There’s a special bond between a politically or emotionally charged space and its user.

SUN 26 APRIL, 17:30 - SPHINX - 58'

SHU (Blue Hour Lullaby)
Philipp Lachenmann, DE, 2002-2007, HDCAM, 12’

A remote and closely guarded prison in the Mojave Desert prepares for nightfall. Some of the prisoners received the second harshest punishment of the American legal system: “Security Housing Unit/Solitary Confinement”. In 1998 Amnesty International classified the punishment of solitary confinement as torture. While the searchlights flash on one by one, more and more airplanes appear in the sky.

Konserwacja
Florian Heinzen-Ziob, DE, 2008, DigiBeta, 11’

A rusty helmet, broken tiles, rotten files... Patiently, a group of young restorers from Poland and Germany is working to preserve those unimposing objects from further decay.

A Necessary Music
Beatrice Gibson, UK, 2008, digibeta, 20'

With long, languid and beautifully pictorial takes - in a narration shared between Robert Ashley and dwellers of Roosevelt Island - A Necessary Music is a musically conceived science fiction film, exploring the social imaginary of a utopian landscape.

Complex
Daniel Mann, Eitan Efrat, IL, 2008, DigiBeta, 9’

This documentary assembles seven young Israeli men who once shared the same military experiences. What starts off as an ordinary reunion of friends soon turns into a recollection of deep-seated memories. This manifests itself when the group re-enacts the manoeuvres that were indelibly printed in their memory.

Cobra Mist
Emily Richardson, UK, 2008, 16mm, 6'

Cobra Mist explores the enigmatic relationship between the landscape of Orford Ness and traces of its unusual military history. It's the location of the UK's Atomic Weapons Research Establishment. The place has a sinister atmosphere, accentuated by Chris Watson and Benedict Drew's superb soundtrack.