Three experimental short films: A luxury hotel room dreams of idyllic holiday destinations; an airplane feels the weight of time, starts to panic, and hijacks itself for an unmanned flight into an existential crisis; as it slowly dies, a data centre hallucinates the Internet before finally fizzling out forever.
Through a mediumistic channelling of sound, image, and text, filmmaker Michael Bucuzzo interweaves a performative lecture with these films compiled from American commercials, archive footage, and movies. He suggests that many of our fears, dreams, and desires are shaped by mass media—film and television—to such an extent that we can only live our lives filtered through it. The risk is that we will be overwhelmed by visual pollution and overdose on auditory stimulation.
It’s no coincidence that in Bucuzzo’s films, humanity is notable for its complete absence. The media need only each other and are only concerned with the media. People are no longer necessary to bring new images into the world.
IDFA X De Balie
IDFA X De Balie: The Zola Experience + Q&A
The ambiguous play within a play contributes to the realization that there may actually be no distinction between reality and fiction. What role are we playing ourselves?
IDFA X De Balie: The Klezmer Project + Concert Amsterdam Klezmer Band
An Argentinian wedding videographer has absolutely no interest in his Jewish background until he falls in love with clarinetist Paloma Schachmann. She specializes in klezmer music.
IDFA X De Balie: Gerlach + Talk
Surrounded by the advancing exponents of modernity—distribution centers, highways, multinationals – he moves through the seasons at his own pace. We follow Gerlach for several years.
