DOCUMENTARY: Who Speaks For A Space?
Tuesday 19th January 2021
MY OWN LANDSCAPES, dir. Antoine Chapon
Public space, public housing, occupied territories and digital terrain: for whom are the places and structures we occupy daily built?
These films find the answer in Lebanon and London - where potentially utopian community architectures are decimated in favour of corporate interest - and the Negev desert and bespoke virtual landscapes, technically uninhabited spaces subsumed by immense military power.
Who speaks on behalf of a space? And how can we reintegrate (inter)personal concerns into the issue of infrastructure? These meditative non-fictions each chart different situations around the world that carry an eerie echo of one another. Programmed by Miranda Mungai. 75'
Immerse yourself in all four Documentary programmes (for the price of three!) with an online pass for £12.
Films:
CONCRETE FORMS OF RESISTANCE
Nick Jordan
27'
2019
United Kingdom
Filmed in Tripoli, Lebanon, a documentary centred on the city’s abandoned ‘Permanent International Fair’ designed by Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer. The film presents progress and crisis, labour and capital, material and memory, contrasting the utopian vision of the original plans with the stark realities of sectarian divisions and rising economic inequalities.
GASCOIGNE
Julia Frances
16'
2019
United Kingdom
Gascoigne is a British short documentary filmed in Barking, East London. The film depicts the everyday lives of the residence of Gascoigne estate up to the demolition of the building. The narration is spoken from the point of view of the building Gascoigne estate.
POLITICS OF A LANDSCAPE; A PERSONAL ONTOLOGY OF SOUTHERN ISRAEL’S DESERT TERRITORY
Yuli Serfaty
13'
2020
United Kingdom
A chronicle of personal experience in the Negev desert in southern Israel, journeying through natural, industrial, and militarised landscapes as a disembodied voice-over weaves together childhood memories, geology, ecology and politics.
MY OWN LANDSCAPES
Antoine Chapon
19'
2020
France
Cyril is a former military game designer spotted in a video game competition organized by the army. Before going to war, he made video game scenarios that prepared soldiers to cultural shocks and healed trauma. Once back from the war, his relationship with his identity, with life and with the video game changed.