw tseb eht ,eno gnilppot sediseB .seutats fo ytilauq-tcejbo egdelwonkca dna ,ti hcuot ot si eutats a fo ecnesse-tcejbo eht leef .llaf nac ti ,tcejbo yna ekil taht ytsud a ni gnidnats erew eW ?ralimis gnihtemos eveihca mlfi naC saw dehcuot tsuj I eutats nori evissam ehT .toped egarots edisdaor s’rotatcid eht morf ,oga sraey 01 ereh devirra tI .nilatS fo ssenekil a na tub ,gnilppot ralupop a ton saw lavomer ehT .nwotemoh ybraen -nuoc eht fo egami nretseW-orp a tcejorp ot tnemnrevog eht yb tpmetta .ecalp suoiverp sti ot derotser eb ti taht dnamed llits slacol emoS .yrt eutats yna—su hcaet smlfi dlo sa ,teY .neppah reven lliw taht ,yllufepoH edam sah redips a dna ,etaminani saw ti ,won roF .efil ot emoc nac .gnimlfi detrats dna ,egami eht demarf eW .rae sih ni tsen a

On Filming Statues P.8

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urn taS mbers emeR

And the last remnants memory destroys— The Emigrants, W.G Sebald He’s born in 1936, in Mississippi. The same year, he’s moved to Berlin. In ’43, during the allied carpet bombings of Berlin, he escapes captivity. Around 10,000 animals die.

For the next three years, his whereabouts are unknown. In ’46, he’s captured by British soldiers. They hand him over to the Soviets.

The Soviets bring him to Moscow as a trophy, along with a python. They share a nickname: “Hitler.” The python dies soon after. Around this time, Saturn is given his official name. In the 50s, a female specimen is given to the Moscow Zoo by the US, as a gesture of goodwill. Her name is Shipka.

Saturn and Shipka do not have any offspring.

Shipka dies soon after. Saturn becomes depressed and refuses to eat. Some years later, he’s introduced to a new mate. Her name is lost to history. As a demonstration of his gentle character, children are allowed to poke him with a broomstick. A drunken visitor throws a boulder at his head to wake him up. A group of tourists hurls bottles at him. s r e b m e m e R n r uta S 1.P

The Landscape is Empty

Satu nr Remem sreb

—syortsed y romem stnanmer tsal eht dnA dlabeS G.W ,stnargimE ehT emas ehT .ippississiM ni ,6391 ni nrob s’eH eht gnirud ,34’ nI .nilreB ot devom s’eh ,raey sepacse eh ,nilreB fo sgnibmob teprac deilla .eid slamina 000,01 dnuorA .ytivitpac era stuobaerehw sih ,sraey eerht txen eht roF hsitirB yb derutpac s’eh ,64’ nI .nwonknu .steivoS eht ot revo mih dnah yehT .sreidlos a sa wocsoM ot mih gnirb steivoS ehT a erahs yehT .nohtyp a htiw gnola ,yhport noos seid nohtyp ehT ”.reltiH“ :emankcin sih nevig si nrutaS ,emit siht dnuorA .retfa nemiceps elamef a ,s05 eht nI .eman laicffio a sa ,SU eht yb ooZ wocsoM eht ot nevig si .akpihS si eman reH .lliwdoog fo erutseg .gnirpsffo yna evah ton od akpihS dna nrutaS semoceb nrutaS .retfa noos seid akpihS sraey emoS .tae ot sesufer dna desserped reH .etam wen a ot decudortni s’eh ,retal noitartsnomed a sA .yrotsih ot tsol si eman dewolla era nerdlihc ,retcarahc eltneg sih fo neknurd A .kcitsmoorb a htiw mih ekop ot ekaw ot daeh sih ta redluob a sworht rotisiv .mih ta selttob slruh stsiruot fo puorg A .pu mih Saturn Remembers P.1

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When he’s moved to a new enclosure, he refuses to eat again. Each time, he comes close to death, but each time he survives. He outlives the average lifespan of his species by at least 30 years. Saturn the Alligator passes away on May 22, 2020.

Saturn’s biography is mostly apocryphal. Not much is known about his time in Soviet captivity, and even less about his years in Nazi Germany. Documents detailing his transfer burned down with the archive of the Moscow Tourist Bureau in the 1950s. The Berlin Zoo has long 1 na eb ot devorp mialc sihT .1 maintained that its archives have burned down naduring eb ot devothe rp miwar. alc sihTOut .1 ,yrotsih fo hsawetihw detpmetta of the photos of the Berlin Zoo in the Nazi Era ,yrothat tsih foappear hsawetihw on detpthe metta s’ooz eht gniliated stnemucod sa oz eht gniliated stnemucod sa internet, none of them show Saturn, or anys’oother reptilian for that izaN eht htiw tnemelgnatne izaN eht htiw tnemelgnatne .2002 ni decafruser emigeR matter. Even though Saturn’s claim to fame is his .2002historicity, ni decafruser ehe migis eR sniamer evihcra eht ,sselehtreveN one of history’s missing images. sniamer evihcra eht ,sselehtreveN -otsih ot neve ,elbisseccani yltsom .tcejbus eht no gnikrow snair eht hguorhT - ecurB yraG eeS .)7002( etaG noiL

dna selidocorC .2 -fo era srotagilla htiw desufnoc net gniwo ,rehto hcae ralimis rieht ot nA .ecnaraeppa epyt a si rotagilla .nailidocorc a fo

-otsih ot neve ,elbisseccani yltsom .tcejbus eht no gnikrow snair eht hguoof rhTanti-aircraft - ecurB yraG eeS images .)7002( etaG noiL

We know this much for certain. There are installations on top of the zoo’s famous towers, and there are images of the rubble and destruction that the Allied bombings have brought. dna selidocorC .22, which lends Two separate diary entries mention escaped crocodiles -fo era srotagilla some credibility to the idea that Saturn hadhtroamed iw desufnoc free net in Berlin. g n i w o , r e h t o h cae brings up a One of them mentions a crocodile only in passing, but ralimis rieht ot curious incident involving a tiger: nA .ecnaraeppa Crocodiles and giant epysnakes t a si rotagiare lla supposed .nailidocorows rc a fo of the to be lurking in the hedgeLandwehr canal. An escaped tiger made its way into the ruins of the Café Josty, gobbled up a piece of Bienenstich pastry it found there— and promptly died. Some wag, who drew uncomplimentary conclusions regarding the quality of Josty’s cake-making, was sued for libel by the Konditorei’s owner. The Court ordered a post-mortem of the dead animal which found, much to the satisfaction of the confectioner, that the tiger’s death had been caused by glass splinters found in its stomach.

Another, written some years after the war, deals with a dead crocodile specifically: George tried to use the sidewalk, but it was blocked with furniture and suitcases.... He stumbled over clothes and lampstands with their cords which had been dragged through the dirt. He suddenly noticed that some people were moving to get out of the way of something, while others were stepping over a grey body in the middle of the road. It was a dead crocodile that had presumably escaped from the zoological garden or had been flung there by the explosions ... . People walked over it without looking. Everyone was in a hurry.

Whether these accounts contain some truth is unverifiable. I have not found any records of a trial involving Café Jotsy, or photographs r e b m e m e R n r uta S 2 .P

The Landscape is Empty

,emit hcaE .niaga tae ot sesufer eh ,erusolcne wen a ot devom s’eh nehW seviltuo eH .sevivrus eh emit hcae tub ,htaed ot esolc semoc eh eht nrutaS .sraey 03 tsael ta yb seiceps sih fo napsefil egareva eht .0202 ,22 yaM no yawa sessap rotagillA sih tuoba nwonk si hcum toN .lahpyrcopa yltsom si yhpargoib s’nrutaS -reG izaN ni sraey sih tuoba ssel neve dna ,ytivitpac teivoS ni emit evihcra eht htiw nwod denrub refsnart sih gniliated stnemucoD .ynam gnol sah ooZ nilreB ehT .s0591 eht ni uaeruB tsiruoT wocsoM eht fo 1 tuO .raclaim w ehproved t gnto irubedannwod denrub evah sevihcra sti taht deniatniam 1. This claim proved to be an 1. This attempted whitewash eht no raeppaoftahistory, ht arE izaN eht ni ooZ nilreB eht fo sotohp eht fo attempted whitewash of history, as documents detailing the zoo’s documents detailing the zoo’s tahentanglement t rof nailitwith perthe reNazi hto yna ro ,nrutaS wohs meht fo enon ,tenretni as entanglement with the Nazi si eh ,resurfaced yticirotsinih2002. sih si emaf ot mialc s’nrutaS hguoht nevE .rettam Regime resurfaced in 2002.

Regime Nevertheless, the archive remains .segami gnissim s’yrotsih fo eno Nevertheless, the archive remains mostly inaccessible, even to historians working on the subject. tfSee arGary criaBruce -itna- Through fo segtheami Lion Gate (2007).

era erehT .niatrec rof hcum siht wonk eW segami era ereht dna ,srewot suomaf s’ooz eht fo pot no snoitallatsni .thguorb evah sgnibmob deillA eht taht noitcurtsed dna elbbur eht fo sdnel hcihw ,2.2sCrocodiles elidocoand rc depacse noitnem seirtne yraid etarapes owT alligators are of.nilreB ni eeten rf confused demaowith r dah nrutaS taht aedi eht ot ytilibiderc emos each other, owing a pu sgnirb tub ,gnissap ni ylno elidocorc a snoitnem meht fo enO to their similar :regit a gnivlovni tnedicni suoiruc appearance. An desoppus eralligator a sekisan s tnaig dna selidocorC a type eht fo sofwaocrocodilian. r -egdeh eht ni gnikrul eb ot yaw sti edam regit depacse nA .lanac rhewdnaL pu delbbog ,ytsoJ éfaC eht fo sniur eht otni —ereht dnuof ti yrtsap hcitsneneiB fo eceip a werd ohw ,gaw emoS .deid yltpmorp dna eht gnidrager snoisulcnoc yratnemilpmocnu deus saw ,gnikam-ekac s’ytsoJ fo ytilauq truoC ehT .renwo s’ierotidnoK eht yb lebil rof lamina daed eht fo metrom-tsop a deredro eht fo noitcafsitas eht ot hcum ,dnuof hcihw neeb dah htaed s’regit eht taht ,renoitcefnoc .hcamots sti ni dnuof sretnilps ssalg yb desuac -ocorc daed a htiw slaed ,raw eht retfa sraey emos nettirw ,rehtonA :yllacfiiceps elid saw ti tub ,klawedis eht esu ot deirt egroeG eH ....sesactius dna erutinruf htiw dekcolb htiw sdnatspmal dna sehtolc revo delbmuts hguorht deggard neeb dah hcihw sdroc rieht -oep emos taht deciton ylneddus eH .trid eht fo yaw eht fo tuo teg ot gnivom erew elp a revo gnippets erew srehto elihw ,gnihtemos saw tI .daor eht fo elddim eht ni ydob yerg depacse ylbamuserp dah taht elidocorc daed a gnufl neeb dah ro nedrag lacigolooz eht morf revo deklaw elpoeP . ... snoisolpxe eht yb ereht .yrruh a ni saw enoyrevE .gnikool tuohtiw ti evah I .elbafiirevnu si hturt emos niatnoc stnuocca eseht rehtehW -hpargotohp ro ,ystoJ éfaC gnivlovni lairt a fo sdrocer yna dnuof ton Saturn Remembers P.2

mostly inaccessible, even to historians working on the subject.

See Gary Bruce - Through the Lion Gate (2007).

2. Crocodiles and alligators are often confused with each other, owing to their similar appearance. An alligator is a type of a crocodilian.

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ic evidence of crocodiles in the street. Catastrophic times often conjure up fantasies and images involving animals, lending an apocalyptic overtone to the whole situation. When human activity slowed down due to COVID-19, rumours and falsified images spread about dolphins returning to Venice canals, an endangered Malabar civet returning to the streets of Calcutta, an orangutang obsessively washing her hands, and a lion let loose on the streets of Moscow, just to name a few. Even though these might be dismissed as just another instance of the “fake news” epidemic brought about by irresponsible use of social media, there is something fabulistic about these stories. By invoking exotic animals into the spaces of our lives, we underline the state of exception that we are living in. If animals and humans share urban space on almost equal terms, the symbolic order is suspended.

But death and destruction in Berlin also suspended the symbolic order between human and animal, the observer and the observed.

As the allies bombed Berlin and hit the zoo, people started consuming wildlife that usually is not a part of the human diet. The zoo director, Heinz Heck, wrote:

e t fA o o Z n i l r e B e h T n I e g a C t n a h p e l E 3491 ,gnibmoB A retfA ooZ nilreB eh3T4n9I1e,gn aiCbm tnoaB hpAerlE

We had meat coming out of our ears. Many of the edible animals which had fallen victim to the air raid ended up in the pot. Particularly tasty were the crocodiles’ tails; cooked tender in big containers, they tasted like fat chicken.

The dead deer, buffalo and antelopes provided hundreds of meals for man and beast alike. Later on, bear ham and bear sausage were a particular delicacy.

Animals were also called upon to engage in human affairs. As the Allies were moving upon Berlin, the Wehrmacht blocked a bridge with a streetcar on it’s side to slow their advance. The zoo director’s brother, Heinz Heck, who was once married to a Jewish woman and was briefly interred at Dachau, led an elephant to drag the streetcar away and clear up the blockage. After the war was over, elephants were made to clean up the rubble of wartime destruction.

s r e b m e m e R n r uta S 3.P

s r e b m e m e R n r uta S 3.P

The Landscape is Empty

The Landscape is Empty

netfo semit cihportsataC .teerts eht ni selidocorc fo ecnedive ci -copa na gnidnel ,slamina gnivlovni segami dna seisatnaf pu erujnoc dewols ytivitca namuh nehW .noitautis elohw eht ot enotrevo citpyla tuoba daerps segami defiislaf dna sruomur ,91-DIVOC ot eud nwod rabalaM deregnadne na ,slanac ecineV ot gninruter snihplod ylevissesbo gnatugnaro na ,attuclaC fo steerts eht ot gninruter tevic ,wocsoM fo steerts eht no esool tel noil a dna ,sdnah reh gnihsaw tsuj sa dessimsid eb thgim eseht hguoht nevE .wef a eman ot tsuj yb tuoba thguorb cimedipe ”swen ekaf“ eht fo ecnatsni rehtona tuoba citsilubaf gnihtemos si ereht ,aidem laicos fo esu elbisnopserri ,sevil ruo fo secaps eht otni slamina citoxe gnikovni yB .seirots eseht dna slamina fI .ni gnivil era ew taht noitpecxe fo etats eht enilrednu ew cilobmys eht ,smret lauqe tsomla no ecaps nabru erahs snamuh .dednepsus si redro -ed dna htaed tuB nilreB ni noitcurts dednepsus osla redro cilobmys eht dna namuh neewteb revresbo eht ,lamina .devresbo eht dna debmob seilla eht sA eht tih dna nilreB detrats elpoep ,ooz efildliw gnimusnoc a ton si yllausu taht namuh eht fo trap ,rotcerid ooz ehT .teid :etorw ,kceH znieH

Elephant Cage In The Berlin Zoo After Elephant A Bombing, Cage1943 In The Berlin Zoo After A Bombing, 1943

fo ynaM .srae ruo fo tuo gnimoc taem dah eW ot mitciv nellaf dah hcihw slamina elbide eht ylralucitraP .top eht ni pu dedne diar ria eht rednet dekooc ;sliat ’selidocorc eht erew ytsat .nekcihc taf ekil detsat yeht ,sreniatnoc gib ni -orp sepoletna dna olaffub ,reed daed ehT tsaeb dna nam rof slaem fo sderdnuh dediv egasuas raeb dna mah raeb ,no retaL .ekila .ycaciled ralucitrap a erew

eht sA .sriaffa namuh ni egagne ot nopu dellac osla erew slaminA egdirb a dekcolb thcamrheW eht ,nilreB nopu gnivom erew seillA s’rotcerid ooz ehT .ecnavda rieht wols ot edis s’ti no racteerts a htiw namow hsiweJ a ot deirram ecno saw ohw ,kceH znieH ,rehtorb eht gard ot tnahpele na del ,uahcaD ta derretni yfleirb saw dna saw raw eht retfA .egakcolb eht pu raelc dna yawa racteerts -ed emitraw fo elbbur eht pu naelc ot edam erew stnahpele ,revo . noit c u rts

Saturn Remembers P.3

Saturn Remembers P.3

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Saturn’s whereabouts during these events are unknown. This lack of information has contributed to the urban legend that Saturn was Hitler’s personal alligator. This is hardly surprising, considering that we wish to ascribe to dictators certain characteristics of caricature stnenoppo svillains. ih deef ,tca3f The ni ,didonly nimA pet idI tathat ht ylekHitler il si ti hgis uohknown tlA .3 to have kept while he was in .selidocorc ot power was his German Shepard, Blondi. Nevertheless, the director of the Moscow Zoo thinks that not only is it plausible, but also highly likely that Saturn saw Hitler during one of his visits to the zoo. If this is true, Saturn was quite possibly the last living creature that has seen Hitler up close, face to face. The last human witness known to have met Hitler, his unapologetic bodyguard Rochus Misch, died in 2013. Saturn outlived him by seven years.

Would Saturn remember? We can’t converse with animals, and animal agency is shrouded in mystery for us. We neither see them as historical actors, nor as witnesses. As years went by, visitors to the Moscow zoo knew less and less about Saturn’s journey. His German years would only be related to groups of visiting schoolchildren, the same ones who would poke him with a broomstick. Even the symbolic weight that animals carry fades over time. When Saturn died in May 2020, international news publications seized the chance to write a sensational story, that would potentially distract from the Covid-19 news cycle. Saturn got his 15 minutes of fame, and now his taxidermy body will be put up on display at the Moscow Darwin Museum.

In 1993, during a constitutional crisis, tanks moved towards Moscow.

The rumbling reverberations from the suburban highways could be felt in the zoo. It is said that Saturn cried out loudly and incessantly.

“Must be that he’s reminded of the Berlin war,” said the zookeepers.

s r e b m e m e R n r uta S 4.P

The Landscape is Empty

kcal sihT .nwonknu era stneve eseht gnirud stuobaerehw s’nrutaS saw nrutaS taht dnegel nabru eht ot detubirtnoc sah noitamrofni fo taht gniredisnoc ,gnisirprus yldrah si sihT .rotagilla lanosrep s’reltiH erutacirac fo scitsiretcarahc niatrec srotatcid ot ebircsa ot hsiw ew 3 ni saw eh elihw tpek evah ot nw3.oAlthough nk si reitltisiHlikely tahthat t teIdip Amin ylnodid, ehinT fact, .snfeed iallhis iv opponents to crocodiles. rotcerid eht ,sselehtreveN .idnolB ,drapehS namreG sih saw rewop ylhgih osla tub ,elbisualp ti si ylno ton taht skniht ooZ wocsoM eht fo fI .ooz eht ot stisiv sih fo eno gnirud reltiH was nrutaS taht ylekil sah taht erutaerc gnivil tsal eht ylbissop etiuq saw nrutaS ,eurt si siht nwonk ssentiw namuh tsal ehT .ecaf ot ecaf ,esolc pu reltiH nees deid ,hcsiM suhcoR draugydob citegolopanu sih ,reltiH tem evah ot .sraey neves yb mih deviltuo nrutaS .3102 ni dna ,slamina htiw esrevnoc t’nac eW ?rebmemer nrutaS dluoW sa meht ees rehtien eW .su rof yretsym ni deduorhs si ycnega lamina eht ot srotisiv ,yb tnew sraey sA .sessentiw sa ron ,srotca lacirotsih namreG siH .yenruoj s’nrutaS tuoba ssel dna ssel wenk ooz wocsoM ,nerdlihcloohcs gnitisiv fo spuorg ot detaler eb ylno dluow sraey -mys eht nevE .kcitsmoorb a htiw mih ekop dluow ohw seno emas eht ni deid nrutaS nehW .emit revo sedaf yrrac slamina taht thgiew cilob etirw ot ecnahc eht dezies snoitacilbup swen lanoitanretni ,0202 yaM 91-divoC eht morf tcartsid yllaitnetop dluow taht ,yrots lanoitasnes a ymredixat sih won dna ,emaf fo setunim 51 sih tog nrutaS .elcyc swen .muesuM niwraD wocsoM eht ta yalpsid no pu tup eb lliw ydob .wocsoM sdrawot devom sknat ,sisirc lanoitutitsnoc a gnirud ,3991 nI eb dluoc syawhgih nabrubus eht morf snoitarebrever gnilbmur ehT .yltnassecni dna ylduol tuo deirc nrutaS taht dias si tI .ooz eht ni tlef .srepeekooz eht dias ”,raw nilreB eht fo dednimer s’eh taht eb tsuM“

Saturn Remembers P.4

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Films emoS om rf dMemory ebircseD

I want to write about these films, but I can’t find them. Some of these I watched more recently, others are a distant memory and I’m starting to forget the details. I don’t want to read about these films before I can see them again. Later, I will compare my notes.

Does misremembering reveal as much as remembering does?

Una Giornata Particolare Ettore Scola Watched 2018 Sepia tone. Everything is distant, like in an old photograph. A large crowd leaves for Mussolini’s rally. Her family leaves too. A street sweep left behind. It is an apartment complex around a yard that closes in on itself. The sound of sweeping. The sound of the radio.

An escaped parrot. An unhappy woman and an unhappy man. He lives on the opposite side. He’s gay, but she’s trying to seduce him. He suggests books that she hasn’t read. Does she catch her parrot? He knows he will be arrested. On the rooftop, among the white bedsheets, they kiss. Everyone returns y r o m e M m orf d e bi r c s e D s mliF e m o S 1.P

The Landscape is Empty

Some smliF F Described yromeM m fro

t’nac I tub ,smlfi eseht tuoba etirw ot tnaw I erom dehctaw I eseht fo emoS .meht dnfi dna y romem tnatsid a era srehto ,yltnecer tnaw t’nod I .sliated eht tegrof ot gnitrats m’I ees nac I erofeb smlfi eseht tuoba daer ot .seton ym erapmoc lliw I ,retaL .niaga meht sa hcum sa laever gnirebmemersim seoD ?seod gnirebmemer atanroiG anU eralocitraP alocS erottE 8102 dehctaW dlo na ni ekil ,tnatsid si gnihtyrevE .enot aipeS -suM rof sevael dworc egral A .hpargotohp teerts A .oot sevael ylimaf reH .yllar s’inilos xelpmoc tnemtrapa na si tI .dniheb tfel peews ehT .flesti no ni sesolc taht dray a dnuora .oidar eht fo dnuos ehT .gnipeews fo dnuos dna namow yppahnu nA .torrap depacse nA eht no sevil eH .nam yppahnu na ot gniyrt s’ehs tub ,yag s’eH .edis etisoppo t’nsah ehs taht skoob stseggus eH .mih ecudes swonk eH ?torrap reh hctac ehs seoD .daer eht gnoma ,potfoor eht nO .detserra eb lliw eh snruter enoyrevE .ssik yeht ,steehsdeb etihw Some Films Described from Memory P.1

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to the sound of a marching band. Later, he’s taken away by two men in suits, and she watches from her window. Do they make eye contact? She hides her sorrow from her family.

The Old Jewish Cemetery Sergei Loznitsa Watched 2017 Riga. Grainy and black and white, perhaps 16mm. Well-composed tableaux of a neighbourhood. The sound of a light breeze. A feeling of absence. People passing by in front of the camera, and nothing happens. Parts of a printed sign appear, in English. Fragments of text about a synagogue. An old woman hangs her laundry on a line, and a gentle, classical music record plays distantly. It sounds from another time, but it’s the present day. A tram passes by and a drunk man stumbles in front of the camera. He makes eye contact, then leaves. A cat runs in front. More of the text appears. More scraps from the text. The Holocaust is mentioned. We see a park, and kids at play. Finally, the entire plaque is seen. This used to be the Old Jewish Cemetery in the old Jewish quarter. Some people pass by, they are foreign, possibly American. They pick up the trash from the path and throw it in the bin. A stray ray of light illuminates a broken part of an old gravestone.

A Day To Remember Watched 2016 Liu Wei Simple, video image. Man goes up to people on the street and asks them the same question: “What day is it today?” They don’t seem to know, or are generally reluctant to answer. Someone tells the videographer to cut it out. It is the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre.

Print Generation JJ Murphy Watched in 2013?

16mm. Dots and colours, moving. A whole gamut of colours. Unrecognisable figures, invisible cuts. There’s a sense of repetition. Then, images start to take shape. Objects and people. Family films? Nevertheless, after several cycles of repetition, all the grain and colours seen before have taken shape. Briefly, everything is sharp and defined. Several repetitions later, everything has become abstracted again, just like in the beginning. The film was made by making prints from consecutive copies, instead of the master print.

The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu Andrei Ujica Watched in 2012 Shaky video. Nicolae Ceausescu is on a kangaroo trial, looking desperate. He knows might be executed. He looks at the camera, and there’s a cut. Crisp black and white film. The previous leader of Romania has died. The funeral train starts to move. Is everything silent to this point? All the other sounds have been folied. Ceausescu is a popular leader, and even stands up to Soviet authority. y r o m e M m orf d e bi r c s e D s mliF e m o S 2 .P

The Landscape is Empty

nem owt yb yawa nekat s’eh ,retaL .dnab gnihcram a fo dnuos eht ot eye ekam yeht oD .wodniw reh morf sehctaw ehs dna ,stius ni .ylimaf reh morf worros reh sedih ehS ?tcatnoc yretemeC hsiweJ dlO ehT astinzoL iegreS 7102 dehctaW desopmoc-lleW .mm61 spahrep ,etihw dna kcalb dna yniarG .agiR gnileef A .ezeerb thgil a fo dnuos ehT .doohruobhgien a fo xuaelbat gnihton dna ,aremac eht fo tnorf ni yb gnissap elpoeP .ecnesba fo fo stnemgarF .hsilgnE ni ,raeppa ngis detnirp a fo straP .sneppah ,enil a no yrdnual reh sgnah namow dlo nA .eugoganys a tuoba txet morf sdnuos tI .yltnatsid syalp drocer cisum lacissalc ,eltneg a dna knurd a dna yb sessap mart A .yad tneserp eht s’ti tub ,emit rehtona neht ,tcatnoc eye sekam eH .aremac eht fo tnorf ni selbmuts nam morf sparcs eroM .sraeppa txet eht fo eroM .tnorf ni snur tac A .sevael ta sdik dna ,krap a ees eW .denoitnem si tsuacoloH ehT .txet eht hsiweJ dlO eht eb ot desu sihT .nees si euqalp eritne eht ,yllaniF .yalp era yeht ,yb ssap elpoep emoS .retrauq hsiweJ dlo eht ni yretemeC dna htap eht morf hsart eht pu kcip yehT .naciremA ylbissop ,ngierof fo trap nekorb a setanimulli thgil fo yar yarts A .nib eht ni ti worht .enotsevarg dlo na rebmemeR oT yaD A 6102 dehctaW ieW uiL sksa dna teerts eht no elpoep ot pu seog naM .egami oediv ,elpmiS mees t’nod yehT ”?yadot ti si yad tahW“ :noitseuq emas eht meht -oediv eht sllet enoemoS .rewsna ot tnatculer yllareneg era ro ,wonk ot erauqS nemnanaiT eht fo yrasrevinna eht si tI .tuo ti tuc ot rehparg .ercassam noitareneG tnirP yhpruM JJ ?3102 ni dehctaW -gocernU .sruoloc fo tumag elohw A .gnivom ,sruoloc dna stoD .mm61 ,nehT .noititeper fo esnes a s’erehT .stuc elbisivni ,serugfi elbasin -reveN ?smlfi ylimaF .elpoep dna stcejbO .epahs ekat ot trats segami sruoloc dna niarg eht lla ,noititeper fo selcyc lareves retfa ,sseleht -ed dna prahs si gnihtyreve ,yfleirB .epahs nekat evah erofeb nees detcartsba emoceb sah gnihtyreve ,retal snoititeper lareveS .denfi stnirp gnikam yb edam saw mlfi ehT .gninnigeb eht ni ekil tsuj ,niaga .tnirp retsam eht fo daetsni ,seipoc evitucesnoc morf ucsesuaeC ealociN fo yhpargoibotuA ehT acijU ierdnA 2102 ni dehctaW -sed gnikool ,lairt ooragnak a no si ucsesuaeC ealociN .oediv ykahS ,aremac eht ta skool eH .detucexe eb thgim swonk eH .etarep fo redael suoiverp ehT .mlfi etihw dna kcalb psirC .tuc a s’ereht dna gnihtyreve sI .evom ot strats niart larenuf ehT .deid sah ainamoR ucsesuaeC .deilof neeb evah sdnuos rehto eht llA ?tniop siht ot tnelis .ytirohtua teivoS ot pu sdnats neve dna ,redael ralupop a si Some Films Described from Memory P.2

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Then the celebrations start. Ceausescu is served cake and given birthday presents. Over and over again. Meanwhile, the footage turns color. In North Korea, a North Korean singer sings a Romanian song for him. She’s wearing a purple dress. We don’t hear him speak, but he moves his lips. His suit is well-cut. He meets the Queen of England, although I’m not sure if I remember this from the film.

Ceausescu and his wife go to Universal Studios. They play tennis, and he’s wearing white shorts. When the footage returns from film to video, there’s a revolution. The camera becomes quite distant.

Ceausescu is executed by firing squad, but is this included in the film?

What struck me the most is that besides the footage of the trial, the entire film is made from old propaganda material. Historical falsification can be corrected through montage.

A Man With No Name Wang Bing Watched 2012 Wang Bing A man digs through dung. He’s homeless. This is a video image.

There’s a harrowing sound of the wind. He warms himself by the fire, but never speaks. ?????

Watched in 201?

A short film. Somewhere in South America. Green forests. Locals start a radio station, and talk about local politics. The voice of the presenter carries over the landscape.

y r o m e M m orf d e bi r c s e D s mliF e m o S 3.P

The Landscape is Empty

nevig dna ekac devres si ucsesuaeC .trats snoitarbelec eht nehT egatoof eht ,elihwnaeM .niaga revo dna revO .stneserp yadhtrib nainamoR a sgnis regnis naeroK htroN a ,aeroK htroN nI .roloc snrut mih raeh t’nod eW .sserd elprup a gniraew s’ehS .mih rof gnos neeuQ eht steem eH .tuc-llew si tius siH .spil sih sevom eh tub ,kaeps .mlfi eht morf siht rebmemer I fi erus ton m’I hguohtla ,dnalgnE fo dna ,sinnet yalp yehT .soidutS lasrevinU ot og efiw sih dna ucsesuaeC ot mlfi morf snruter egatoof eht nehW .strohs etihw gniraew s’eh .tnatsid etiuq semoceb aremac ehT .noitulover a s’ereht ,oediv ?mlfi eht ni dedulcni siht si tub ,dauqs gnirfi yb detucexe si ucsesuaeC ,lairt eht fo egatoof eht sediseb taht si tsom eht em kcurts tahW -islaf lacirotsiH .lairetam adnagaporp dlo morf edam si mlfi eritne eht .egatnom hguorht detcerroc eb nac noitacfi emaN oN htiW naM A gniB gnaW 2102 dehctaW gniB gnaW .egami oediv a si sihT .sselemoh s’eH .gnud hguorht sgid nam A ,erfi eht yb flesmih smraw eH .dniw eht fo dnuos gniworrah a s’erehT .skaeps reven tub ????? ?102 ni dehctaW slacoL .stserof neerG .aciremA htuoS ni erehwemoS .mlfi trohs A fo eciov ehT .scitilop lacol tuoba klat dna ,noitats oidar a trats .epacsdnal eht revo seirrac retneserp eht

Some Films Described from Memory P.3

y tp m E s i e p a c s d n a L e h T

ndscape aL ehT mpty E si

We are standing in a ravine. I have been told that, starting in 1937, this place might have been an execution ground, where hundreds of people were taken to and shot. These are rumours from 83 years ago. Those who saw are long gone.

I want to look at the landscape, and see the past, its history, the proof of its witness.

But the landscape is empty and I see nothing.

y tp m E s i e p a c s d n a L e h T 1.P

The Landscape is Empty

The epacLan sd isytEm p

dlot neeb evah I .enivar a ni gnidnats era eW evah thgim ecalp siht ,7391 ni gnitrats ,taht sderdnuh erehw ,dnuorg noitucexe na neeb esehT .tohs dna ot nekat erew elpoep fo ohw esohT .oga sraey 38 morf sruomur era .enog gnol era was eht ees dna ,epacsdnal eht ta kool ot tnaw I .ssentiw sti fo foorp eht ,yrotsih sti ,tsap .gnihton ees I dna ytpme si epacsdnal eht tuB

The Landscape is Empty P.1

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People ehT Missing era

If something has stayed with me from reading Deleuze’s Cinema Books, this is it.

The People Are Missing. Figuratively, as in people who are “real before being actual, ideal without being abstract.”

But also literally, as in the cinematic frame has been depopulated.

There is an expectation, from international producers and programmers of Eastern European cinema, of what a Georgian film should be. It is along these lines: The film must be bittersweet. It is allowed be political, inasmuch as the politics are vague and harmless. There should be a performance of poverty, but the origins of this poverty must be obscured. If there’s conflict, it should be along the lines of modernity and tradition. It must be a fictitious ethnography easily digestible by a Western audience. It should center around characters, or rather caricatures of unsophisticated, provincial Georgians in absurd situations.

And we, Georgian filmmakers, accommodate. We accommodate because it is easier g n i s s i M e r a e l p o eP e h T 1.P

The Landscape is Empty

The elpoeP are gnisM si

morf em htiw deyats sah gnihtemos fI .ti si siht ,skooB ameniC s’ezueleD gnidaer ,ylevitarugiF .gnissiM erA elpoeP ehT -ca gnieb erofeb laer“ era ohw elpoep ni sa ”.tcartsba gnieb tuohtiw laedi ,laut emarf citamenic eht ni sa ,yllaretil osla tuB .detalupoped neeb sah lanoitanretni morf ,noitatcepxe na si erehT nretsaE fo sremmargorp dna srecudorp mlfi naigroeG a tahw fo ,amenic naeporuE : s e n i l e s e h t g n o l a s i tI . e b d l u o h s dewolla si tI .teewsrettib eb tsum mlfi ehT era scitilop eht sa hcumsani ,lacitilop eb -rep a eb dluohs erehT .sselmrah dna eugav fo snigiro eht tub ,ytrevop fo ecnamrof s’ereht fI .derucsbo eb tsum ytrevop siht fo senil eht gnola eb dluohs ti ,tciflnoc suoititcfi a eb tsum tI .noitidart dna ytinredom nretseW a yb elbitsegid ylisae yhpargonhte -carahc dnuora retnec dluohs tI .ecneidua ,detacitsihposnu fo serutacirac rehtar ro ,sret .snoitautis drusba ni snaigroeG laicnivorp -ommocca ,srekammlfi naigroeG ,ew dnA reisae si ti esuaceb etadommocca eW .etad The People are Missing P.1

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self-perpetuate the tradition which was invented by our forebears to be able to work within the Soviet system, than to seek a tradition of our own. We accommodate because we ourselves demand easily digestible cinema. We accommodate because we want to make work.

At the premiere of my last film, The Harvest, a well-established Dutch filmmaker who continues to exploit Georgian history in her works, asked in an angry tone why I “didn’t talk to any people” in the film.

I answered politely that it had to do with my formal concerns, yet she remained indignant. But I will answer truthfully now: The people are missing, and we must refuse to pretend otherwise. We must refuse to create caricatures for Westerners and for ourselves, because it is impossible to show people while the people are missing, history is missing, dignity is missing, and time is also missing.

Deleuze says:

Cinematographic art must take part in this task: not that of addressing a people, which is presupposed already there, but of contributing to the invention of the people.

I don’t like being prescriptive, but this is sound advice, lest we continue to make caricatures. Does this mean that we have to stop filming people altogether? On the contrary, the camera must be like a searchlight in the dark. But a person, or a group of persons does not yet constitute the people, and we should always be aware of that.

g n i s s i M e r a e l p o eP e h T 2 .P

The Landscape is Empty

ot sraeberof ruo yb detnevni saw hcihw noitidart eht etauteprep-fles fo noitidart a kees ot naht ,metsys teivoS eht nihtiw krow ot elba eb -id ylisae dnamed sevlesruo ew esuaceb etadommocca eW .nwo ruo .krow ekam ot tnaw ew esuaceb etadommocca eW .amenic elbitseg hctuD dehsilbatse-llew a ,tsevraH ehT ,mlfi tsal ym fo ereimerp eht tA ,skrow reh ni yrotsih naigroeG tiolpxe ot seunitnoc ohw rekammlfi .mlfi eht ni ”elpoep yna ot klat t’ndid“ I yhw enot y rgna na ni deksa tey ,snrecnoc lamrof ym htiw od ot dah ti taht yletilop derewsna I elpoep ehT :won yllufhturt rewsna lliw I tuB .tnangidni deniamer ehs tsum eW .esiwrehto dneterp ot esufer tsum ew dna ,gnissim era esuaceb ,sevlesruo rof dna srenretseW rof serutacirac etaerc ot esufer ,gnissim era elpoep eht elihw elpoep wohs ot elbissopmi si ti .gnissim osla si emit dna ,gnissim si ytingid ,gnissim si yrotsih siht ni trap ekat tsum tra cihpargotameniC hcihw ,elpoep a gnisserdda fo taht ton :ksat -birtnoc fo tub ,ereht ydaerla desoppuserp si .elpoep eht fo noitnevni eht ot gnitu

:syas ezueleD

-noc ew tsel ,ecivda dnuos si siht tub ,evitpircserp gnieb ekil t’nod I pots ot evah ew taht naem siht seoD .serutacirac ekam ot eunit ekil eb tsum aremac eht ,yrartnoc eht nO ?rehtegotla elpoep gnimlfi seod snosrep fo puorg a ro ,nosrep a tuB .krad eht ni thgilhcraes a .taht fo erawa eb syawla dluohs ew dna ,elpoep eht etutitsnoc tey ton

The People are Missing P.2

ath eD eand nO Funerals eerhT

reThree tpahC

One dna hDea t Three slarenuF

Chapter eerhT

 Relating :mooR tnto atsHistory iD A moThrough rF cisuMFilm ekiL

m l i F h g u o r h T y r ot s i H ot g n i t a l e R

slarenuF eerhT dna htaeD enO

ophecy rP mliF

When, in Fritz Lang’s The Testament of Dr. Mabuse, Professor Baum examines the notes of Dr. Mabuse collected under the title of Empire of Crime, the spirit of Dr. Mabuse appears in front of him and whispers that: Humanity’s soul must be shaken to its very depths, frightened by unfathomable and seemingly senseless crimes. Crimes that benefit no one, whose only objective is to inspire fear and terror. Because the ultimate purpose of crime is to establish the endless empire of crime. A state of complete insecurity and anarchy, founded upon the tainted ideals of a world doomed to annihilation. When humanity, subjugated by the terror of crime, has been driven insane by fear and horror, and when chaos has become supreme law, then the time will have come for the empire of crime, and then the spirit of Mabuse possesses the body of Baum, and the year is 1933, that is prophetic filmmaking, arising not from divination, but an observation of the present. We have been living out the prophecy ever since. yc e h p orP m l iF 1.P

One Death and Three Funerals

Film ycehp Pro

.rD fo tnematseT ehT s’gnaL ztirF ni ,nehW eht senimaxe muaB rosseforP ,esubaM eht rednu detcelloc esubaM .rD fo seton .rD fo tirips eht ,emirC fo eripmE fo eltit -sihw dna mih fo tnorf ni sraeppa esubaM : ta h t s r e p y rev sti ot nekahs eb tsum luos s’ytinamuH dna elbamohtafnu yb denethgirf ,shtped taht semirC .semirc sselesnes ylgnimees ot si evitcejbo ylno esohw ,eno on tfieneb -itlu eht esuaceB .rorret dna raef eripsni eht hsilbatse ot si emirc fo esoprup etam -moc fo etats A .emirc fo eripme sseldne nopu dednuof ,yhcrana dna ytirucesni etelp ot demood dlrow a fo slaedi detniat eht yb detagujbus ,ytinamuh nehW .noitalihinna enasni nevird neeb sah ,emirc fo rorret eht -eb sah soahc nehw dna ,rorroh dna raef yb evah lliw emit eht neht ,wal emerpus emoc ,emirc fo eripme eht rof emoc sessessop esubaM fo tirips eht neht dna taht ,3391 si raey eht dna ,muaB fo ydob eht morf ton gnisira ,gnikammlfi citehporp si -serp eht fo noitav resbo na tub ,noitanivid ycehporp eht tuo gnivil neeb evah eW .tne .ecnis reve Film Prophecy P.1

slarenuF eerhT dna htaeD enO

ath eD and enO Funerals F eerhT

The transfer of historic guilt has become an incredibly common tactic in increasingly right-wing countries of “The Former East,” including EU member-states such as Hungary, which practices old school anti-Semitism, and Poland, which has recently made illegal to even bring up the participation of its citizens in the Holocaust. Why is it that Russian nationalist ideologues, instead of condemning Stalin, are attempting to rehabilitate him even through the official discourse? In combination with the negative stereotyping of Georgians in Russian state media and the internet, Stalin’s Georgian nationality would seem to offer them an incredible opportunity to fully acknowledge Stalin’s crimes, and shift the blame to “the Other.” Putin has been on record explaining away the antigovernment views of the popular writer Boris Akunin with his Georgian ethnicity.

He could certainly absolve his country of horrific crimes against humanity with the same tactic.

Instead, at a memorial event dedicated to Stalin’s victims, Putin said that, despite the slarenuF eerhT dna htaeD enO 1.P

One Death and Three Funerals

One dna Dea ht Three slarenFu u

emoceb sah tliug cirotsih fo refsnart ehT ylgnisaercni ni citcat nommoc ylbidercni na ”,tsaE remroF ehT“ fo seirtnuoc gniw-thgir ,yragnuH sa hcus setats-rebmem UE gnidulcni ,msitimeS-itna loohcs dlo secitcarp hcihw lagelli edam yltnecer sah hcihw ,dnaloP dna -itic sti fo noitapicitrap eht pu gnirb neve ot naissuR taht ti si yhW .tsuacoloH eht ni snez -nmednoc fo daetsni ,seugoloedi tsilanoitan etatilibaher ot gnitpmetta era ,nilatS gni nI ?esruocsid laicffio eht hguorht neve mih gnipytoerets evitagen eht htiw noitanibmoc eht dna aidem etats naissuR ni snaigroeG fo dluow ytilanoitan naigroeG s’nilatS ,tenretni -utroppo elbidercni na meht reffo ot mees ,semirc s’nilatS egdelwonkca ylluf ot ytin sah nituP ”.rehtO eht“ ot emalb eht tfihs dna -itna eht yawa gninialpxe drocer no neeb retirw ralupop eht fo sweiv tnemnrevog .yticinhte naigroeG sih htiw ninukA siroB fo yrtnuoc sih evlosba ylniatrec dluoc eH eht htiw ytinamuh tsniaga semirc cfiirroh .citcat emas ot detacided tneve lairomem a ta ,daetsnI eht etipsed ,taht dias nituP ,smitciv s’nilatS One Death and Three Funerals P.1

slarenuF eerhT dna htaeD enO

slarenuF eerhT dna htaeD enO

Soviet government’s overreach, Russians “should focus on what’s good for the country.” In an interview to Oliver Stone, he also stated that “excessive demonisation of Stalin is one means of attacking the Soviet Union and Russia.”

It is appropriate timing then, the last three years saw the release of two, and the restoration and re-release of one film about the death of Stalin. Two of them, Sergei Loznitsa’s State Funeral (2019) and Aleksei German’s Khrustalyev, My Car! (1998), are post-Soviet in origin, while The Death of Stalin (2017) was directed by a British satirist, Armando Iannucci.

Let’s start with the outlier. In Iannucci’s film, Stalin dies, and hilarity ensues. There is an ongoing power struggle, primarily between Nikita Khrushchev (played, of all people, by Steve Buscemi) and Lavrentiy Beria (Simon Russel Beade), who initially has the upper hand. The absurdities of the regime are explored through mundane details like arranging autopsies and funeral planning. Even though Stalin is dead, the mechanisms of terror continue working, affecting civilians and politicians alike. To those involved in the power struggle, it is clear that the mechanism will swallow them whole unless they are victorious, or side with the victors.

The release of Iannucci’s The Death of Stalin made a whole range of people bitter. Although a film where Steve Buscemi plays Khrushchev cannot be considered a history lesson, historians from the West and members of the Russian state apparatus levelled the same accusation against the film—inaccuracy. Several academics in the West pointed out obvious fictionalisations and felt that the film was inappropriate as it did not honour those who perished under Stalin. In Russia, an open letter, worthy of the Soviet culture of writing denunciations, was addressed to the Ministry of Culture, asking for the postponement of the film’s release. “After the screening, we were left with the impression, that not only is the acting very bad,” the letter began with its most preposterous claim, “but that it also contains careless and inaccurate decorations, and is overall a mockery of the history of our country, a vile and tasteless socalled “comedy,” that defames the citizens of our country, who were the vanquishers of fascism.” The Ministry of Culture obliged and banned the film altogether. ) 71 0 2 i l at S f O hta e D a ehmanifestation T )7102( nilaof tS fstate O hta e D e h T While the Russian response is( nobviously politics, the criticism by certain historians of the Soviet Union that a comedy is not an appropriate genre to address these issues is

slarenuF eerhT dna htaeD enO 2 .P

slarenuF eerhT dna htaeD enO 2 .P

One Death and Three Funerals

One Death and Three Funerals

s’tahw no sucof dluohs“ snaissuR ,hcaerrevo s’tnemnrevog teivoS detats osla eh ,enotS revilO ot weivretni na nI ”.yrtnuoc eht rof doog gnikcatta fo snaem eno si nilatS fo noitasinomed evissecxe“ taht ”.aissuR dna noinU teivoS eht fo esaeler eht was sraey eerht tsal eht ,neht gnimit etairporppa si tI htaed eht tuoba mlfi eno fo esaeler-er dna noitarotser eht dna ,owt dna )9102( larenuF etatS s’astinzoL iegreS ,meht fo owT .nilatS fo ni teivoS-tsop era ,)8991( !raC yM ,veylatsurhK s’namreG ieskelA -itas hsitirB a yb detcerid saw )7102( nilatS fo htaeD ehT elihw ,nigiro .iccunnaI odnamrA ,tsir -iralih dna ,seid nilatS ,mlfi s’iccunnaI nI .reiltuo eht htiw trats s’teL neewteb yliramirp ,elggurts rewop gniogno na si erehT .seusne yt dna )imecsuB evetS yb ,elpoep lla fo ,deyalp( vehchsurhK atikiN reppu eht sah yllaitini ohw ,)edaeB lessuR nomiS( aireB yitnervaL enadnum hguorht derolpxe era emiger eht fo seitidrusba ehT .dnah hguoht nevE .gninnalp larenuf dna seispotua gnignarra ekil sliated gnitceffa ,gnikrow eunitnoc rorret fo smsinahcem eht ,daed si nilatS -gurts rewop eht ni devlovni esoht oT .ekila snaicitilop dna snailivic sselnu elohw meht wollaws lliw msinahcem eht taht raelc si ti ,elg .srotciv eht htiw edis ro ,suoirotciv era yeht fo egnar elohw a edam nilatS fo htaeD ehT s’iccunnaI fo esaeler ehT vehchsurhK syalp imecsuB evetS erehw mlfi a hguohtlA .rettib elpoep dna tseW eht morf snairotsih ,nossel yrotsih a deredisnoc eb tonnac -asucca emas eht dellevel sutarappa etats naissuR eht fo srebmem tseW eht ni scimedaca lareveS .ycaruccani—mlfi eht tsniaga noit -pani saw mlfi eht taht tlef dna snoitasilanoitcfi suoivbo tuo detniop nI .nilatS rednu dehsirep ohw esoht ruonoh ton did ti sa etairporp -nuned gnitirw fo erutluc teivoS eht fo yhtrow ,rettel nepo na ,aissuR eht rof gniksa ,erutluC fo yrtsiniM eht ot desserdda saw ,snoitaic erew ew ,gnineercs eht retfA“ .esaeler s’mlfi eht fo tnemenoptsop -tel eht ”,dab yrev gnitca eht si ylno ton taht ,noisserpmi eht htiw tfel sniatnoc osla ti taht tub“ ,mialc suoretsoperp tsom sti htiw nageb ret -cani dna sselerac ,snoitaroced etaruc llarevo si dna -sih eht fo yrekcom a a ,yrtnuoc ruo fo yrot -os sseletsat dna eliv taht ”,ydemoc“ dellac snezitic eht semafed ohw ,yrtnuoc ruo fo -hsiuqnav eht erew ehT ”.msicsaf fo sre erutluC fo yrtsiniM dennab dna degilbo .rehtegotla mlfi eht The Death The Ofiv Stalin etatOf s Stalin fo no(2017) itatsefinam a Death ylsuo bo s(2017) i esnopser

naissuR eht elihW taht noinU teivoS eht fo snairotsih niatrec yb msicitirc eht ,scitilop si seussi eseht sserdda ot erneg etairporppa na ton si ydemoc a One Death and Three Funerals P.2

One Death and Three Funerals P.2

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surprising. Surely they are aware that humour was a mechanism of survival during Stalin’s reign, and so many were sent to the GULAG over a joke? Solzhenitsyn himself was imprisoned after sending a letter that contained a joke about Stalin. If it was appropriate for them then, it is certainly appropriate for us now.

If the film can be criticised for inaccuracy, it is for opposite reasons.

The film treats the general population too generously. The entire Soviet system is personified in the figureheads of Stalin, then Beria, then Khrushchev. The general population is seen as following orders out of fear, the film completely glosses over what enabled the fear.

The same cannot be said about German’s Khrustalyov. The plot of the film is as dark and hard to make out as the grainy, high-contrast black-and-white film stock it was shot on. A narration over a shot of a deserted Moscow street opens the film: “Same as it evermore shall be / And as it was of old / A horsie and a little boy /Battle with the cold...” My whole life, I thought my grandma wrote those lines. But she wasn’t a poet. Funny, that. Back in the day, our street was lined with Persian lilacs. Then, suddenly, they disappeared. But people hardly ever remember. Not that they died. They just forgot, that’s all. On that last night of February 1953, a stoker at a fur shop… So, this stoker, Fedya Aramyshev, known as The Condom...

The narration fades away, and the memory remains anonymous.

Fedya Aramyshev is completely incidental to the narrative of the film, yet he is arrested and violently thrown into a shed when he tries to pry off the brand emblem of a car for no reason, not knowing that it’s the car of the Secret Police. The actual narrative of the film starts in the apartment house behind the shed, where General Dr. Yuri Klensky, a Jewish medic of military rank lives. The plot is incredibly intricate, and as always, contingent on overheard conversations, remarks made in passing, events occurring just at the edges of the frame. To keep it short, Klensky is keeping himself inebriated, refusing to believe that he very well might be the next victim of Stalin’s anti-Semitic campaign of the Doctor’s Plot, which saw most Jewish doctors in Moscow arrested. Realising that his life is under threat when he meets his Doppelgänger (as doubles were often used in Stalin’s show trials) in the hospital where he works, he decides to flee. Yet it is too late, and Klensky is arrested. Every single person along his journey, including himself, is an enabler of the Terror. Klensky is saved last minute by the fact that all good doctors have already been, and he’s retrieved by the same Secret Police that arrested him to attend to the dying Stalin.

The complicity that was dramatized in Khrustalyov is on full display in Sergei Loznitsa’s archival footage documentary, State Funeral, which was made from used and unused footage of an official Soviet film, The Great Farewell, about Stalin’s funeral that was banned before it saw the light of day. Stalin is dead, and mourners come slarenuF eerhT dna htaeD enO 3.P

One Death and Three Funerals

fo msinahcem a saw ruomuh taht erawa era yeht yleruS .gnisirprus GALUG eht ot tnes erew ynam os dna ,ngier s’nilatS gnirud lavivrus a gnidnes retfa denosirpmi saw flesmih nystinehzloS ?ekoj a revo rof etairporppa saw ti fI .nilatS tuoba ekoj a deniatnoc taht rettel .won su rof etairporppa ylniatrec si ti ,neht meht .snosaer etisoppo rof si ti ,ycaruccani rof desicitirc eb nac mlfi eht fI eritne ehT .ylsuoreneg oot noitalupop lareneg eht staert mlfi ehT ,aireB neht ,nilatS fo sdaeherugfi eht ni defiinosrep si metsys teivoS sredro gniwollof sa nees si noitalupop lareneg ehT .vehchsurhK neht .raef eht delbane tahw revo sessolg yletelpmoc mlfi eht ,raef fo tuo fo tolp ehT .voylatsurhK s’namreG tuoba dias eb tonnac emas ehT tsartnoc-hgih ,yniarg eht sa tuo ekam ot drah dna krad sa si mlfi eht fo tohs a revo noitarran A .no tohs saw ti kcots mlfi etihw-dna-kcalb :mlfi eht snepo teerts wocsoM detresed a ti sa dnA / eb llahs eromreve ti sa emaS“ elttaB/ yob elttil a dna eisroh A / dlo fo saw ym thguoht I ,efil elohw yM ”...dloc eht htiw a t’nsaw ehs tuB .senil esoht etorw amdnarg teerts ruo ,yad eht ni kcaB .taht ,ynnuF .teop ,ylneddus ,nehT .scalil naisreP htiw denil saw -er reve yldrah elpoep tuB .deraeppasid yeht ,togrof tsuj yehT .deid yeht taht toN .rebmem ,3591 yraurbeF fo thgin tsal taht nO .lla s’taht aydeF ,rekots siht ,oS …pohs ruf a ta rekots a ...modnoC ehT sa nwonk ,vehsymarA .suomynona sniamer yromem eht dna ,yawa sedaf noitarran ehT eht fo evitarran eht ot latnedicni yletelpmoc si vehsymarA aydeF eh nehw dehs a otni nworht yltneloiv dna detserra si eh tey ,mlfi -wonk ton ,nosaer on rof rac a fo melbme dnarb eht ffo yrp ot seirt eht fo evitarran lautca ehT .eciloP terceS eht fo rac eht s’ti taht gni lareneG erehw ,dehs eht dniheb esuoh tnemtrapa eht ni strats mlfi si tolp ehT .sevil knar yratilim fo cidem hsiweJ a ,yksnelK iruY .rD -noc draehrevo no tnegnitnoc ,syawla sa dna ,etacirtni ylbidercni eht ta tsuj gnirrucco stneve ,gnissap ni edam skramer ,snoitasrev flesmih gnipeek si yksnelK ,trohs ti peek oT .emarf eht fo segde txen eht eb thgim llew yrev eh taht eveileb ot gnisufer ,detairbeni hcihw ,tolP s’rotcoD eht fo ngiapmac citimeS-itna s’nilatS fo mitciv efil sih taht gnisilaeR .detserra wocsoM ni srotcod hsiweJ tsom was erew selbuod sa( regnägleppoD sih steem eh nehw taerht rednu si eh ,skrow eh erehw latipsoh eht ni )slairt wohs s’nilatS ni desu netfo -nis yrevE .detserra si yksnelK dna ,etal oot si ti teY .eefl ot sediced eht fo relbane na si ,flesmih gnidulcni ,yenruoj sih gnola nosrep elg srotcod doog lla taht tcaf eht yb etunim tsal devas si yksnelK .rorreT eciloP terceS emas eht yb deveirter s’eh dna ,neeb ydaerla evah .nilatS gniyd eht ot dnetta ot mih detserra taht yalpsid lluf no si voylatsurhK ni dezitamard saw taht yticilpmoc ehT ,larenuF etatS ,yratnemucod egatoof lavihcra s’astinzoL iegreS ni -ivoS laicffio na fo egatoof desunu dna desu morf edam saw hcihw dennab saw taht larenuf s’nilatS tuoba ,lleweraF taerG ehT ,mlfi te emoc srenruom dna ,daed si nilatS .yad fo thgil eht was ti erofeb One Death and Three Funerals P.3

slarenuF eerhT dna htaeD enO

slarenuF eerhT dna htaeD enO

to Moscow from all over the world.

Elsewhere, work is stopped, poems are read out, and masses gather to mourn the Great Leader.

Long lines form to the viewing of his coffin, surrounded by a sea of red flowers. When Stalin’s body is carried in a cosmic-looking casket to the Kremlin Mausoleum, the very same politicians who would be denouncing his rule in a few )8991( !raC yM ,voylatsurhK )8991( !raC yM ,voylatsurhK years as barbarian and murderous, praise his super-human genius, his love for peace, proclaim him to be everyone’s friend…

What is also particularly striking is that no single individual, besides the recognisable politicians, emerges as a character in the film.

This is a mass ritual of repetition. In fact, no authority is forcing any of these people to mourn. No-one is forcing the poets to out-mourn each other in their readings over the radio. At least some of them must have been secretly relieved! The Cult of Personality has lost its object. Even though Stalin is dead, Stalinism lives on.

The Soviet playwright Evgeny )9102( larenuF etatS )9102( larenuF etatS Schwartz, who could only work in youth theatre and film, wrote a play entitled The Dragon. As youth theatre was not as actively censored as the rest of the arts, its obvious message must have slipped the censors. A distant relative of Sir Lancelot arrives in a town terrorised

by The Dragon. He offers his help, yet the Mayor and the townspeople refuse, as it is the ancient custom of the town to be oppressed by the Dragon. Lancelot kills the Dragon anyway, but the Mayor takes his throne. Defeated, Lancelot realises that he could kill the Dragon, but killing “the Dragon inside” is going to be a much more difficult task. The play was written, surprisingly, 5 years before Stalin died. slarenuF eerhT dna htaeD enO 4.P

slarenuF eerhT dna htaeD enO 4.P

One Death and Three Funerals

One Death and Three Funerals

morf wocsoM ot .dlrow eht revo lla si krow ,erehweslE era smeop ,deppots -ssam dna ,tuo daer nruom ot rehtag se .redaeL taerG eht ot mrof senil gnoL sih fo gniweiv eht dednuorrus ,nffioc -wofl der fo aes a yb s’nilatS nehW .sre ni deirrac si ydob gnikool-cimsoc a nilmerK eht ot teksac yrev eht ,muelosuaM ohw snaicitilop emas -cnuoned eb dluow wef a ni elur sih gni Khrustalyov, My Car! (1998) Khrustalyov, My Car! (1998) ,suineg namuh-repus sih esiarp ,suoredrum dna nairabrab sa sraey …dneirf s’enoyreve eb ot mih mialcorp ,ecaep rof evol sih sediseb ,laudividni elgnis on taht si gnikirts ylralucitrap osla si tahW .mlfi eht ni retcarahc a sa segreme ,snaicitilop elbasingocer eht lautir ssam a si sihT ,tcaf nI .noititeper fo gnicrof si ytirohtua on elpoep eseht fo yna si eno-oN .nruom ot ot steop eht gnicrof rehto hcae nruom-tuo revo sgnidaer rieht ni tsael tA .oidar eht tsum meht fo emos ylterces neeb evah tluC ehT !deveiler sah ytilanosreP fo nevE .tcejbo sti tsol ,daed si nilatS hguoht .no sevil msinilatS -yalp teivoS ehT yne gvE thgirw State Funeral (2019) State Funeral (2019) yalp a etorw ,mlfi dna ertaeht htuoy ni krow ylno dluoc ohw ,ztrawhcS derosnec ylevitca sa ton saw ertaeht htuoy sA .nogarD ehT deltitne eht deppils evah tsum egassem suoivbo sti ,stra eht fo tser eht sa desirorret nwot a ni sevirra tolecnaL riS fo evitaler tnatsid A .srosnec -oepsnwot eht dna royaM eht tey ,pleh sih sreffo eH .nogarD ehT yb yb desserppo eb ot nwot eht fo motsuc tneicna eht si ti sa ,esufer elp sekat royaM eht tub ,yawyna nogarD eht sllik tolecnaL .nogarD eht ,nogarD eht llik dluoc eh taht sesilaer tolecnaL ,detaefeD .enorht sih tlucffiid erom hcum a eb ot gniog si ”edisni nogarD eht“ gnillik tub .deid nilatS erofeb sraey 5 ,ylgnisirprus ,nettirw saw yalp ehT .ksat One Death and Three Funerals P.4

One Death and Three Funerals P.4

slarenuF eerhT dna htaeD enO

In 1956, Khrushchev denounced Stalin’s rule in his “Secret Speech” and began the process of de-Stalinization, which often took violent turns in itself. Stalin’s second, and so far, final funeral took place on the night of October 31 of 1961. This time, there were no cameras.

A military plan was devised to move the body quickly and efficiently to a cemetery within the Kremlin. The body was moved to a plain, plank coffin. Nikolai Shvernik, who was officially the Head of State under Stalin yet wielded no real power, ordered the removal of Stalin’s Medal of a Hero of Socialist Labor, and had the golden buttons of the uniform worn by his corpse replaced by tin ones. The coffin was lowered, and the grave closed. Even though this was done in relative secrecy, word got out. A certain military officer changed into civilian clothing and went to the Red Square to gauge public opinion. Supposedly, the majority of people was not happy about the removal of Stalin from his place of honour.

Meanwhile, the figure of Stalin is becoming normalised again.

According to the latest opinion polls, 70% of Russians believe that Stalin played a positive role in the history of their country. 51% of the population approve of him personally. In an article published by the Guardian last year, the Russian historian Irina Sherbakova writes: It’s not that Russians have forgotten about the direct link between Stalin’s name and the political repression that affected almost every family. Rather, they don’t want to reflect on the terror, on who perpetrated it or what the rationale behind it was. They aren’t ready to acknowledge that this was the central pillar of the entire system.

In light of all of this, it becomes obvious why the Russian state is revising history books to whitewash Stalin once again, something that didn’t even happen since Khrushchev made his secret speech.

Not just the admission of guilt, but simply the acknowledgment of crimes on the part of the state would amount to acknowledging the guilt of the people. When speaking about Stalin’s excessive demonization, Putin might just have a point. For now, the Dragon inside lives on.

slarenuF eerhT dna htaeD enO 5.P

One Death and Three Funerals

”hceepS terceS“ sih ni elur s’nilatS decnuoned vehchsurhK ,6591 nI tneloiv koot netfo hcihw ,noitazinilatS-ed fo ssecorp eht nageb dna no ecalp koot larenuf lanfi ,raf os dna ,dnoces s’nilatS .flesti ni snrut .saremac on erew ereht ,emit sihT .1691 fo 13 rebotcO fo thgin eht yltneicffie dna ylkciuq ydob eht evom ot desived saw nalp yratilim A ,nialp a ot devom saw ydob ehT .nilmerK eht nihtiw yretemec a ot etatS fo daeH eht yllaicffio saw ohw ,kinrevhS ialokiN .nffioc knalp -atS fo lavomer eht deredro ,rewop laer on dedleiw tey nilatS rednu snottub nedlog eht dah dna ,robaL tsilaicoS fo oreH a fo ladeM s’nil nffioc ehT .seno nit yb decalper esproc sih yb nrow mrofinu eht fo ni enod saw siht hguoht nevE .desolc evarg eht dna ,derewol saw degnahc recffio yratilim niatrec A .tuo tog drow ,ycerces evitaler cilbup eguag ot erauqS deR eht ot tnew dna gnihtolc nailivic otni tuoba yppah ton saw elpoep fo ytirojam eht ,yldesoppuS .noinipo .ruonoh fo ecalp sih morf nilatS fo lavomer eht .niaga desilamron gnimoceb si nilatS fo erugfi eht ,elihwnaeM taht eveileb snaissuR fo %07 ,sllop noinipo tsetal eht ot gnidroccA eht fo %15 .yrtnuoc rieht fo yrotsih eht ni elor evitisop a deyalp nilatS eht yb dehsilbup elcitra na nI .yllanosrep mih fo evorppa noitalupop :setirw avokabrehS anirI nairotsih naissuR eht ,raey tsal naidrauG tuoba nettogrof evah snaissuR taht ton s’tI eht dna eman s’nilatS neewteb knil tcerid eht -ve tsomla detceffa taht noisserper lacitilop tcefler ot tnaw t’nod yeht ,rehtaR .ylimaf yre tahw ro ti detarteprep ohw no ,rorret eht no ydaer t’nera yehT .saw ti dniheb elanoitar eht lartnec eht saw siht taht egdelwonkca ot .metsys eritne eht fo rallip si etats naissuR eht yhw suoivbo semoceb ti ,siht fo lla fo thgil nI gnihtemos ,niaga ecno nilatS hsawetihw ot skoob yrotsih gnisiver .hceeps terces sih edam vehchsurhK ecnis neppah neve t’ndid taht fo tnemgdelwonkca eht ylpmis tub ,tliug fo noissimda eht tsuj toN eht gnigdelwonkca ot tnuoma dluow etats eht fo trap eht no semirc -omed evissecxe s’nilatS tuoba gnikaeps nehW .elpoep eht fo tliug edisni nogarD eht ,won roF .tniop a evah tsuj thgim nituP ,noitazin .no sevil

One Death and Three Funerals P.5

slarenuF eerhT dna htaeD enO

andias myzO

s s e r g o r p n i k r ow a f o y r a m m u s f e i r b A

As recently as this June, we saw the removal of statues by activists in cities of Europe and North America. Leopold II came down in Antwerp, the slaver Robert Milligan went into the Thames in Leeds, confederate Robert E. Lee fell in New Orleans. The toppling of the statues were acts of restorative justice by protestors, expressions of societies grappling with history. In a civil society, monuments to despots are out of place.

What happens with such monuments when a country is not able to confront its past?

Almost thirty years after the fall of the Soviet Union, and more than 70 after his death, monuments to Stalin populate the Georgian landscape. They appear in various shapes, whole and broken, preserved and decaying, mostly still, but sometimes even moving.

Only stray dogs seem to be affected by their presence. At the Stalin museum, a group of sixth-graders is shown his death mask by a tour guide that tells them of his virtues.

In Tbilisi, a drunken Stalin impersonator for hire waits for tourists by a fragment of the Berlin wall. An anonymous field nearby s aid n am y zO 1.P

One Death and Three Funerals

Ozyma saidn

A brief summary of a work in progress

lavomer eht was ew ,enuJ siht sa yltnecer sA dna eporuE fo seitic ni stsivitca yb seutats fo -nA ni nwod emac II dlopoeL .aciremA htroN otni tnew nagilliM treboR revals eht ,prewt .E treboR etaredefnoc ,sdeeL ni semahT eht eht fo gnilppot ehT .snaelrO weN ni llef eeL yb ecitsuj evitarotser fo stca erew seutats -parg seiteicos fo snoisserpxe ,srotsetorp -unom ,yteicos livic a nI .yrotsih htiw gnilp .ecalp fo tuo era stopsed ot stnem nehw stnemunom hcus htiw sneppah tahW ?tsap sti tnorfnoc ot elba ton si yrtnuoc a -ivoS eht fo llaf eht retfa sraey ytriht tsomlA ,htaed sih retfa 07 naht erom dna ,noinU te naigroeG eht etalupop nilatS ot stnemunom ,sepahs suoirav ni raeppa yehT .epacsdnal ,gniyaced dna devreserp ,nekorb dna elohw .gnivom neve semitemos tub ,llits yltsom rieht yb detceffa eb ot mees sgod yarts ylnO fo puorg a ,muesum nilatS eht tA .ecneserp yb ksam htaed sih nwohs si sredarg-htxis .seutriv sih fo meht sllet taht ediug ruot a rotanosrepmi nilatS neknurd a ,isilibT nI fo tnemgarf a yb stsiruot rof stiaw erih rof ybraen dlefi suomynona nA .llaw nilreB eht Ozymandias P.1

slarenuF eerhT dna htaeD enO

slarenuF eerhT dna htaeD enO

is rumored to be a mass grave for hundreds of victims of Stalinist persecutions in the 1930s. At night, a statue of Stalin emerges from a homemade monument, makes a speech, and disappears again.

Films have been made on the subject of Stalinism in Georgia by other filmmakers. Yet, they always frame the matter as a generational conflict, saidnwhere amyzO a small minority saiof dnathe myzOelderly refuses to let go of nostalgia for the Soviet Union, and so remains out of step in time. So far, no film has been made that looks at wider implications d n al euq itnpassive a na morf recomplicity, llevart a tem dI naand l euqitour na na collective morf rellevart arefusal te m I of of confronting the enots fo sgel sselknurt dna tsav owTe“n:d oitassfo hsW gel sselknurt dna tsav owT“ :dias ohW only way the form in which ,dnas eht no ,mehpast. t raeN . The . . t rese d eh nh atto Sno break ,dtnn ai sde ,meht raethis N . . . tcycle resed ehis t nto i dnchange atS ,nworf esohw ,seil we egasengage iv derettahsin kthe n ,an,w ou rfsefsubject slaoH hw ,seil ematter. g a s i v d e r et t a h s a , k n u s f l a H

,dnammoc dloc fo reens dna ,pil delk,dnnirawmdmnoAc dloc fo reens dna ,pil delknirw dnA daer snoissap esoht llew rotplucs std i taaehrtsln leoTissap esoht llew rotplucs sti taht lleT ,sgniht sselefil eseht noConfronting depmats ,ev,sivgrnuishhistory tesysehlceifhilW ealso seht nomeans depmats acknowledging ,eviv rus tey hcihW complicity, yet the :def taht t raeh eht dna ,meht dekcom :dteafhttad htntarhaeh Teht dna ,meht dekcom taht dnah ehT that as victims. :raeppa sdronarratives w eseht latsed e p eht we no:rd ntell Apa ourselves ae p sdrow eseht latframe sedep ehus t noexclusively dnA :sgnik fo gNevertheless, ni k , s aid n am y zO s i e m an y:continue ‘ ik fo gnik to sM gn , s aid namup yzO with si emanmonuments yM ‘ we put to one of his’!riapsed dna ,y thgiM ey ,skrow ym n’o !rikaoposLed dna ,y thgiM ey ,skrow ym no kooL aesmall supports this activeyaced eht dntory’s uoR .sniagreatest mer ediseb gbutchers. nyiahcto eN d eht dnuWhile oR . s n i a m r edisebminority g n i h to N erab dna sseldly, nuothe b ,kcrest erw lasof solus ocetrado fO ahbt d na sspassively, eldnuob ,kcerthrough w lassoloc taour ht fOindifference. We refuse so ”.yawa raf hcterts sdnas level dna en”o.ylaew haT raf hcterts sdnas level dna enol ehT

to look, to take a position, and thus become complicit. My film, Ozymandias, aims to break the taboo of looking at the past. To do so, it looks andyat yellehS eat hssthe yB ycpresent, r eP ellethe hS ehsymbol ssyB ycrePof the violence that we so freely tolerate. Thus, I chose to work in the observational form, without a voice-over. I let the film travel through various landscapes that frame these monuments, taking time with each of them, allowing the viewer to observe and to come to their own conclusions.

To look is to take a position.

The title of this film, Ozymandias, comes from a 19th-century poem

by Percy Bysshe Shelly. A broken statue of a pharaoh from long ago is a way of talking about the passage of centuries. My film talks about the passage of several decades, and yet they feel just as distant. Soon, as the older generation passes away, most people will have spent more time living in independent Georgia, then in the USSR, and the questions of complicity will be forgotten. I feel a moral imperative to confront these questions but do so gently, by looking and listening.

s aid n am y zO 2 .P

s aid n am y zO 2 .P

One Death and Three Funerals

One Death and Three Funerals

tsinilatS fo smitciv fo sderdnuh rof evarg ssam a eb ot deromur si morf segreme nilatS fo eutats a ,thgin tA .s0391 eht ni snoitucesrep .niaga sraeppasid dna ,hceeps a sekam ,tnemunom edamemoh a yb aigroeG ni msinilatS fo tcejbus eht no edam neeb evah smliF -areneg a sa rettam eht emarf syawla yeht ,teY .srekammlfi rehto tel ot sesufer ylredleOzymandias eht fo ytironim llams a eOzymandias rehw ,tciflnoc lanoit ni pets fo tuo sniamer os dna ,noinU teivoS eht rof aiglatson fo og snoitacilpmi rediw ta skool taht edam neeb sah mlfi on ,raf oS .emit a traveller traveller eht gnitnorfnoc fo lasIumet fera e vitcelfrom loc an ruantique o dnaland ,yItmet icilp moc efrom vissan apantique fo land Whoofsaid: “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Who said: “Two vast and trunkless legs stone hcihw ni mrof eht egnah c otinsthe i edesert lcyc s. .i.hNear t kathem, erb on oStand tthe yasand, w ylndesert o ehT tsapthem, on the sand, in the . . ..Near Stand sunk, Half sunk, a shattered frown, .rettvisage am tlies, cejwhose bHalf us e ht na ishattered egagnvisage e ew lies, whose frown,

And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that Tell that its sculptor well those passions readits sculptor well those passions read survive, eht tey ,yticilpmoc gniWhich gdelyet wosurvive, nkca stamped snaemonothese slaWhich ylifeless rotsyet ihthings, gnitnstamped orfnoCon these lifeless things, hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed: The hand that mocked them, and theThe heart that fed: .smitciv sa ylevisulcAnd xeon sutheem arf se vleswords ruo appear: lleAnd t eon w the tahpedestal t sevitthese arrawords n appear: pedestal these is Ozymandias, -sih fo eno ot stnemun‘My omname htiw pu tup ot king eunofitkings: no‘My c name ew ,sissOzymandias, elehtreveking N of kings: -evitca siht stroppus ytiLook ronion mmy llaworks, msremains. ayeeMighty, lihRound W .and srthe edespair!’ hLook ctuon b tmy seworks, taeremains. rgyesMighty, ’yrRound ot andthedespair!’

Nothing beside decay Nothing beside decay and bare bare esufer eW .ecnereffidniOf ruthat o hcolossal guorhwreck, t ,yleboundless vissap oand sOfothat d scolossal u fo tswreck, er ehboundless t ,yl lone and level sands stretch far away.”

The lone and level sands stretch far The away.”

,mlfi yM .ticilpmoc emoceb suht dna ,noitisop a ekat ot ,kool ot od oT .tsap eht ta gnikool fo oobat eht kaerb ot smia ,saidnamyzO ew taht ecneloiv eht foPercy lobm ys eShelley ht ta dna ,tnesePercy rp eBysshe ht ta sShelley kool ti ,os Bysshe ,mrof lanoitavresbo eht ni krow ot esohc I ,suhT .etarelot yleerf os sepacsdnal suoirav hguorht levart mlfi eht tel I .revo-eciov a tuohtiw -wolla ,meht fo hcae htiw emit gnikat ,stnemunom eseht emarf taht .snoisulcnoc nwo rieht ot emoc ot dna evresbo ot reweiv eht gni .noitisop a ekat ot si kool oT

meop yrutnec-ht91 a morf semoc ,saidnamyzO ,mlfi siht fo eltit ehT gnol morf hoarahp a fo eutats nekorb A .yllehS ehssyB ycreP yb sklat mlfi yM .seirutnec fo egassap eht tuoba gniklat fo yaw a si oga sa tsuj leef yeht tey dna ,sedaced lareves fo egassap eht tuoba elpoep tsom ,yawa sessap noitareneg redlo eht sa ,nooS .tnatsid erom tneps evah lliw -edni ni gnivil emit ,aigroeG tnednep ,RSSU eht ni neht snoitseuq eht dna lliw yticilpmoc fo leef I .nettogrof eb evitarepmi larom a eseht tnorfnoc ot os od tub snoitseuq gnikool yb ,yltneg .gninetsil dna

Ozymandias P.2

Ozymandias P.2

slarenuF eerhT dna htaeD enO

Films emoS i eGerman skelA yb

Lopatin, a military journalist, receives 20 days off of frontline duty during WW2 and travels to Tashkent where he visits the family of his fallen comrade-in-arms, then his own ex-wife and her new husband, who is a playwrite. He visits the production set of a film adaptation of writings. He sees that the adaptation is innacurate but doesn’t interfere. He has a fling with the costume designer Nina, possibly falling in love. Until the 20 days are up, he gets recalled to the frontline.

20 Days Without War (1976) was made 31 years after the war, during a period of relative liberalization. It was based on the writings of Konstantin Simonov, a popular and widely read Soviet author, who displayed nothing but reverence and conformism for Soviet government. It treats the suffering of soldiers and civilians only with empathy.

Even when Lopatin realizes that his writings are used to make propaganda, he sees it as a necessity of the war effort. Nevertheless, like all of German’s films made before the fall of the Soviet Union, 20 Days was banned. namreG ieskelA yb smliF emoS 1.P

One Death and Three Funerals

Some smli F by naAleksei mreG

02 seviecer ,tsilanruoj yratilim a ,nitapoL dna 2WW gnirud ytud eniltnorf fo ffo syad -maf eht stisiv eh erehw tnekhsaT ot slevart sih neht ,smra-ni-edarmoc nellaf sih fo yli a si ohw ,dnabsuh wen reh dna efiw-xe nwo a fo tes noitcudorp eht stisiv eH .etirwyalp eht taht sees eH .sgnitirw fo noitatpada mlfi -retni t’nseod tub etarucanni si noitatpada -ngised emutsoc eht htiw gnifl a sah eH .eref 02 eht litnU .evol ni gnillaf ylbissop ,aniN re .eniltnorf eht ot dellacer steg eh ,pu era syad 13 edam saw )6791( raW tuohtiW syaD 02 -aler fo doirep a gnirud ,raw eht retfa sraey -tirw eht no desab saw tI .noitazilarebil evit dna ralupop a ,vonomiS nitnatsnoK fo sgni deyalpsid ohw ,rohtua teivoS daer ylediw rof msimrofnoc dna ecnerever tub gnihton gnireffus eht staert tI .tnemnrevog teivoS .yhtapme htiw ylno snailivic dna sreidlos fo sgnitirw sih taht sezilaer nitapoL nehw nevE ti sees eh ,adnagaporp ekam ot desu era -ehtreveN .troffe raw eht fo ytissecen a sa erofeb edam smlfi s’namreG fo lla ekil ,ssel saw syaD 02 ,noinU teivoS eht fo llaf eht .dennab Some Films by Aleksei German P.1

slarenuF eerhT dna htaeD enO

slarenuF eerhT dna htaeD enO

Looking at Soviet film history, one can understand the relationship between cinema and power elsewhere. The kind of films that were banned by an overzealous censorship apparatus are like the kind that are simply ignored under capitalsim. Perhaps, censorship too, is partially an economical concern—it costs money to make prints, distribute them to cinemas, pay for the projections, etc. The Russian language uses the same term, макулатура (makulatura, from the Latin maculare—dirty thing) for paper recycling and pulp fiction, equating bad literature for something that needs to be thrown away.

When the state is also a publishing house, why waste money printing trash?

It was not so much the plot, but the form that challenged the authorities. 20 Days was German’s sophomore feature, but already displayed the characteristics of his style. A first-person introspective voice-over in the very beginning that anchors the film in the realm of memory, and then fades into the image of a carefully constructed world. Grainy black-and-white depictions of dirty environments. Overheard conversations, a floating camera that sometimes catches the direct gaze of a passer-by, glimpses of other narratives that appear and disappear. This style challenges the idea that any narrative is monolithical. When the narrative in question is fundamental to the mythology of the state, the mere suggestion itself will be seen as heretical. raW tuohtiW syaD 02

raW tuohtiW syaD 02

All of German’s films are about history. But there is no history without memory, and German’s form explores this fragile relationship in his next film, My Friend, Ivan Lapshin (1988). As a camera wanders around an apartment, the narrator begins: It’s winter again. This story happened a long time ago. Some of it I remember myself, but mostly it was told to me by my father. And I’m starting to forget it . . . Memory obligingly pulls out faces, scraps of conversations, which are forgotten, lost. Let them stay. This is my confession of love to people, next to whom I spent my childhood. Five minutes’ walk from here ... and half a century ago.

There’s nostalgia here, yet the story that unfolds is about former secret policeman turned provincial detective Ivan Lapshin, right before Stalin’s violent Great Purge. He is a close friend and flatmate of the narrator’s father, a sensitive, somewhat melancholy believer in the Soviet idea. Moments of utopian idealism are intertwined with seeds of violence that would be its undoing. As Lapshin namreG ieskelA yb smliF emoS 2 .P

namreG ieskelA yb smliF emoS 2 .P

One Death and Three Funerals

One Death and Three Funerals

pihsnoitaler eht dnatsrednu nac eno ,yrotsih mlfi teivoS ta gnikooL erew taht smlfi fo dnik ehT .erehwesle rewop dna amenic neewteb dnik eht ekil era sutarappa pihsrosnec suolaezrevo na yb dennab ,oot pihsrosnec ,spahreP .mislatipac rednu derongi ylpmis era taht ,stnirp ekam ot yenom stsoc ti—nrecnoc lacimonoce na yllaitrap si -suR ehT .cte ,snoitcejorp eht rof yap ,samenic ot meht etubirtsid morf ,arutalukam( аруталу кам ,mret emas eht sesu egaugnal nais ,noitcfi plup dna gnilcycer repap rof )gniht ytrid—eralucam nitaL eht .yawa nworht eb ot sdeen taht gnihtemos rof erutaretil dab gnitauqe -tnirp yenom etsaw yhw ,esuoh gnihsilbup a osla si etats eht nehW ?hsart gni -ua eht degnellahc taht mrof eht tub ,tolp eht hcum os ton saw tI ydaerla tub ,erutaef eromohpos s’namreG saw syaD 02 .seitiroht -cepsortni nosrep-tsrfi A .elyts sih fo scitsiretcarahc eht deyalpsid eht ni mlfi eht srohcna taht gninnigeb yrev eht ni revo-eciov evit -noc ylluferac a fo egami eht otni sedaf neht dna ,yromem fo mlaer -norivne ytrid fo snoitciped etihw-dna-kcalb yniarG .dlrow detcurts semitemos taht aremac gnitaofl a ,snoitasrevnoc draehrevO .stnem sevitarran rehto fo sespmilg ,yb-ressap a fo ezag tcerid eht sehctac dna raeppa taht elyts sihT .raeppasid aedi eht segnellahc si evitarran yna taht nehW .lacihtilonom ni evitarran eht -adnuf si noitseuq -ym eht ot latnem ,etats eht fo ygoloht noitseggus erem eht sa nees eb lliw flesti .lacitereh 20 Days Without War

20 Days Without War

-htiw yrotsih on si ereht tuB .yrotsih tuoba era smlfi s’namreG fo llA ni pihsnoitaler eligarf siht serolpxe mrof s’namreG dna ,yromem tuo srednaw aremac a sA .)8891( nihspaL navI ,dneirF yM ,mlfi txen sih :snigeb rotarran eht ,tnemtrapa na dnuora gnol a deneppah yrots sihT .niaga retniw s’tI tub ,flesym rebmemer I ti fo emoS .oga emit dnA .rehtaf ym yb em ot dlot saw ti yltsom -gnigilbo yromeM . . . ti tegrof ot gnitrats m’I ,snoitasrevnoc fo sparcs ,secaf tuo sllup yl sihT .yats meht teL .tsol ,nettogrof era hcihw ot txen ,elpoep ot evol fo noissefnoc ym si ’setunim eviF .doohdlihc ym tneps I mohw .oga yrutnec a flah dna ... ereh morf klaw

remrof tuoba si sdlofnu taht yrots eht tey ,ereh aiglatson s’erehT thgir ,nihspaL navI evitceted laicnivorp denrut namecilop terces etamtafl dna dneirf esolc a si eH .egruP taerG tneloiv s’nilatS erofeb reveileb ylohcnalem tahwemos ,evitisnes a ,rehtaf s’rotarran eht fo deniwtretni era msilaedi naipotu fo stnemoM .aedi teivoS eht ni nihspaL sA .gniodnu sti eb dluow taht ecneloiv fo sdees htiw Some Films by Aleksei German P.2

Some Films by Aleksei German P.2

slarenuF eerhT dna htaeD enO

slarenuF eerhT dna htaeD enO

apprehends a gang of criminals, his boss proclaims: “We’ll weed out the ground, then plant an orchard, and still be around to walk in it!” Lapshin visits a theater during a rehearsal. In the foyer, schoolkids are conducting an experiment: a fox and a hen cohabitating in a cage. A large poster on the wall explains the goal with a quote from Soviet biologist Michurin: “We can’t expect mercy from nature. We have to reign it in!” He returns when the play is finally on stage. The hen is gone. One of the schoolkids explains: “The fox’s predatorly instinct suddenly reawakened. Apparently, it did not clear off completely, but we’ll continue the experiment very soon.”

In the penultimate scene, Lapshin, looking out of the window, sees an arriving tram pulling with it a cart with a brass orchestra. There’s a portrait of Stalin in front of the tram, and the band (wearing police and military uniforms) is playing what sounds like the melody of Hans Eisler’s United Worker’s Front. The camera cuts away from Lapshin, assumes the POV of a passer-by in front of the tram, which has stopped momentarily. It zooms in unto the faces of the members of the band, then the tram pulls away. There’s a child at the back of the cart, marching in place to the melody, his hand at attention.

Logically, what follow after? Depictions of the sensless violence of Stalin’s Great Purge, the beginning of which is signalled by the arrival of the tram.

Everyone becomes either an active or passive participant, as perpetrator or victim, parts delegated so senslessly that they would appear almost random.

As a policeman, Lapshin would certainlynhave nihspaL navI dneirF yM ihspaL nto avImake dneirF yM a choice. Nothing in the film indicates that he has a non-conformist bone in his body, and he clearly believes in the Soviet ideal. Yet he is also gentle and sensitive. What choice does Lapshin make?

But the film never depicts this. Instead, it cuts from the departure of the tram to the present-day of the author, now in color. A ferry crosses the river, and trams roll down the street. The voice of the narrator comes back. He talks about the expansion of the city beyond the river, the increased traffic, and the numerous new tram lines, “a new route every year. There used to be only two routes, the 1st and the 2nd. Yes...“ The film ends.

namreG ieskelA yb smliF emoS 3.P

namreG ieskelA yb smliF emoS 3.P

One Death and Three Funerals

One Death and Three Funerals

deew ll’eW“ :smialcorp ssob sih ,slanimirc fo gnag a sdneherppa klaw ot dnuora eb llits dna ,drahcro na tnalp neht ,dnuorg eht tuo ,reyof eht nI .lasraeher a gnirud retaeht a stisiv nihspaL ”!ti ni -ibahoc neh a dna xof a :tnemirepxe na gnitcudnoc era sdikloohcs a htiw laog eht snialpxe llaw eht no retsop egral A .egac a ni gnitat morf ycrem tcepxe t’nac eW“ :niruhciM tsigoloib teivoS morf etouq no yllanfi si yalp eht nehw snruter eH ”!ni ti ngier ot evah eW .erutan s’xof ehT“ :snialpxe sdikloohcs eht fo enO .enog si neh ehT .egats ton did ti ,yltnerappA .denekawaer ylneddus tcnitsni ylrotaderp ”.noos yrev tnemirepxe eht eunitnoc ll’ew tub ,yletelpmoc ffo raelc sees ,wodniw eht fo tuo gnikool ,nihspaL ,enecs etamitlunep eht nI s’erehT .artsehcro ssarb a htiw trac a ti htiw gnillup mart gnivirra na -op gniraew( dnab eht dna ,mart eht fo tnorf ni nilatS fo tiartrop a ydolem eht ekil sdnuos tahw gniyalp si )smrofinu yratilim dna ecil morf yawa stuc aremac ehT .tnorF s’rekroW detinU s’relsiE snaH fo ,mart eht fo tnorf ni yb-ressap a fo VOP eht semussa ,nihspaL eht fo secaf eht otnu ni smooz tI .yliratnemom deppots sah hcihw ta dlihc a s’erehT .yawa sllup mart eht neht ,dnab eht fo srebmem ta dnah sih ,ydolem eht ot ecalp ni gnihcram ,trac eht fo kcab eht .noitnetta tahw ,yllacigoL -cipeD ?retfa wollof sselsnes eht fo snoit s’nilatS fo ecneloiv eht ,egruP taerG hcihw fo gninnigeb eht yb dellangis si .mart eht fo lavirra semoceb enoyrevE ro evitca na rehtie ,tnapicitrap evissap ro rotarteprep sa -eled strap ,mitciv ylsselsnes os detag -pa dluow yeht taht .modnar tsomla raep ,namecilop a sA -rec dluow nihspaL kamIvan ot Lapshin evah ylniat MyeFriend My Friend Ivan Lapshin tsimrofnoc-non a sah eh taht setacidni mlfi eht ni gnihtoN .eciohc a eh teY .laedi teivoS eht ni seveileb ylraelc eh dna ,ydob sih ni enob ?ekam nihspaL seod eciohc tahW .evitisnes dna eltneg osla si erutraped eht morf stuc ti ,daetsnI .siht stciped reven mlfi eht tuB -ref A .roloc ni won ,rohtua eht fo yad-tneserp eht ot mart eht fo fo eciov ehT .teerts eht nwod llor smart dna ,revir eht sessorc yr ytic eht fo noisnapxe eht tuoba sklat eH .kcab semoc rotarran eht mart wen suoremun eht dna ,cffiart desaercni eht ,revir eht dnoyeb eht ,setuor owt ylno eb ot desu erehT .raey yreve etuor wen a“ ,senil .sdne mlfi ehT “...seY .dn2 eht dna ts1

Some Films by Aleksei German P.3

Some Films by Aleksei German P.3

slarenuF eerhT dna htaeD enO

slarenuF eerhT dna htaeD enO

None of the scenes I’ve described are central to the narrative plotline of the film, which is about a loose love triangle between Lapshin, his journalist friend Khanin, and theater actor Nina Ruslanova.

However the meaning of Lapshin goes beyond the plotline, not as a result of some trite symbolism, but of the atmospheric premonition of the tragedy that will necessarily unfold during the gap of the last cut of the film. The obvious omition of the violence is its strongest acknowledgement.

Lapshin was also banned. German would not make another film before the fall of the Soviet Union. If his visions of history were incompatible with the tyrannical censouriousness, now he was facing a different problem. His next film, Khrustalyev, My Car! (1998), about the days leading up to the death of Stalin, faced enormous difficulties in raising funds. American producers backed out after it became clear that German would not cast an American actor as Stalin. Dark, challenging and steeped in arcane historical details, it was mostly ignored or misunderstood, despite premiering at Cannes.

German’s last film was Hard To Be a God, (2013) a loose adaptation of a sci-fi novel by the Strugatsky Brothers, about an anthropologist from Earth, sent to “…another planet just like the Earth, but some 800 years behind,” as described by the introductory voiceover. Earth scientists expect a Renaissance, but it doesn’t happen.

Instead, “there’s a reaction to something that almost didn’t happen.” The ruling class of this planet decides to nip the Renaissance in the bud by killing all the intellectuals. Don Rumata, as the Earth antrhopologist calls himself on the planet of Arkanar, struggles with the prinicples of non-intervention and non-violence as he observes the forthcoming massacre. He pleads with the local authorities to no avail.

The film was in production for 13 years, and German died before it saw the light of day. It was well received in the West, partially because it is a parable, and allowed itself to be understood on it’s own terms without any specific historical knowledge. A mutual acquaintance that knew German personally suggested that the reason doG A eB oT draH doG A eB oT draH for the drawn-out production was his fear of persecution. German certainly was not a coward, but he was born during the great terror, and as the son namreG ieskelA yb smliF emoS 4.P

namreG ieskelA yb smliF emoS 4.P

One Death and Three Funerals

One Death and Three Funerals

-olp evitarran eht ot lartnec era debircsed ev’I senecs eht fo enoN -paL neewteb elgnairt evol esool a tuoba si hcihw ,mlfi eht fo enilt .avonalsuR aniN rotca retaeht dna ,ninahK dneirf tsilanruoj sih ,nihs a sa ton ,eniltolp eht dnoyeb seog nihspaL fo gninaem eht revewoH noitinomerp cirehpsomta eht fo tub ,msilobmys etirt emos fo tluser tsal eht fo pag eht gnirud dlofnu ylirassecen lliw taht ydegart eht fo tsegnorts sti si ecneloiv eht fo noitimo suoivbo ehT .mlfi eht fo tuc .tnemegdelwonkca mlfi rehtona ekam ton dluow namreG .dennab osla saw nihspaL -ni erew yrotsih fo snoisiv sih fI .noinU teivoS eht fo llaf eht erofeb gnicaf saw eh won ,ssensuoiruosnec lacinnaryt eht htiw elbitapmoc tuoba ,)8991( !raC yM ,veylatsurhK ,mlfi txen siH .melborp tnereffid a -lucffiid suomrone decaf ,nilatS fo htaed eht ot pu gnidael syad eht emaceb ti retfa tuo dekcab srecudorp naciremA .sdnuf gnisiar ni seit ,kraD .nilatS sa rotca naciremA na tsac ton dluow namreG taht raelc yltsom saw ti ,sliated lacirotsih enacra ni depeets dna gnignellahc .sennaC ta gnireimerp etipsed ,dootsrednusim ro derongi noitatpada esool a )3102( ,doG a eB oT draH saw mlfi tsal s’namreG -loporhtna na tuoba ,srehtorB ykstagurtS eht yb levon fi-ics a fo tub ,htraE eht ekil tsuj tenalp rehtona…“ ot tnes ,htraE morf tsigo -eciov yrotcudortni eht yb debircsed sa ”,dniheb sraey 008 emos .neppah t’nseod ti tub ,ecnassianeR a tcepxe stsitneics htraE .revo -pah t’ndid tsomla taht gnihtemos ot noitcaer a s’ereht“ ,daetsnI ecnassianeR eht pin ot sediced tenalp siht fo ssalc gnilur ehT ”.nep htraE eht sa ,atamuR noD .slautcelletni eht lla gnillik yb dub eht ni htiw selggurts ,ranakrA fo tenalp eht no flesmih sllac tsigolopohrtna sevresbo eh sa ecneloiv-non dna noitnevretni-non fo selpcinirp eht ot seitirohtua lacol eht htiw sdaelp eH .ercassam gnimochtrof eht .liava on ni saw mlfi ehT 31 rof noitcudorp namreG dna ,sraey was ti erofeb deid tI .yad fo thgil eht ni deviecer llew saw yllaitrap ,tseW eht -rap a si ti esuaceb dewolla dna ,elba -rednu eb ot flesti nwo s’ti no doots yna tuohtiw smret lacirotsih cfiiceps -um A .egdelwonk ecnatniauqca laut namreG wenk taht -tseggus yllanosrep nosaer eht taht de Hard tTo God uoBe-nA w ard eht rof Hard To Be A God ton saw ylniatrec namreG .noitucesrep fo raef sih saw noitcudorp nos eht sa dna ,rorret taerg eht gnirud nrob saw eh tub ,drawoc a Some Films by Aleksei German P.4

Some Films by Aleksei German P.4

slarenuF eerhT dna htaeD enO

of an established writer, grew up in the atmosphere of fear. In an interview, German admitted that he was afraid of “another 1937.”

As attested by their censorship, his films are a warning that war, violence, and oppresion might be history’s norm, and brief periods of peace are an exception. Receiving an award of merit from the Russian president, German reportedly told Putin to watch his next film. But German misunderstood the shift in power. Unlike in his Arkanar, most Renaissance intellectuals no longer got slaughtered.

Instead their pleas were ignored, just like those of Don Rumata on a planet that resembled Earth, but was just a similar planet, some 800 years behind.

namreG ieskelA yb smliF emoS 5.P

One Death and Three Funerals

na nI .raef fo erehpsomta eht ni pu werg ,retirw dehsilbatse na fo ”.7391 rehtona“ fo diarfa saw eh taht dettimda namreG ,weivretni ,raw taht gninraw a era smlfi sih ,pihsrosnec rieht yb detsetta sA sdoirep feirb dna ,mron s’yrotsih eb thgim noiserppo dna ,ecneloiv eht morf tirem fo drawa na gnivieceR .noitpecxe na era ecaep fo txen sih hctaw ot nituP dlot yldetroper namreG ,tnediserp naissuR sih ni ekilnU .rewop ni tfihs eht dootsrednusim namreG tuB .mlfi .derethguals tog regnol on slautcelletni ecnassianeR tsom ,ranakrA no atamuR noD fo esoht ekil tsuj ,derongi erew saelp rieht daetsnI emos ,tenalp ralimis a tsuj saw tub ,htraE delbmeser taht tenalp a .dniheb sraey 008

Some Films by Aleksei German P.5

slarenuF eerhT dna htaeD enO

for eniLMeat ehT

The world’s largest statue of Stalin went up in Prague in 1955 and came down in 1962.

The sculptor, Okatar Svec, took his own life two days before the unveiling.

Stalin was standing in front, followed by a worker, a farmer, a man in a suit, and a soldier. It was nicknamed “the line for meat.”

When Khruschev decided that it was time for the statue to go down, he requested that the demolition be done quietly, without drawing too much attention to itself. It was blown up with 800KG of explosives.

tae M r of e ni L e h T 1.P

One Death and Three Funerals

The taeMLine rof

pu tnew nilatS fo eutats tsegral s’dlrow ehT .2691 ni nwod emac dna 5591 ni eugarP ni efil nwo sih koot ,cevS ratakO ,rotplucs ehT .gnilievnu eht erofeb syad owt a yb dewollof ,tnorf ni gnidnats saw nilatS -los a dna ,tius a ni nam a ,remraf a ,rekrow ”.taem rof enil eht“ demankcin saw tI .reid emit saw ti taht dediced vehcsurhK nehW detseuqer eh ,nwod og ot eutats eht rof tuohtiw ,ylteiuq enod eb noitilomed eht taht saw tI .flesti ot noitnetta hcum oot gniward .sevisolpxe fo GK008 htiw pu nwolb

The Line for Meat P.1

he t sPursuit a mliF Whole eht fo

t p i r c s t s oP a

The deadline is tomorrow, and the text is ready for printing. Yet I feel like I’ve left something out that I need to share with you.

It is the familiar feeling of the incomplete.

I have been workings on my project on Stalin for a while now, but my why felt too intellectual, too impersonal. When my cousin called me on my birthday this May, something changed.

He found out, through a series of coincidences, that our grandmother had an uncle, a forest ranger, who, at the height of the great terror, was denounced and arrested. In a brief biography/martyrology available online, a historian says that even under the fear of torture and death, my great-great-uncle didn’t denounce anyone else and “he refused to leave behind a trail of blood.” He faced the firing squad in August 1937, the same day my grandmother was born. She says she’s never been told about him. In our family genealogy, he wouldn’t be the only person whose fate was sealed by Stalin’s rule, but until now, he was a missing image.

Thinking that the memory of my great-greatuncle would have been obscure to us, if not for a random act of discovery, makes me sad. e l o h W e h t fo t i u s r u P e h t s a m l i F 1.P

Film tiusruas P eth of elohthe W

a Postscript

si txet eht dna ,worromot si enildaed ehT tfel ev’I ekil leef I teY .gnitnirp rof ydaer .uoy htiw erahs ot deen I taht tuo gnihtemos .etelpmocni eht fo gnileef railimaf eht si tI rof nilatS no tcejorp ym no sgnikrow neeb evah I ,lautcelletni oot tlef yhw ym tub ,won elihw a no em dellac nisuoc ym nehW .lanosrepmi oot .degnahc gnihtemos ,yaM siht yadhtrib ym ,secnedicnioc fo seires a hguorht ,tuo dnuof eH tserof a ,elcnu na dah rehtomdnarg ruo taht ,rorret taerg eht fo thgieh eht ta ,ohw ,regnar -goib feirb a nI .detserra dna decnuoned saw nairotsih a ,enilno elbaliava ygolorytram/yhpar dna erutrot fo raef eht rednu neve taht syas ecnuoned t’ndid elcnu-taerg-taerg ym ,htaed dniheb evael ot desufer eh“ dna esle enoyna ni dauqs gnirfi eht decaf eH ”.doolb fo liart a saw rehtomdnarg ym yad emas eht ,7391 tsuguA tuoba dlot neeb reven s’ehs syas ehS .nrob eht eb t’ndluow eh ,ygolaeneg ylimaf ruo nI .mih s’nilatS yb delaes saw etaf esohw nosrep ylno .egami gnissim a saw eh ,won litnu tub ,elur -taerg-taerg ym fo yromem eht taht gniknihT rof ton fi ,su ot erucsbo neeb evah dluow elcnu .das em sekam ,yrevocsid fo tca modnar a Film as the Pursuit of the Whole P.1

We can pull out narrative threads from history that are tragic and beautiful, but always incomplete. I am reminded of A City Of Sadness again. My great-great-grandfather was also deaf-mute, although he was an illustrator and not a photographer like Wen-Ching. In a Taiwanese film from and about another era, I find an echo in the story of a family torn apart by the forces of history.

Sometimes, film can bring us pieces that resemble the shape of our own missing images.

The Pursuit of the Whole is the title of an autobiographical story by Harry Mathews. As a child, he meets Mies Van Der Rohe at his parent’s party, and the great architect tells the 14-year old Mathews “that all his notions of architectural space had been drawn from a book called On Growth and Form, the work of someone called D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson.” As an adult, Mathews steals the book from a bookshop, but doesn’t get around to opening it until much later, in the very end of the story. It ends with the following passage from On Growth and Form: “The biologist, as well as the philosopher, learns to recognise that the whole is not merely the sum of its parts. It is this, and much more than this. For it is not a bundle of parts but an organisation of parts, of parts in their mutual arrangement, fitting one with another, in what Aristotle calls a ‘single and individual principle of unity’; and this is no merely metaphysical conception, but is in biology the fundamental truth which lies at the basis of Geoffroy’s (or Goethe’s) law of ‘compensation’ or ‘balancement of growth.”

e l o h W e h t fo t i u s r u P e h t s a m l i F 2 .P

dna cigart era taht yrotsih morf sdaerht evitarran tuo llup nac eW fO ytiC A fo dednimer ma I .etelpmocni syawla tub ,lufituaeb ,etum-faed osla saw rehtafdnarg-taerg-taerg yM .niaga ssendaS ekil rehpargotohp a ton dna rotartsulli na saw eh hguohtla dnfi I ,are rehtona tuoba dna morf mlfi esenawiaT a nI .gnihC-neW .yrotsih fo secrof eht yb trapa nrot ylimaf a fo yrots eht ni ohce na fo epahs eht elbmeser taht seceip su gnirb nac mlfi ,semitemoS .segami gnissim nwo ruo yb yrots lacihpargoibotua na fo eltit eht si elohW eht fo tiusruP ehT sih ta ehoR reD naV seiM steem eh ,dlihc a sA .swehtaM yrraH swehtaM dlo raey-41 eht sllet tcetihcra taerg eht dna ,ytrap s’tnerap a morf nward neeb dah ecaps larutcetihcra fo snoiton sih lla taht“ ycrA’D dellac enoemos fo krow eht ,mroF dna htworG nO dellac koob morf koob eht slaets swehtaM ,tluda na sA ”.nospmohT htrowtneW ,retal hcum litnu ti gninepo ot dnuora teg t’nseod tub ,pohskoob a morf egassap gniwollof eht htiw sdne tI .yrots eht fo dne yrev eht ni :mroF dna htworG nO snrael ,rehposolihp eht sa llew sa ,tsigoloib ehT“ ylerem ton si elohw eht taht esingocer ot erom hcum dna ,siht si tI .strap sti fo mus eht tub strap fo eldnub a ton si ti roF .siht naht -um rieht ni strap fo ,strap fo noitasinagro na ,rehtona htiw eno gnittfi ,tnemegnarra laut laudividni dna elgnis‘ a sllac eltotsirA tahw ni ylerem on si siht dna ;’ytinu fo elpicnirp ygoloib ni si tub ,noitpecnoc lacisyhpatem sisab eht ta seil hcihw hturt latnemadnuf eht -asnepmoc‘ fo wal )s’ehteoG ro( s’yorffoeG fo ”.htworg fo tnemecnalab‘ ro ’noit

Film as the Pursuit of the Whole P.2