In addition to the light and video installations in the performance areas and hall ways, provided by shpixel, Uri Lahav, Ronni Shendar and many others, there will be a dedicated video art program under the title ‘outside’, curated by Nicole Rebmann of film:on, in the arches hall of the caliph building that we will be using as a video lounge, that will be open during all hours of the festival days at the Caliph (Thursday and Friday, starting at 19:00h).

The ‘outside’ program consists of the following works:

Je suis une bombe, Elodie Pong, Schweiz 2006, 6:40 min
Negai wo hiku (Drawing Wishes), Aki Nakazawa, Germany/Japan 2006, 4:35 min
What I’m Looking For, Shelly Silver, USA 2004, 15:00 min
Rugby Boyz, Khavn de la Cruz, Phillipinen 2006, 8:00 min
Kempinski, Neil Beloufa, France 2007, 14:40 min
Peter & Ben, Pinny Grylls, UK 2007, 10:00 min

In addition to the ‘outside’ program, we will screen an additional work in the video lounge:
Ma Iti?, Macabug, IL/DE 2007, 32:00 min

SYNOPSES:

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Je suis une bombe, Elodie Pong, Switzerland 2006, 6:40 min
A woman in a panda bear costume performs an erotic pole dance. Facing the camera, her emotionless face seeks the audience’s gaze. Alternating between urgency and parody, she repeats her mantra: “Je suis une bombe.” She controls her image each time, underlining filmmaker Elodie Pong’s commentary on persona, narcissism and female identity.

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Negai wo hiku (Drawing Wishes), Aki Nakazawa, Germany/Japan 2006, 4:35 min
A still image shows a cloudless blue sky, framed by a window in which the sun casts a triangular reflection on the glass pane. From the low camera angle, we can barely make out the tops of high-rises at the lower edge of the picture. The extremely minimal pictorial information leaves the concrete location open. Parallel to the imagery, there unfolds on the soundtrack a phone call in Japanese, a dialogue with the far-away homeland. The interchangeability of attributes and identities is of prime importance in Aki Nakazawa’s video Drawing Wishes, not only visually but also on the linguistic level. When a male voice asks the woman at the other end of the line what differences she has experienced between the cultures, she replies that she doesn’t see any major differences from Japan. The biggest difference, says the woman, is in the vapour trails in the sky. »It’s really like a dream, but just normal here.« And then the vapour trails that have been crossing the neutral sky in the video image during the conversation begin to dance. An everyday world that can no longer be identified as such suddenly becomes a newly discovered adventure in seeing. The call ends and the vapour trails fade away. (Videonale)

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What I’m Looking For, Shelly Silver, USA 2004, 15:00 min
A woman sets out to photograph moments of intimacy. On an Internet dating site she writes: ‘I’m looking for people who would like to be photographed in public revealing something of themselves…’ “What I’m Looking For” documents this adventure; the connections formed at this intersection between virtual and actual public space. The video is a rumination on the nature of photography and the persistence of vision. It is a short tale of desire and control.

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Rugby Boyz, Khavn de la Cruz, Phillipinen 2006, 8:00 min
These boys know the dual essence of Rugby: playing football and sniffing solvent. They tell vampire jokes, rap about river deaths, and dive jack-knife into murky water. A cruel irony on the hope these children bring.

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Kempinski, Neil Beloufa, France 2007, 14:40 min
Whilst challenging our stereotypical view of Africa, Kempinksi also blurs the lines between documentary, ethnography and science fiction. Asked to imagine the future but to speak in the present tense, the protagonists describe extraordinary and unexpected visions. In the fictional documentary “Kempinski” the residents of a small village in Mali speak about a new, fictional presence. They tell stories about a future magical world, which appears to be connected with the African culture.

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Peter & Ben, Pinny Grylls, UK 2007, 10:00 min
30 years ago Peter chose to ‘drop out’ and live alone in a remote self-sufficient settlement in Wales. Then 3 years ago Peter found a new born lamb abandoned in a ditch, Peter saved his life – and now Ben is a full grown sheep with ambitions to move into Peter’s house with him. Peter however has other ideas. Peter and Ben tells the touching and quirky story of how two – drop outs form an unusual and lasting friendship.

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Ma Iti?, Macabug (Ronni Shendar & Till Rohmann), IL/DE, 32:00 min
Ma Iti (What is it with me?) is a 4 channel audio-visual installation by Ronni Shendar and Till Rohmann addressing questions of identity, home and the personal and political uncertainties that define some of the realities of life in Israel. The work is comprised of documentary footage, interviews and manipulated visual elements.

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