SUNDAY 21 SEPTEMBER | 16:00 | SCREENING | FUNDAMENTAL RESISTANCE

Sara Kontar records telephone conversations with her father, left alone in Syria with the ghosts of the past. Eléonore de Montesquiou speaks with Katja, in Narva, a border town between Estonia and Russia. In Marseille, Maïder Fortuné films the Building Canebière, constructed by Fernand Pouillon on the eve of the Algerian war. Conceived as an almost opaque body, the building comes alive with mingled sounds and voices, among them that of James Baldwin. Francisco Rodriguez Teare films friends in a park in Santiago de Chile as they discuss the popular uprising that began in 2019. Enrique Ramirez films the Hall of Honour of the former National Congress, closed during Pinochet’s dictatorship. Chile strives to rid itself of the neoliberal model born of the military dictatorship, in favour of ecology, nature, and social justice, yet change appears impossible. Mahshid Afzali and Mahoor Mirshakkak, departing from an exhibition, propose a reflection on the links between loss, memory, and the lingering echoes of life.

Sara Kontar: 3350 KM | Exp. documentary | hdv | colour | 0:13:00 | Syria / France | 2023

In exile, 7 years away from my father and my homeland, I record our phone conversations. He tells me about the country, his loneliness. My screen unites and separates us, my only window. My memories fade, my life severed, my country inaccessible.

Biography

Sara Kontar is a Syrian artist, photographer, and filmmaker who has been based in France since 2016. She holds a Master's degree in animation cinema from L’École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs de Paris (ENSAD). Her work spans documentary and artistic photography, with international exhibitions and recognition, including the Inge Morath Award.

"3350 KM" is her first experimental documentary, following earlier experimental video works showcased at venues like Centre Pompidou and Palais de Tokyo. Kontar's work explores her roots and the experience of exile, expressing human emotions from a personal and intimate perspective. She is also the founder of "Al-Ayoun," a space for visual storytellers in Syria and the diaspora.

Eléonore de Montesquiou: Phoenix Katja | Exp. documentary | hdv | colour and b&w | 0:12:00 | Estonia | 2024

“I am a phoenix bird. It's hard for me take off and fall.” writes Katja. She is a kindergarten teacher in Narva, a border town between Estonia and Russia. She was born in 1992, with the new Estonian Republic, in a Russian speaking family and environment. Katja considers that her generation was an experiment for the new republic. Today she is trapped between languages that reflect opposite positions about war and peace and freedom.

“I have been filming Katja since 2016. We made a first film together “Eksperiment Katja”. Today we wanted to continue and focus on languages. When I was in Tallinn and Narva at the end of March 2022, shortly after the start of the war in Ukraine, I could see that Katja did not want to express her opinion. Katja lives in Narva, Russian speaking town in Estonia. In Narva people are split today, divided between those listening to voices of Russia or voices of Europe. Katja identifies with a phoenix, a phoenix that is coming back to life like the coexistence of Russian and Estonian speakers in her country.”

Biography

Eleonore de Montesquiou is French-Estonian, she was born in 1970 in Paris.

Her work revolves around the articulation between private and official histories, personal and national identities. It tackles the intricacies and ambiguities of living in the margins, based on her personal experience of up rootedness. Eleonore is primarily working with film, she tapes testimonies, creating prosthetic memories of repressed histories. In her documentary-informed works, her camera becomes the voice of these voiceless people. Her work is based on a documentary approach, translated in films, drawings and texts; it deals mainly with the search for freedom, issues of integration/immigration/meaning of a nation in Estonia, giving voice to the Russian community. Since 2007, she films women living on the Estonian-Russian border town of Narva: “Na Grane”, in 2016, she started working with asylum seekers from French speaking countries in Estonia: “Hope is no home” while pursuing a long time film project in France with peasants in the Haute-Alpes : “Traverses”.

Maïder Fortuné: Boomerang | Video | 4k | colour | 0:13:00 | France | 2024

The inner courtyard of the Canebière building, built by Fernand Pouillon in 1952 as a vision of quality housing for the people. The camera slowly follows the vertical and horizontal lines of the windows. Traces of human presence punctuate the uniformity of the façade (laundry, plants in pots). The rythm suddenly syncopates, accelerates : pendulum movements replace pans, the sounds of steps and voices echoing in the hall reaches a crescendo. The screen turns black, and James Baldwin’s voice, talks in French about the position French society allows Algerians in its midst. Between the wordless images and the imageless words, a common thread : the legacy of people’s struggles in French society, of their claims for dignity and equality.

Biography

Maïder Fortuné, studied literature and theatre (École Jacques Lecoq in Paris) before entering Le Fresnoy National Studio for Contemporary Arts, where she developed a performance-related practice of the technological image. With its great formal rigor, Fortuné’s work commands all the viewer’s attention for a genuine experience of the image and its processes. Recently, her practice turned to more narratives preoccupations. Lecture performances and films deeply rooted in writing, are the mediums she process to open up new narrative strategies.

Her work has been exhibited internationaly (Europe, Brazil, Canada, China, Japan). In 2010 she won the Villa Medicis fellowship in Roma, Italy. Recent shows and performances have been held at Gallery 44, Toronto, Centre Pompidou Paris, and the Toronto International Film Festival.

In 2019, her mid-length film “L’inconnu de Collegno” was part of IFFR Bright Future selection. In 2020, “Communicating Vessels” won the Accomodo Tiger award at IFFR Rotterdam, the Main Award of Moscow International Experimental Film Festival, the Student Award of Black Canvas film festival in Mexico, and was part of Indie Lisboa film festival, FID Marseille film festival, Montreal documentary Film Festival, Bucharest Film Festival. “Outhere (for Lee lozano)” is her last film codirected with Annie Mac Donell.

Francisco Rodriguez Teare: October noon | Exp. documentary | 16mm | colour | 0:12:00 | Chile / France | 2024

A spring afternoon on the San Cristobal hill, in downtown Santiago de Chile. Four friends and a sound engineer talk about the events seen and experienced during the popular revolt that began in 2019 in Chile. The film brings to the surface certain conversations related to any revolution: hope, disillusionment, fire, torture and police violence. The name of the film comes from the poem “April Noon” by Eileen Myles.

Biography

Francisco Rodríguez Teare is a Chilean artist and filmmaker based in France with a moving image practice working predominantly with film, video and installation. Since 2015 he has been creating works and exhibiting them both in film festival circuits and contemporary art contexts.

He has directed the shorts “Appels téléphononiques”, “Una luna de hierro”, “Why are they equipped with eyes ?”, “Octubre al mediodía”, “El oro y el pez”. The video installations and performances “Gois”, “Colored Procession”, “This dream is mine” and the hybrid feature film “Otro sol”.

Recently his work has been presented at film festivals and museums as New Directors/New Films at MoMA, Toronto Film Festival, 62 New York Film Festival, Centre Pompidou, Taipei Biennial, Stedelijk Museum, Cinémathèque Française, Mar del Plata IFF, CPH:DOX, Shanghai IFF, IndieLisboa, FID Marseille, Viennale.

Enrique Ramirez: The Three Memoires | Exp. fiction | 4k | colour | 0:15:54 | Chile / France | 2023

A man with no memory walks through the hall of honor of the former national congress of Chile, a place that was closed during the military dictatorship and that has become an important place again during the writing of the two new failed constitutions in Chile.

In front of him is the famous painting of Pedro Subercaseaux that represents the discovery of Chile, this man without memory tries to remember our national anthem. Through this effort is built this film that seeks to make us travel inside an imaginary landscape in the heart of the History and architecture of the main hall of governmental power in Chile, where all presidents promised a fairer and better country ... this landscape is Chile : an experiment of neoliberalism that, despite everything, continues to breathe on our sky and dream.

Biography

Enrique Ramírez was born in 1979 in Santiago de Chile. Since 2007, he lives and works between Paris (France) and Santiago (Chile). He studied popular music and cinema in Chile before joining the postgraduate master in contemporary art and new media of Le Fresnoy – Studio National des Arts Contemporains (Tourcoing, France). In 2014 he won the discovery price of Les Amis du Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France. He has since exposed in some major places as Le Palais de Tokyo, Centre Pompidou, Espace Culturel Louis Vuitton, Jeu de Paume (Paris) ; and internationaly, at at Kunsthalle Bielefeld (Germany), Kadist (San Francisco), UQAM Gallery (Montreal); in Central and South America (Museo Amparo, Puebla, Mexico; Museo de la memoria, Santiago ; Parque de la memoria en Argentina, Buenos Aires).

In 2017, he is invited to the 57th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia curated by Christine Macel, Ramírez was nominated for the Marcel Duchamp Prize 2020.

In 2023, three works by Enrique Ramírez joined the collections of the Centre Pompidou (Paris). His work are in prestigious collections such as the Pinault Collection (Paris); MoMA (New York); Kadist Foundation (Paris, San Francisco); Musée national de l'histoire de l'immigration (Paris); MAC-VAL (Vitry); Pérez Art Museum (Miami); Museo Ampáro (Puebla); The Ama Foundation (Santiago), Fundación Engel (Santiago), Collection Itaú cultural (São Paulo), Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos (Santiago); Fonds d'art contemporain - Paris Collections; FRAC (PACA, Bretagne, Nouvelle- Aquitaine).

In 2022, Enrique had a major solo exhibition at Le Fresnoy in dialogue with works from the Pinault collection (curated by Caroline Bourgeois, Pascale Pronnier and Enrique Ramírez).

Mahshid Afzali, Mahoor Mirshakkak: A Moment of Exposure | Exp. documentary | hdv | colour | 0:20:00 | Iran | 2024

“A moment of exposure” is about observing the experience of living an idea and gathering materials for an art installation. The camera, as an attentive observer, collects memories and associations related to the "Safe & Sound" multimedia interactive exhibition.

Following the process of preparation, presentation, and dismantling of the installation, we seek visual and sensory origins. In the first part of the exhibition, a spatial arrangement features elements such as metal fence sculptures, archived photos of fences in graveyards, and videos of deceased creatures floating in water. These elements are gently dissected to uncover the roots of safety and any remnants of movement left after death.

In the second part, different sounds can be heard by interactive audiences resting in bed-shaped sound boxes, prompting questions about the origins of these sounds. Each sound carries the weight of a past incident, reverberating in the space and creating an immersive experience.

Ultimately, the film invites viewers to reflect on the connections between memory, loss, and the lingering echoes of life. It encourages an exploration of how we find safety in remembrance and the ways in which our past shapes our present.

Biography

Mahshid Afzali is an Iranian video artist and filmmaker, based in Tehran. She graduated from University of Tehran with a B.A. degree of Scenic Design in 2018. Throughout her studies, she developed a passion for video art as a medium for self-expression. In the past few years she specialized in independent film production and post-production and created several documentary films and videos. Mahshid is also an archivist, and documents her life through videos and photographs that often serve as the foundation for her artworks.

Mahoor Mirshakkak is an Iranian freelance filmmaker & sound designer, graduated in painting from Tehran Fine Arts University. She is currently working on multidisciplinary installations based on archived sound and videos.