VALYA:
Epilogue from this point of view – ????? we need to decide what to do
OKSANA:
What is this beauty?
‘How do I know if I'm invited?’ LMAO
‘How do I know if I'm invited?’ LMAO
YULIA:
oops, this is the design template for the exhibition's epilogue)) there will be notes/correspondence about how you can – if you can – try to make cinema outside the system of hierarchies and violence (grassroots, collective). no conclusions. we don't know yet if this design will remain, this is a rough idea. do you like it?
btw, I thought we should leave the epilogue open and let it grow little by little during the whole period of the exhibition – with comments by viewers and our conversations. it will mutate, and it will be interesting to see what it will be like in a year, by the end of the exhibition
btw, I thought we should leave the epilogue open and let it grow little by little during the whole period of the exhibition – with comments by viewers and our conversations. it will mutate, and it will be interesting to see what it will be like in a year, by the end of the exhibition
YULIA:
(notes for Valya after talking to Protyah)
do not rush, because it’s a large amount of reflections. epilogue – constantly under development, in the making
grassroots cinema can be used for political messages that are the opposite of what we are looking for
collective cinema should not become a brand (what happens with the concept of "queer" now). anti-arthouse, a variety of practices, can be lost in various forms (like mushrooms on the margins, see Anna Tsing): it is impossible (and no need) to catalogue.
diversity is vital, and can only exist on the outskirts {but the "system" also monopolizes access to information, and what happens on the outskirts is difficult, even almost impossible to detect}
Freefilmers – an attempt at close contact, the film community, at least while working on the film, and then the contacts remain / are maintained in some form, the imprint of the film remains. but at some point someone takes responsibility for the result (= director), and here comes the vertical
"attempt at collectivity". collectivity is not the antithesis of manipulativeness (e.g. Rastorguev's "Love")
one should always look in combination at the result (the finished film) and the process (making of). can a film that harmed people be still valuable? and what if you didn't know about the harm?
see Isaiah Medina (publishes his films online, despite the fact that his works are screened at all sorts of "cool" festivals)
do not rush, because it’s a large amount of reflections. epilogue – constantly under development, in the making
grassroots cinema can be used for political messages that are the opposite of what we are looking for
collective cinema should not become a brand (what happens with the concept of "queer" now). anti-arthouse, a variety of practices, can be lost in various forms (like mushrooms on the margins, see Anna Tsing): it is impossible (and no need) to catalogue.
diversity is vital, and can only exist on the outskirts {but the "system" also monopolizes access to information, and what happens on the outskirts is difficult, even almost impossible to detect}
Freefilmers – an attempt at close contact, the film community, at least while working on the film, and then the contacts remain / are maintained in some form, the imprint of the film remains. but at some point someone takes responsibility for the result (= director), and here comes the vertical
"attempt at collectivity". collectivity is not the antithesis of manipulativeness (e.g. Rastorguev's "Love")
one should always look in combination at the result (the finished film) and the process (making of). can a film that harmed people be still valuable? and what if you didn't know about the harm?
see Isaiah Medina (publishes his films online, despite the fact that his works are screened at all sorts of "cool" festivals)
VALYA:
I went to the screening you mentioned, but there was no translation into Ukrainian, which I didn't know about, there were only English subtitles, and Katya tried to translate a little in my ear, but it was difficult – fast speech, often changing plans and text. and I didn't leave because we agreed that I would watch everything there and maybe I would find a film that would fit into our epilogue, but honestly, I hardly understood anything and was annoyed. and then when we were leaving and Ira was coming with us, I asked her if she could tell me more about the film I found the most interesting. it’s about indigenous Australians. she clarified some scenes – the ones in the forest, and "historical" reenactments, scenes about either tourism or emigration (the film is very curiously made! although it's not a doc, or not really a doc, it's a hybrid something and there's a great conceptual work with music), and she also added that it's a famous collective and they work only with themselves – that is, they write everything themselves, shoot it themselves, perform it themselves, and edit it themselves.
FROM: YULIA SERDYUKOVA
TO:
INFO@OBZORNISKA-FRONTA.SI
DATE: 26.07.2021 17:59
SUBJECT: REQUEST TO WATCH YOUR WORKS FROM UKRAINE
TO:
INFO@OBZORNISKA-FRONTA.SI
DATE: 26.07.2021 17:59
SUBJECT: REQUEST TO WATCH YOUR WORKS FROM UKRAINE
Dear Newsreel Front team,
I am a documentary film producer and a feminist activist from Ukraine.
I am now working on an artistic exhibition that reflects on hierarchies and violence in documentary films/film industry (like various exploitative/exotisizing/colonial gazes, economical injustice regarding labor, etc.), and looking for examples of attempts to make the filmmaking process more horizontal. This exhibition’s idea is rooted in my and my colleagues' experience in documentary filmmaking. I am co-curating this exhibition together with an artist and curator, Valentina Petrova. We are approaching this exhibition from the perspective of intersectional feminism. I would gladly tell you more about the idea, if you are interested.
I have found your website, and am fascinated by your ideas. We would love to see your works! Is that possible? Could you, please, share links to at least some of them? I guarantee confidentiality, if that is what you require.
After seeing your films/newsreels, I would probably ask you for a zoom/skype call, if you could find time, to tell you more about the exhibition, to ask you several questions, and see if we have a common ground for further cooperation.
Warmly,
Yulia
I am a documentary film producer and a feminist activist from Ukraine.
I am now working on an artistic exhibition that reflects on hierarchies and violence in documentary films/film industry (like various exploitative/exotisizing/colonial gazes, economical injustice regarding labor, etc.), and looking for examples of attempts to make the filmmaking process more horizontal. This exhibition’s idea is rooted in my and my colleagues' experience in documentary filmmaking. I am co-curating this exhibition together with an artist and curator, Valentina Petrova. We are approaching this exhibition from the perspective of intersectional feminism. I would gladly tell you more about the idea, if you are interested.
I have found your website, and am fascinated by your ideas. We would love to see your works! Is that possible? Could you, please, share links to at least some of them? I guarantee confidentiality, if that is what you require.
After seeing your films/newsreels, I would probably ask you for a zoom/skype call, if you could find time, to tell you more about the exhibition, to ask you several questions, and see if we have a common ground for further cooperation.
Warmly,
Yulia
FROM: SASHKO PROTYAH
TO: YULIA SERDYUKOVA
DATE: AUG 8, 2021, 6:20 PM
SUBJECT: ЛІНКИ НА ТЕМУ КОЛЕКТИВНОСТІ В КІНО
TO: YULIA SERDYUKOVA
DATE: AUG 8, 2021, 6:20 PM
SUBJECT: ЛІНКИ НА ТЕМУ КОЛЕКТИВНОСТІ В КІНО
Isiah Medina 88:88 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JInsI3rakY
Interview about the film: https://cinema-scope.com/cinema-scope-magazine/necessary-means-isiah-medina-on-8888/
Excerpts from the director's public speeches: http://kinet.media/diopter/four-talks
Briefly about Maxy Fox: https://www.teenvogue.com/story/fox-maxy-interview
Maat means Land: {reducted}
if it’s something you’re looking for, there is another movie I can upload too
a film about the capture of the Polytechnic {university} in Hong Kong
Inside the Red Brick Wall: {reducted}
by the way, in a sense, our WET friends – it’s also the experience of collective filmmaking:)
Interview about the film: https://cinema-scope.com/cinema-scope-magazine/necessary-means-isiah-medina-on-8888/
Excerpts from the director's public speeches: http://kinet.media/diopter/four-talks
Briefly about Maxy Fox: https://www.teenvogue.com/story/fox-maxy-interview
Maat means Land: {reducted}
if it’s something you’re looking for, there is another movie I can upload too
a film about the capture of the Polytechnic {university} in Hong Kong
Inside the Red Brick Wall: {reducted}
by the way, in a sense, our WET friends – it’s also the experience of collective filmmaking:)
from:Yulia Serdyukova
to: Henriëtta Jonkblutt
date:Aug 13, 2021, 7:48 PM
subject: выставка- эпилог - ссылки
to: Henriëtta Jonkblutt
date:Aug 13, 2021, 7:48 PM
subject: выставка- эпилог - ссылки
I will collect all the interesting links for the epilogue in one place:
1. the Australian collective Karrabing (that's the one whose film you saw in Khashchi)
- film: Day in the Life (2020)
- website: https://karrabing.info/
- interview about their work process: https://culanth.org/fieldsights/filmmaking-and-worldmaking-an-interview-with-the-karrabing-film-collective
- A comment from Lena Syrbu: "I actually found out about them through the Rotterdam festival because they seem to have had a retrospective in 2020, as well as some other public activity connected with their work. This is about how strong the Western institutions are in influencing what gets into our field of vision and what does not".
2. also from Syrbu:
"I also remembered that a couple of years ago we showed a film by the RaFilm team, but it was a Swedish company.
https://rafilm.se/en/about
They showed a film “3 stolen cameras”, it's available online here http://www.3stolencameras.com/the-film/." 3.
3. Rojava Film Commune {films couldn't be found, no response to emails, but it seems this might be exactly the case that Protyah and I were talking about: I really like the ideas they voice in their interviews, and how they describe their approach to filmmaking, but, judging by the trailers, I doubt that the films themselves would be interesting to us... I hope they will send us something to watch}
- Freedom Lecture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7k76wZdYkI&t=4563s
- insta: https://www.instagram.com/kominafilmarojava/?hl=en
4. Newsreel Front (Slovenian Marxists, no films in open access, no response to my email).
https://www.obzorniska-fronta.si/newsreel.html
5. The IDA website article I was retelling to you (about the tendency to confront colonialism/racism/exoticism/exploitation in the doc industry):
https://www.documentary.org/feature/documentary-future-call-accountability
1. the Australian collective Karrabing (that's the one whose film you saw in Khashchi)
- film: Day in the Life (2020)
- website: https://karrabing.info/
- interview about their work process: https://culanth.org/fieldsights/filmmaking-and-worldmaking-an-interview-with-the-karrabing-film-collective
- A comment from Lena Syrbu: "I actually found out about them through the Rotterdam festival because they seem to have had a retrospective in 2020, as well as some other public activity connected with their work. This is about how strong the Western institutions are in influencing what gets into our field of vision and what does not".
2. also from Syrbu:
"I also remembered that a couple of years ago we showed a film by the RaFilm team, but it was a Swedish company.
https://rafilm.se/en/about
They showed a film “3 stolen cameras”, it's available online here http://www.3stolencameras.com/the-film/." 3.
3. Rojava Film Commune {films couldn't be found, no response to emails, but it seems this might be exactly the case that Protyah and I were talking about: I really like the ideas they voice in their interviews, and how they describe their approach to filmmaking, but, judging by the trailers, I doubt that the films themselves would be interesting to us... I hope they will send us something to watch}
- Freedom Lecture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7k76wZdYkI&t=4563s
- insta: https://www.instagram.com/kominafilmarojava/?hl=en
4. Newsreel Front (Slovenian Marxists, no films in open access, no response to my email).
https://www.obzorniska-fronta.si/newsreel.html
5. The IDA website article I was retelling to you (about the tendency to confront colonialism/racism/exoticism/exploitation in the doc industry):
https://www.documentary.org/feature/documentary-future-call-accountability
VALYA:
when we started working on the exhibition, when we began to discussed the structure, we planned (or wished) that at the end, in the epilogue, we would have five (!) doc films about which we could say that they reflect the world through the practices we wanted to be involved in, to share. and then it became clear at some point that we would not find such films, or rather – suspecting that a film has been created in such manner, we would not be able to contact its authors, participants, team – and confirm our guess (or refute it). apart from a not entirely rational sense of disappointment mixed with the feeling that we "haven't worked it out," I can also clearly see a kind of need to believe, perhaps even a need to trust – because if I see these grassroots practices reflecting the self and the world around in the everyday lives of my friends, then they are also used for creating documentaries and art in general, somewhere and probably nearby, too.
from:{REDUCTED}
to: Yulia Serdyukova
date: Nov 6, 2021, 1:48 PM
subject: Re: Fwd: request to watch your works from Ukraine
to: Yulia Serdyukova
date: Nov 6, 2021, 1:48 PM
subject: Re: Fwd: request to watch your works from Ukraine
Dear Yulia,
My name is {REDUCTED} and I am the member of the Newsreel front.
As you have probably noticed, the webpage of the collective has not been updated since 2014, besides, the email is not in used. Today I had to check the status of the domena and found your email.
Anyway if I can help you in any way further please let me know.
I am sending you some of the newsreels and kindly ask you not to share publicly, as they are not online yet.
{REDUCTED}
Here is also our latest A/V online internet project which is freely accessible and for sharing purposes
https://autor.si/newsreel65web.html
My name is {REDUCTED} and I am the member of the Newsreel front.
As you have probably noticed, the webpage of the collective has not been updated since 2014, besides, the email is not in used. Today I had to check the status of the domena and found your email.
Anyway if I can help you in any way further please let me know.
I am sending you some of the newsreels and kindly ask you not to share publicly, as they are not online yet.
{REDUCTED}
Here is also our latest A/V online internet project which is freely accessible and for sharing purposes
https://autor.si/newsreel65web.html
from:Yulia Serdyukova
to:SASHKO PROTYAH
СС:Henriëtta Jonkblutt
Nov 8, 2021, 3:21 PM
subject: Fwd: Re: Fwd: request to watch your works from Ukraine
to:SASHKO PROTYAH
СС:Henriëtta Jonkblutt
Nov 8, 2021, 3:21 PM
subject: Fwd: Re: Fwd: request to watch your works from Ukraine
The guys from Slovenia answered! sent a bunch of links to their work, but no time to look at them :( I'll see when the exhibition opens, and turn in the report...
PROTYAH/YULIA:
(from the recording of the conversation about a grassroots films program for Filma-2022)
P: most people who film and have fun like that, then without any resources they simply leave it and go to work, where they will get some kind of salary, and they don't have to prove that their ideas are worth something.
Y: do you think that some kind of system is still needed, in order to develop and make some conscious statements in cinema?
P: well, yes, but this period when you open yourself up to creative freedom is very necessary. and now I have a feeling that it is getting smaller - this wasteland, which must be crossed ...
Y: why?
P: {silent for a long time} I think more effort is needed to socialize. it is expected that you will have some earnings much earlier, that you already have to be independent earlier – in the sense that you have to serve capital... I do not know how to calculate it
Y: {distracted by Jaqcuotte's meow}
P: {knocks a spoon on a jam jar}
Y: I don't know, I feel like something's bothering her. she's asking for attention... it could be that she is in pain. maybe cystitis again? by the way, this often happens when I am busy. looks like some kind of psychosomatics. when I don't have time to play with her for at least a few minutes a day, she starts to get sick ... it's interesting to think about this grassroots cinema
P: ...I feel that I do not know enough about such groups to be able to unite them in something. didn’t I tell you about the weirdo from Kherson who made a film about crawfish in the style of national geographic? it's looks like a ready-made trip for 40 minutes. {but if to screen it at Filma}, it will be kind of exploitation, because he definitely doesn't think of himself in such a context ...there are even underwater shootings.
P: most people who film and have fun like that, then without any resources they simply leave it and go to work, where they will get some kind of salary, and they don't have to prove that their ideas are worth something.
Y: do you think that some kind of system is still needed, in order to develop and make some conscious statements in cinema?
P: well, yes, but this period when you open yourself up to creative freedom is very necessary. and now I have a feeling that it is getting smaller - this wasteland, which must be crossed ...
Y: why?
P: {silent for a long time} I think more effort is needed to socialize. it is expected that you will have some earnings much earlier, that you already have to be independent earlier – in the sense that you have to serve capital... I do not know how to calculate it
Y: {distracted by Jaqcuotte's meow}
P: {knocks a spoon on a jam jar}
Y: I don't know, I feel like something's bothering her. she's asking for attention... it could be that she is in pain. maybe cystitis again? by the way, this often happens when I am busy. looks like some kind of psychosomatics. when I don't have time to play with her for at least a few minutes a day, she starts to get sick ... it's interesting to think about this grassroots cinema
P: ...I feel that I do not know enough about such groups to be able to unite them in something. didn’t I tell you about the weirdo from Kherson who made a film about crawfish in the style of national geographic? it's looks like a ready-made trip for 40 minutes. {but if to screen it at Filma}, it will be kind of exploitation, because he definitely doesn't think of himself in such a context ...there are even underwater shootings.
VALYA& YULIA:
if you want to join this conversation, or share your thoughts on the exhibition {or on life}, write to us at dokvira.cam@gmail.com
You are typing:
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