SCRUBBED TO THE SURFACE

by Kenton Turk

Orduna’s Vestigios (“Vestiges”) perplexes. In truth, it seduces without obvious charm before it perplexes. Scenes envelop and inhabit before revealing the traces of a narrative, thereby proving the title accurate. There is however steady advancement here – images collecting to have a cumulative value that nonetheless does not suffer under its own weight, somewhat akin to the progressive effect of a Fibonacci number: the ever-growing sum of the preceding two.

As such, a linear storyline remains before the door. But from lower reaches, a kind of narrative emerges, a celluloid palimpsest, the vague but profound reflections of a life led and by its end just perhaps grasped in terms of its most affecting components. What perplexes, to the credit of the film, is the fact that it provokes the sensation of a story being told without a discernable one being in evidence. The method used mimics closely the reductionism of a thought process, reversing the bottom-up superimposition of standard film art. This is the minimal, initial layer of storytelling. Vestigios initially seems like the bare bones of a film concept, the backdrops and the settings stripped of the actors, stripped of the dialogue, stripped of even those details that are intended to key viewers into a returning scene of action. It is as though the filmmaker decided his film was overloaded and continued reducing the ornamentation, until he reached a point that was far beyond his intention, but that proved eminently more satisfying than the combination of plot, dialogue and ambient noise: the true and elemental story at the core, the moments that remain when freed of a harnessing structure.

The reference points here are compositional signposts, static imagery with a hint of life breathed into them: starkly symmetrical images (rolling escalators, paired telephones, views down walled alleyways) move ever so slightly, the breathing of a cameraman, possibly, the playfulness of breeze, shifting light. Or your imagination. A mask that regards you with immobile features seems to move its eyes, slightly, after some long moments borne in increasing discomfort by the intensity of a stare that is without vision. Urban settings become vaguely disturbung (yet paradoxically comforting) for not being completely deserted, but being occupied by people heard but never in view, always behind walls and around corners. It is as though you, moving through these locales, have been summoned to be near but not enter.

For all of this, Vestigios is not in lack of anything. It can simultaneously be seen as a stark paring down of the film process and a deepening of pure content. The images accompany lyricism (appearing in interspersed Chinese characters as title cards) that sounds as spare to the Western ear as the images feel in visual terms. These move through philosophical musings and reflections on existence itself. “A long journey, a reflection, a fragrance… I leave submission behind” opens these ruminations. Questions posed (“Maybe everything is mere interpretation?”), questions answered (“The path is marked out”) and personal revelations (“I sought nudity so that nothing would hold me back”) counterpoint the barren images. Thus, the plotless story is unravelled. As well, the spartan soundtrack moves the “action” forward, with subtlety and without haste. A drumbeat evolves into heartbeat, and occasional din resolves itself in sudden silences.

In this way, Orduna combines the spare, observational qualities of Edison’s “actualities” and the torpid uneasiness of Lynch in a film that neither tells a story nor avoids telling one. These are the thoughts at the back of one’s head, ultimately more profound for not being expressible with simple and linear language, collecting and extending themselves to buoy up a core oxymoronically nebulous and defined.

Finally, Orduna turns the optical refuge of black and white into colour, golden tones moving towards blue. The film ends with this move into another sphere of reference, from two-dimensional monochromatism to three-dimensional chromatism, making one want to view the preceding again with the acquired knowledge of another level of vision. Reflection is inevitable, surely Orduna’s intention. Achieved with elegance and the most deceptively complex simplicity.

Vestigios was screened in World Premiere at [DLX], the 10th Berlin International Directors Lounge on 11 February 2014.

Directors Lounge at shortcutz Berlin, Wed. March 5th, 8:30pm

Our friends from the shortcutz network invited us as their special guest to show a small selection of highlights from DL X, the 10th Berlin International Directors Lounge, at shortcutz Berlin.

Join us at the cozy Lagari.

Films:

Andreas Goldfuss CA Independent Film Maker 00:20 2013

Víctor Ballesteros CL VVOOLLVVOO 00:30 2013

Rhayne Vermette CA Black Rectangle 01:30 2013

Stuart Pound GB All That Passed 01:00 2013

Michael Betancourt US The Kodak Moment 02:00 2013

Sasha Waters Freyer US An Incomplete History of Pornography, 1979 08:00 2013

Liga Steda GB Block 02:23 2013

Aaron Zeghers CA Living on the Edge 03:20 2013

Benedikt Kruger, Sebastian Lörscher, Xaver Xylophon DE Zyklus I, 01:40 2011

Naren Wilks GB Fear & Delight 03:20 2013 (music video | The Correspondents)

TRT 24 min

The show takes place this Wednesday, March 5th at

Lagari, Pfluegerstr 19 / corner Nansenstr.
Next to U8-Schoenleinstr!
Berlin

See you there

Andre Werner, Directors Lounge, photo: Nick Font

photo: Steffen Freiling

Victor Orozco Ramirez MX/DE “Reality 2.0”, photo: Nick Font

The 10th Berlin international Directors Lounge at Naherholung Sternchen, photo: Nick Font

[DLX], Space B, photo: Nick Font

photo: Nick Font

Herr Blum Band at the 10th Berlin International Directors Lounge, photo: Nick Font

Eberhard Kranemann and Ina Sladic – World premiere of “100 Years of Paranoia.” at the 10th Berlin International Directors Lounge, photo: Steffen Freiling

Exploring Erdal Inci’s “Taksim Spiral”, photo: Nick Font

Flicka at the 10th Berlin International Directors Lounge, photo: Steffen Freiling

First impressions of the 10th Berlin International Directors Lounge [DLX],
6 – 16 February 2014

Many, many thanks to Nick Font and Steffen Freiling Photography for their amazing works. Please keep credits intact. (Click image)

More  here

DAY 11

SAILING OUT WITH COLOURFUL CARGO AND (ANYTHING BUT) PALE MUSIC
Tonight we turn it up with the final farrago of film gems in DL Selection XVII, 19 arty snacks from around the world into yours. Among World Premieres are Canadian Víctor Ballesteros’ “VVOOLLVVOO” and Karl F. Stewart’s (who just arrived in town) “Video of Shadows – Title A B or C.” In town and on board are Javier Pernas, Euro-premiering his “Piel/Skin” (Argentina/Spain), Dimitris Argyriou (Greece) with his short film “One Line” and Dutchman Michael Fleming with “Avalanche.” Also expect Studio Twins (Caroline Fayette & Chloé Guerbois) of France, whose “The Island Where I Come From” is in the mix. Start: 7pm. Our Farewell Mix, up at 9pm, offers more morsels, and maybe a surprise or two thrown in. World Premieres include two of attending filmmakers: Fried Rosenstock (Der Schatten Meiner Selbst”) and Arthur Patching (GB), whose “Il Ritorno” leaves harbour as the final film. Then at 10:30pm, we get loose when the singular Steve Morell, founder of Pale Music and the “Berlin Insane” festival and sought-after remixer (Miss Yetti, Boy George and scores more) carts in his trove of pure and respun beats, setting the joint a-jump. Kings of Spreedelta will also swing it up, and DJ Jense will also have a go at the turntables. No end programmed – dance like there’s no (DLX) tomorrow. Freaks and friends welcome; surprise guests and past alumni may well drop by. Our adieu to this year’s festival feast, and segue into DL’s 2014 assault on other cities. Join us for a last blast!

Day 11 program

the complete program, 6 – 16 Feb

pictured:Alexis Barbosa “Mona”, Michael Fleming “Avalanche”, Steve Morell, Arthur Patching  “Il Ritorno”, Kings of Spreedelta

DAY 10

PIPER > PARANORMAL > PARANOIA! 100 YEARS OF BURROUGHS BEAT

It’s the first-ever screening of this Indian film in Germany: Vivek Budakoti’s feature “Pied Piper” uses a Brechtian slant and black humour to reflect India’s current desperation-to-elation climate. It begins at 6:30pm in Space A; don’t miss a minute. Already at 7pm, Space B gives itself over to the less-than-alive and more in DL Plus: Ghosts. Let reason fly in 69 minutes of short film shivers, with Nicolaas Schmidt on hand to give us the inside track on his “Break.” Shuttling back to Space A, take a seat at 9pm for even more film nuggets in DL Selection XVI. Making stops in Iraq, Iran, the United Arab Emirates and more, it includes World Premieres from Afghanistan (Habib Sadaat’s “Kite Of Wishes”) and the UK (Brazilian Bruna Capozzoli’s “Mamo”). But also at 9pm (Space B), the all-Euro DL Plus: Comme une image II screens a good half hour of mini-movies, with multi-award-winning kaleidoscope video artist Max Hattler’s “X” in the bunch. A whirlwind outing! The topper hits at 10:30pm – Beat god William Burroughs gets the once-over in a special performance by Kraftwerk founding member Eberhard Kranemann and Ina Sladic dubbed “100 Years of Paranoia.” This word-sound-dance-video spectacle shifts forms via a “puzzle principle,” with Burroughs’ words triggering a theoretical-to-physical transition. As supporting film, in World Premiere, Kranemann’s short “Im Panikraum.” A smash at last year’s [DL9], Kranemann is definitely a must-see. At 11:30 groovy rhythms, abstract sounds and spaced-out blue notes with Flicka live on stage. Be there!

 

Day 10 program, Feb 15

the complete program, 6 – 16 Feb

pictured:Sahim Omar Kalifa"Baghdad Messi", Vivek Budakoti “Pied Piper”; Ina Sladic and Eberhard Kranemann

Tonight: 14 Feb

URBAN POCKETS AND HARDCORE CHOCOLATE

Tonight’s almost all-European DL Selection XIV opens the run of eye-openers Directors Lounge is known for, fresh up at 6pm. Get in to see these, including the Euro-Premiere of “Sleepwalk” by Italy’s Laura Salvini. City themes get their share of screen time, too, with DL’s Urban Research III: Subverting Leviathan, which concentrates on urban metamorphosis through uprisings in Istanbul but takes in Damascus, Tel Aviv, Belfast and more. Don’t miss this, the final curation in this specially-focused section of DL (8pm, Space B). At 9pm, let it all come at you – from “Down Under” (Australian Marian Diaz’s “Diamonds”) to “Up Over” (Juha Mäki-Jussila’s truly bizarre Finnish short “Suddenly Last Summer”), the trek from southern to northern hemisphere was never made easier (or more jarring!) than in DL Selection XV, our stab at your senses. An Indian, Belarussian and American film each will be in World Premiere, and Turkish filmmaker Özgür Özcan will be there in person with his short “Ars Gratia Artis.” Then! The Punk and Chocolate Party kicks back at everything that needs kicking with live chops from Hans am Felsen (aka HAF) bringing violin and punk together and roughboys Buman grinding out made-in-Berlin guitar growls, all rolling from 10:30pm. Put together with the offbeat club of legend, Schokoladen, this will wake any sleeping dogs. See ya there!

Day 9 program

the complete program, 6 – 16 Feb

pictured: Francesca Fini, White Sugar, Daria Korol, Touch, Chema García Ibarra, Misterio, Lioba von den Driesch,Last Supper

ISAC INCA DOARME

review by Katja Avant-Hard

This is one of those pieces which you can interpret to your own understanding. It’s rich with symbols and connotations. It’s a nightmare, where your “Dad is a pig, and a Mum is a sheep, of course” and all three of you, the son and the parents, are sitting at the table and are eating fresh and bloody pieces of pork. But the scariest part in this nightmare is, that your strictly catholic mother tries to control your dreams. And the time goes back, to your childhood and back again. There are some epic scenes like when the mum leaks her sun ear with so much enjoyment as if it was the highest quality pork; or when they both sit in the milk bath tab, and she feeds him like a newborn. It’s a mind game, where you don’t know where the dream stops and the reality begins. And what if your own reality is more terrifying than your dreams? It’s a trap! Mum, don’t come closer! The director deliberately confuses us in the parallels and its faces of fantasy and the state of actual.

“Isac Inca Doarme” by Alexandru Ponoran was screened during the 10th Berlin International Directors Lounge [DLX], Feb 6 – 16, 2014

DL Selection XI: Wed 12 | 8:30pm | space A

the complete program