Jujube/2020-iffr

I have a different set of criteria of choosing films to watch this year.

The description for La Fortaleza says it well:

By turns lyrical and raw, realistic and intimate, feverish visions also reflect the inner state of the protagonist

I am exploring

• the lyrical
• the realistic (and at times surrealist)
• and the intimate

While watching the trailers, I find myself drawn to films with intense, deliberate aesthetics.

The films:

• Vitalina Varela, dir. Pedro Costa
• La Fortaleza, dir. Jorge Thielen Armand
• Panquiaco, dir. Ana Elena Tejera
• Jallikattu, dir. Lijo Jose Pellissery
• This is not a burial, it's a resurrection, dir. Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese

They seem to share these qualities:

• primal, shamanistic
• extreme close-ups
• the protagonist in the center, almost otherworldly, iconographic

Last year I was drawn to films set in remote places, esp. mountains. This year, a few films that I choose share that thread, but also the relationship with animals.

• Kala azar, dir. Janis Rafa
• Birds (Or How to Be One), dir. Babis Makridis
• Cemetery, dir. Carlos Casas

They seem to share these qualities:

• an unlikely story
• taking care of animals + wanting to be animals as metaphor
• commitment to the metaphor — living reality in imagination

I am paying attention to films with a strong portrayal of intimacy (emotional and otherwise). Other than some of the above mentioned, these films feature relationships: between humans, between one devout geographer and the environment.

• Vendrá la muerte y tendrá tus ojos, dir. José Luis Torres Leiva
• Suzanne Daveau, dir. Luísa Homem

From the trailers I also recognized a certain slow pace that I use in my own film. I want to see these films to see how they tell a story quietly.

• For the Time Being, dir. Salka Tiziana
• Phases of Matter, dir. Deniz Tortum
• Together Apart, dir. Qu Youjia

I am not quite sure how quiet this film will be. But I do recognize the trait of telling stories through the protagonist's own speech. (A story within a story. Or the film as a story that the protagonists tell AND live.) It's something I want to achieve in my film, so hopefully I can learn something from them.

• The Fever, dir. Maya Da-Rin

There are two short programs focused on habitat and home, which relates to my grad film project.

• Heartland (diaspora)
• Natural Habitat (home)

I also included some films that will probably show me something new.

Short programs:

• Circuit Bending
• DINAMO (video art/experimental)
• True Identity (I am going to a talk by an artist who made one of these films)

Feature:

• Blanco en blanco, dir. Théo Court
• Si yo fuera el invierno mismo, dir. Jazmín López
• Nafi's Father, dir. Mamadou Dia
• Desterro, dir. Maria Clara Escobar
• The Science of Fictions, dir. Yosep Anggi Noen