06/08/2023

A stagnating city, trying to come out of the shell crumble; with the wish to reclaim it, a young boy naively guides us through his day in Valparaiso while there is a wild world outside waiting for him to grow out of the ghosts of the past; a hasty journey through the eyes of someone that gradually is losing sight; an array of pictures that hardly can be connected pleading the viewer to imagine themselves as an ocean. 

These were the journeys viewers had the chance to glance through the big screen at Kino Lumbardhi yesterday, and this collection under the title Eyes Wide Open is part of the sample of films developed in Le Fresnoy’s National Studio of Contemporary Arts in France.

Le Fresnoy, active since 1997, is a space to develop practices and expand the notions of how many artistic genres can be intertwined. Dedicated to the advancement of artistic expression, many post-graduate students have the chance to work and perfect their work while confiding in the experimental approach where personal practices are highly valued.

At DokuFest they showed four films on Saturday, but as it was said at the presentation of this selection, many of you can spot films that are influenced or worked at Le Fresnoy during this week of screenings.

Starting with “The mutability of all things and the possibility of changing some” by Anna Marziano, we delve into the story of the city of Abruzzi in Italy and its aftermath after the earthquake in 2009. The film presents a series of readings of old classical authors in modern and remote settings as a reflection on how can we use what is produced as knowledge, as an archival tool in our modern societies, or how can transform them. A rather heartfelt approach, a love letter to a city that speaks in resistance and with a desire to use what has been already created to host a new future. 

Continuing with “What Drives Us” directed by Anaïs-Tohé Commaret, we follow Branco who lives in Valparaiso and tells us his daily life, with a hopeful smile and incomparable joy in finding humor in everything he does. We follow him through his camera but also his surroundings when he always us to see his parents, friends, and the city emerging in sad, mysterious daily life sowed with the memories of a harsh political past.

After this compelling narrative, we follow “Be My Eyes” directed by Lea Collect, where we connect with Giles who suffers from an eye disease. This unique and frightening experience allows us to reflect upon the abilities we gain and lose through this process. We can feel sight fade away, but how can we grasp the nuances of this world while coming to terms with a foreseeable end? Slowly but surely there is an escape and this film gives glimpses of curiosity to what can we become and how can we adapt to loss at large.

Closing with “One Thousand and One Attempts to be an Ocean” directed by Wang Yuyan the audience had the chance to experience an experimental approach to images and bits of sounds split, spliced, and rejoiced in newer and newer ways. So to expand the meaning of continuity, the abrupt thought of human beings displayed as information receivers and to think of ourselves as something more. As a means to overpower the necessity of relaxation through repetitive content, instead, we can become a wave to better handle the urge to fall into the void that social media can be.

By: Blerina Kanxha

Photo: Malda Lika