bal screenings (bal’26)
Film screening
October 9, 6 PM
Improper Walls, Reindorfgasse 42, 1150 Vienna
Through a slow, observant lens, the film programme invites viewers into liminal spaces imbued with a sense of freedom, waiting and the passage of time. From a fairy woman in rural Serbia and a lighthouse keeper on a small Estonian island to the residents of a trailer park – these stories expose the fragile boundaries of the worlds we inhabit.
Duration: 37 min.
Films in the programme:
Pagirnis. Film still.
PAGIRNIS
dir. Anastasija Pirozenko, 2021, 22min.
They are known as the city nomads. They live in a trailer village on the outskirts of Amsterdam and are viewed as poor, low-skilled and addicts. Some of them came here out of necessity, being misfits in our society or simply because of idealistic views. For them, this self-established village gives a sense of freedom and a possibility to build their lives the way they want it. But the eerie feeling of temporality of this squatted place is always present. “One of the biggest illusions we live with is that we are going to make it,” – says one of the trailer park inhabitants. But there is much more to life in this camping village. People’s dreams, philosophies, destinies are a testimony of the effects of late capitalism on everyday life, from which the old deities have been disappearing. The film juxtaposes Lithuanian mythology on household deities and the current situation in the Netherlands, where the housing crisis is pushing people to live on the outskirts of the city. The story slowly builds up through the encounters with the inhabitants of this unique place.
I Have a Song to Sing You. Image credits: Wild Pear Arts
I HAVE A SONG TO SING YOU
dir. Eluned Zoë Aiano, Alesandra Tatić, Greta Rauleac, 2018, 6min.
As a child, Ivanka was chosen by fairy women for the special task of entering the realm of the dead to discover the future. As an old lady, the spirits have left her, so how does she navigate between the two worlds now? This experimental short documentary seeks out Ivanka, a woman who lives in rural Eastern Serbia and who spent most of her life falling into trance to enter the realm of the dead and learn about the future. Ethnographic archive materials from her days as a prophet are interwoven with contemporary footage shot now that the supernatural forces have left her. As such, the film plays on dualities of time and ontology to explore how this experience has affected her relationship to the landscape that surrounds her, while engaging in a meta discourse on the digital nature of film and visualisation of memory. The film was funded by the London Short Film Festival as part of their “With Teeth” scheme to support non-conformist independent filmmaking.
Mother Mare. Film still.
MOTHER MARE
dir. Elisa Chiari, 2024, 9min.
Mare is the lighthouse keeper of Kihnu, a small Estonian island off the Baltic Sea that has been described as Europe’s last matriarchy. While the men are away at sea during long periods of time, it is the women who care for and govern the land. What will be the future of a place that has always been waiting for someone to return?