dir. Rafal Morusiewicz / Austria, Poland 2017 / 47′ (UK premiere)
This mash-up work of experimental re-searching unearths the frenetic, oppressive mood of political and social realities in 1952-1989 Poland and Hungary, through fragments of queer desire and the resistance of our very existence.
The work combines samples of banned and rare films Hands Up! (dir. Jerzy Skolimowski, 1982), How Far Away, How Near (dir. Tadeusz Konwicki, 1971), and Another View (dir. Karoly Makk and Janos Xantus, 1982) and more than a dozen other films, texts and tracks to create a passionate, suspicious tapestry of hauntings, dreams, fragments and provocations.
«Would you like to hear a story?» we are asked again and again… but the happy ending does not come, the train will not leave the station, and the Palace of Culture and Science looms askance overhead. A powerful, mesmerising first feature that premiered as an installation at the Research Pavilion of this year’s Venice Biennale.
Short before the feature
A Queering of Memory: Parts 1 & 2 / dir. Timothy Smith / UK 2017 / 14′
Distortions of history and narrative truth across distance and experience are called into question in this reflective essay film on queering of historical and cultural memory.
PART ONE: OONAGH. A queer re-interpretation of the folklore surrounding the landscape of The Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland.
PART TWO: MARY. A family feud across continents and time.
Followed by a Q&A with directors Rafal Morusiewicz and Timothy Smith.
Supported by the Austrian Cultural Forum London
