KASKcinema, Gent

Cherry Blossoms shows, never forcefully and always deeply human, that cinema and language can be cut from the same poetic cloth and that there is a non-Western alternative to the work pressure we all experience: tranquility as a form of resistance.

An unnamed man in his thirties travels down from Albania in the summer to the Lithuanian tranquility of his home village to spend time with his parents. His arrival is neither unwanted nor remarkable. Community Gardens reads like fertile ground for nihilism, but through small, often dry gestures of rapprochement and affection, Katkus shows that even in alienation and monotony, there is a fascinating world to discover.

Stan Brakhage’s films seek to encourage viewers to ignore traditional narrative structure in favour of pure visual perception and a visceral experience. Strongly inspired by the paintings of Gunter Forg, the hand-painted work Dark Night of The Soul depicts a dark brown wall, littered with yellowed images of other interiors, next to multicoloured holes that offer a glimpse of the outside world behind the shifting facade. 

For his contribution to the omnibus film RO.GO.PA.G (1963), Pier Paolo Pasolini depicts Orson Welles making a film about the crucifixion of Jesus, while he, the cast, and the crew behave very unholy. La Ricotta is a short, apocalyptic tirade against the customs of professional filmmaking and the unchristian coldness of contemporary Christianity.

In the silent avant-garde film Garden of Luxor, Derek Jarman creates an imaginary Arabian garden by superimposing various images like old postcards from Egypt, and discarded images from ancient sword-and-sandal epics. This strange garden gets destroyed occasionally by a man with a whip, or by people smoking and eating insects. This is Jarman’s take on the Garden of Luxor and its mysteries.

Kobarweng or Where Is Your Helicopter? stems from Johan Grimonprez’s visit to Papua New Guinea in 1986. Upon arrival in the village of Pepera, a local villager asked him, “Where is your helicopter?” Grimonprez later learned that a group of anthropologists had come to the village by helicopter in 1959, an event that left a lasting impression on the Indigenous people.

Lois Weber was the very first female to shoot a feature film and build a rich Hollywood oeuvre that is often compared to that of D.W. Griffith in quality and quantity. A woman of many talents, she began her career in music and theater. Her revolutionary use of split screen, which she pioneered, made her work iconic.

Suzan Pitt, first a painter and fashion designer, later became an icon within the animation world. Her surreal sensations create worlds where nothing is what it seems. The physical rawness, sharp sense of humour, and kaleidoscopic use of colour define a body of work full of new forms.

In July 1982, the Israeli army besieged Beirut. Journalist and filmmaker Jocelyne Saab watched her home burn down. One hundred and fifty years of family history went up in smoke. She seeks refuge in questions: when did this all start? How did the people of Beirut experience the siege? Each place then becomes a story, and each name is a memory.

In So Can I, Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami combines live-action and animation. While two schoolboys watch animated animals (such as jumping kangaroos and swimming fish) on TV, one boy says, “I can do that too,” and then imitates the actions. Kiarostami’s son Ahmad plays the second, silent boy.

A group of children meets at the Sirkhane Darkroom Workshop for analogue photography. Asli Baykal delicately records their apparently carefree days while learning about the mysteries of the art form.

On May 27th, 2019, Paul Shemisi and Nizar Saleh, half of the Belgian-Congolese film collective Collectif Faire-Part, landed at Luanda airport in Angola. Despite a scheduled connecting flight, the duo will only take off again two days later to continue their journey to Frankfurt.

A man finds himself haunted by a mysterious black tower in London that appears to follow him wherever he goes.

Fifty-nine-year-old factory worker Beryl is totally obsessed with drawing, and her fixation dominates the entire household. Apart from her husband, her model and muse, every member of the family is addicted to something.

A classic from the oeuvre of one of the comic pioneers of silent cinema.

A devastating portrait of the artist's niece, haunted by the abuse she suffered as a child and the passivity of the family members who allowed it to continue.

A young man approaches some sailors, who eventually turn on him, strip him naked and beat him to death. Subsequently, fireworks explode.