Colonial Follies

To venture where no man has gone before: the explorer's grand aspiration, and the colonial man's great folly. Whether it is the lush landscape of the jungle or the arid terra nova of Mars, these “exotic" imaginaries have frequently served as backdrops for ambitions of dominance and conquest. The films in this program look at systematic projections of the New World(s), but also speak about knowledge and grand projects, and how exploration, technological advancement, experimentation and civilization are easily affected by greed – what a persisting malady. The desire to colonize Mars, experiments on children in an enclosed forest, fantasies new and old, Colonial Follies examines the ridiculousness of human ambition, but also offers the space to demolish remnants of colonial thinking, with the filmmakers in our program reclaiming spaces and narratives from the past and infusing them with their own subjectivity. (Dora Leu)

Parallel Botany

Magdalena Bermudez | Duration 11'

Still lives of real fruit meet botanical illustrations of plant galls to expose the paradox of dissection: each time we cut something in two, we merely create a new exterior.

When We Encounter the World

r. Leonardo Pirondi & Zazie Ray-Trapido | Duration 11'

In 1934, an experiment by an amateur-scientist couple began. Named after a genus of moths, the Automeris Project placed a group of young children in an enclosed forest, leaving them to fend for themselves. On return visits, the couple presented self-made films, accompanied by live music, depicting the outside world.

The Mars Project

Louis Rémy | Duration 13'

Through a collection of archived videos found in the depths of YouTube, ordinary people apply to join a space mission team heading to Mars in the year 2022. This announcement from Mars Venture, nearly a decade ago, reveals our society’s interest in the conquest of the red planet and prompts us to question the colonial rhetoric inherent in New Space projects.

Wild Fruits

Bernardo Zanotta | Duration 35' 16"

The 16th century. After a period overseas in the Antarctic France, Jean Aurand finds refuge as a servant in the house of French philosopher Michel de Montaigne, where a series of fantastical events change the lives of these two men forever.

The Third World After the Sun

Analú Laferal & Tiagx Vélez | Duration 19' 50"

A transvestite ritual performed by the artists Analú Laferal and Tiagx Vélez opens a portal and generates an encounter with a European missionary from the fifteenth century who has delved deep into the jungle in order to fight the belief of animals as divine. A transmaterial dream, shrouded by the penumbra cast by cosmic horrors.