Filmmaking, like all art forms, has the ability to act as a powerful form of catharsis. Cinema also invites us as viewers to relate on an individual level to another person's complex expressions of grief – and sometimes to process our own grief through works that carry no direct connection to loss. In this lies the potential for a transcendent experience, both wholly singular yet universal. Even when we are faced with a relentless ocean of feelings and thoughts, cinema can buoy us as we drift in the waves.
This program, curated by L'Etna member Malo Sutra Fish in collaboration with AgX members Stefan Grabowski and Genevieve Carmel, includes a selection of six films relating to grief in various forms, made by experimental filmmakers from the French artist-run film labs L’Etna, L’Abominable, MTK, and Labo K. Co-presented by Balagan Films.
Malo Sutra Fish will be in attendance for a post-screening Q&A.
Doors open at 7pm, program starts at 7:30pm
Free with a $5 - $20 suggested donation to support AgX and the visiting programmer.
PROGRAM:
BLADE, 2004, Sébastien Cros, Fabrice Hérédia & Carole Arcega (L’Etna), 7 min, b&w, sound, 16mm
Night dance to a saber’s blade. A woman is fighting in the thickness of the emulsion.
Programming note: This film was never conceived around the idea of grief. Yet, I have always interpreted it as the battle one must face when dealing with the relentlessness of grief; Martial Arts as the best tool against pain. – Malo Sutra Fish
UNE SAISON SANS GUY, 2018, Noémy, Alida, Léo and Manuel Aubry (L’Abominable), 12 min, color, sound, digital
Three days before they are due to leave their village and family home following Guy's death, the members of his family salute the lands where they grew up. Caught between the stupor of death, the indecency of the world continuing to turn and the departure from home, they face this season to come. Frozen gestures and pack-like bodies reach out to one another.
ARCHIVISTES, 2023, Maude Gallon (Labo K), 3’00, b&w, sound, 16mm
It’s in our hair that our memory and memories reside longest, whether we want to part with them or retain them.
À L'HORIZON DES ÉVÉNEMENTS, 2023, Laëtitia Foligné (Labo K), 8 min, b&w, sound, Super 8
The gateway to the distortion of space and time, the event horizon lies at the entrance to a black hole. The starting point of the journey, from which we can alter the past and see the future differently...The moment when a new beginning is still possible.
BORGO, 2019, Lucie Leszlez (L’Abominable & MTK), 4 min, b&w, silent, 35mm
Views of everyday life, Borgo Panigale, the road to the San Vitale Gate in Bologna and a breakaway: the Apennins, Portivy. A tremor of the photographed landscapes accompanies the appearance and disappearance of images seeking their frame.
AGUA DE VINAGRE, 2021-2022, Frédérique Menant (L’Abominable), 40 min, color, sound, digital
A woman walks through islands’ landscapes in which intimate territories of grief are being drawn. What do we make of the dead who still live in us? How do we live at the same time with and without them? How can we be present to the world with this abyss?
approx runtime: 74 mins
VISITING PROGRAMMER BIO:
Malo Sutra Fish (b. 1985) is a French artist currently based in Paris. She has lived and worked in NYC for more than 4 years, and 2 years in Portland, Oregon. Educated at the Lycée International de St-Germain-En-Laye, she also holds a bachelor’s degrees in both Art History & Art Distribution. She has worked in film distribution, film production, stage production, film and photography festivals, publishing, and translation.
PLEASE NOTE:
Masks are strongly encouraged at this event to help protect the most vulnerable among our community. If you are hoping to attend but feel that you need a specific accommodation of any sort, please do not hesitate to reach out to hi[at]agxfilm.org.