Bodies : a Chronicle
The body is an emblem. It can express the unease within civilization, act as a sign of vulnerability and of an ever increasing marginalization of people. But the body is also our closest reality as well as the raw material of cinema.
There are two categories in this section that group together feature films and documentaries from Asia, Africa and South Awedica. On the one hand, realistic works in which the sick, manhandled, oppressed, attacked or disrupted body tells of social isolation and its consequences, and on the other hand, dream-like films about malaise and the emptiness of the soul are conveyed by absent, prohibited, converse bodies.
All these movies have in common the fact that they begin in the physical or psychological intimacy of the body, and that distinctive stories and forms are created out of these. The body is never shown in a trivial light or solely because of its power to fascinate.
The body incarnates the spirit and appears as the locus of human dignity.
Bashing
Masahiro Kobayashi
fic, Japan, 2005, 82', 35mm, Fr./Engl. subtitles
First screening in Switzerland
Back from Iraq where she was taken hostage, a young woman is held up to
a social opprobrium that implacably bans her from Japanese society. Her
humanitarian involvement in this faraway conflict generates a violent incomprehension
from family members, friends, employers or anonymous citizens. Based on
the real misadventures of Japanese volunteers kidnapped in Iraq in 2004,
this free adaptation depicts a situation that westerners find hard to believe.
Celluloïd dreams/France, T + 33 1 49 70 03 70, pascale@celluloid-dreams.com
CAC Simon, sun 12, 5.30 pm - CAC Langlois, mon 13, 10 pm - CAC Langlois, tue 14, 10 pm
Conte de cinéma
Hong Sang-soo
fic, South Korea, 2005, 90', 35mm, Fr. subtitles
First screening in Switzerland
A young student meets again with the girl he loved when he was a teenager
and attempts to commit suicide with her. At the same time, a failed filmmaker
forces his attention on an actress, suggesting that they die together, just
as in the movie she played in.
Hong Sang-soo returns with one of the enigmatic films that are his specialty,
where the viewer begins to question the status of the events he sees. Are
they dreams or memories? Are they part of a movie that the characters are
watching? But it doesn't seem very important to dispel these ambiguities,
as the director's art in conveying subtle emotions is at its peak.
MK2/France, T + 33 1 44 67 30 11, birgit.kemner@mk2.com
Scala, mon 13, 4.30 pm - wed 15, 9.15 pm
Doppelganger
Kiyoshi Kurosawa
fic, Japan, 2003, 103', 35mm, Fr./Engl. subtitles
First screening in Switzerland
A mysterious figure appears to a medical engineer, who is laboriously working
on perfecting an artificial human body, and introduces itself as the man's
double. Terrified by what he believes to be a warning of his death, the
engineer vainly tries to get rid of it. But, his double keeps coming back,
visible only to him, promising to make his dreams come true.
Mirovision/Japon, T + 82 2 737 25 68, F + 82 2 3775 4151,nelly@mirovision.com
CAC Simon, sat 11, 1 pm - mon 13, 5.30 pm - fri 17, 5.30 pm
Eli, eli, lema sabachthani?
Shinji Aoyama
fic, Japan, 2005, 107', 35mm, Fr. subtitles
First screening in Switzerland
In 2015, Japan is experiencing an epidemic of suicides caused by a mysterious
virus. Hoping to save his granddaughter, an old man approaches two young
sound artists. The sick people who listen to their noise music, made of
recorded nature sounds and screams, see their symptoms diminish and sometimes
even disappear.
Frenetic/Suisse, T + 01 488 44 14, mail@frenetic.ch
CAC Simon, sun 12, 3.30 pm - mon 13, 7.30 pm - sat 18, 3.30 pm
Gozu
Takashi Miike
fic, Japan, 2003, 125', 35mm, Fr. subtitles
First screening in Switzerland
At the end of an argument between thugs from a yakuza gang, a hired hand
sees his beloved boss' corpse disappear mysteriously. Alone, stuck in an
unknown village, he tries to find the body by following intriguing clues
that prove hard to decipher. The entire plot is made up of enigmas shaped
as strange events, weird attitudes or peculiar characters, that turn up
like fateful signs and add to the anti-hero's mounting paranoia. The story
has a symbolic and dream-like tone that immerses the spectator into a world
with no fear of visual excess, be it in its phobias or its repressed desires.
Pretty Pictures/France, T + 33 1 43 14 10 00 , anne-cecile@prettypictures.fr
Spoutnik, mon 13, 10.15 pm - wed 15, 10.15 pm - sun 19, 8 pm
Grain in Ear
Zhang Lu
fic, China-Korea, 2005, 109', 35mm, Fr. subtitles
First screening in Switzerland
A young woman of Korean ancestry lives with her little boy in a small Chinese
city, earning a living with great difficulty from a food cart installed
on a bicycle. While trying to make her professional situation legal, she
meets a married man with the same origins. Her struggle seems endless, as
the minimalist plot unrolls in the fatal destiny that awaits her, in this
subtle and dramatic mise-en-scène.
Ceo - Doo Entertainment/République de Corée, Choi Doo-young, T + 82 2 53
65 75 36, filmdoo@yahoo.co.kr
Scala, tue 14, 4.30 pm - fri 17, 9.15 pm
La terre abandonnée (The Forsaken Land)
Vimukthi Jayasundara
fic, Sri Lanka, 2005, 108', 35mm, Fr. subtitles
First screening in Switzerland
A ceasefire brings temporary peace in a land devastated by a 20 year war.
A young soldier shares his guardhouse with a man traumatized by his past.
He lives with his unemployed sister, who stays at home or walks in the forest,
and with his wife whom he no longer touches. One day, on the army's orders,
he kills someone whose identity he should not know.
Winner of the Caméra d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival last year, this first
feature film impresses by its solemn beauty and radical stance; a visual
poem that puts into images what words are powerless to express.
Onoma/France, T + 33 1 58 18 34 90 , F + 33 1 45 25 99 70, cecile.penavayre@onomainternational.com
Spoutnik, sat 11, 8 pm - sun 12, 2 pm - sat 18, 2 pm
Madame Satã
Karim Aïnouz
fic, Brasil, 2002, 104', 35mm, Fr. subtitles
Based on Joao Francisco de Santos' life, who lived in Rio de Janeiro in
the 1930s , this feature crushes the cliché of the delicate and fragile
homosexual. A three time Queen of the Carnival, father of seven adopted
children, a singer and a comedian, Madame Sata is also the dread of policemen
and a frequent occupant in the city's prisons. Always dressed in a silk
shirt, skin-tight pants, a panama hat and sandals with wooden heels, he
was one of Rio's most renowned bandits.
Vega Film/Suisse, T + 044 384 80 60, diehl@vegafilm.com
Spoutnik, sat 11, 2 pm - wed 15, 8 pm
Oasis
Lee Chang-dong
fic, South Korea, 2002, 132', 35mm, Fr. subtitles
First screening in Switzerland
A simple minded man falls in love with a handicaped woman when he leaves
prison. At the same time banal and out of the ordinary, their relationship
runs up against the pettiness and narrow mindedness of family and so called
normal people.
The story always walks a tightrope, radically opposing the cold, narrow
minded Korean society and the altruistic and poetic lovers. The cruel unfairness
that the protagonists experience isn't used to make the viewer feel sad
and full of pity; it is meant to change our outlook on people with a particular
mental behavior, and to give them a freedom with respect to their bodies
and a dignity that is often denied to them. In a simple and brilliant way,
the filmmaker breaks down the taboos regarding love and sexuality in this
type of relationship. A masterpiece in the defense of singularity against
standardized cynicism.
Les Grands Films Classiques/France, T + 33 1 45 24 43 24, F + 33 1 45 25
49 73, grands.films.classiques@wanadoo.fr
Scala, tue 14, 9.15 pm - thu 16, 9.15 pm - fri 17, 4.30 pm
Relatos desde el encierro (Tales from the inside)
Guadalupe Miranda
doc, Mexico, 2004, 78', beta sp, Fr. subtitles
First screening in Switzerland
In the Puente Grande federal women's prison, a few inmates speak of their
life in this female rehabilitation center. They give an account of their
living conditions and share their outlook on life.
This documentary by a woman filmmaker doesn't delve into the dark side of
prison or display any feminist compassion. She manages to bring out a strong
contrast between the prison's communal life and the prisoners' former way
of being. The filmmaker also takes a deep look at the concept of freedom
for women in today's Mexican society.
Azizanur/Mexique, T/F + 52 55 56 06 39 06, azizanur@yahoo.com.mx
Spoutnik, sun 12, 4 pm - mon 13, 6 pm
Sangre
Amat Escalante
fic, Mexico, 2005, 90', 35mm, Fr./Engl. subtitles
First screening in Switzerland
She's a waitress in a fast-food restaurant. He records the number of people
entering a large administrative building. In the evening, they meet up on
the couch to watch soap operas. Sometimes they make love on the kitchen
table. And then one day, his daughter shows up, wanting to live with her
father…
Funny Balloons/France, T + 33 1 40 13 05 84, info@funny-balloons.com
CAC Langlois, sat 11, 8 pm - thu 16, 10 pm - sun 19, 3.30 pm
The Taste of Tea
Ishii Katsuhito
fic, Japan, 2004, 143', 35mm, Fr. subtitles
Everybody in the Haruno family has a specialty. Between two songs, the grandfather
strikes poses reminiscent of super heroes in action. The father makes a
living with hypnosis. The mother launches a late career drawing mangas.
The youngest daughter thinks she is hounded by a huge double of herself,
and the older son tries to resist his raging hormones.
The author's seemingly limitless imagination uses all kinds of formal tricks,
from cartoon inserts to music video montages. A Japanese story that shows
a consummate mastery of the absurd.
The Klockworx Co/Japon, T + 81 3 5720 7791 / F + 81 3 5720 7792, kana@klockworx.com
Spoutnik, sun 12, 8 pm - sat 18, 8 pm
Toro Negro
Pedro Gonzàlez-Rubio, Carlos Armella
doc, Mexico, 2005, 87', beta sp, Fr./Eng. Subtitles
First screening in Switzerland
In the remotest part of the Mexican provinces, a pathetic, 23 year old toreador,
El Negro, is burning up his life between second rate countryside bullfights
and a destructive alcoholism. He seems barely 15 but bears the scars of
a 40 year old fighter. The father of two children he is forbidden to see,
he is awaiting a third with an older companion. His life and his relationship
with his partner are always on the brink of disaster because of dangerous
bullfights and of the violence his interactions with his girlfriend; this
introduces a constant tension in the film and lend it a raw, striking character.
Scalpel Films/France, T + 33 1 43 66 40 30, info@scalpel-films.com
CAC Langlois, sat 11, 10 pm - wed 15, 5.30 pm
Un año sin amor (A year without love)
Anahì Berneri
fic, Argentina, 2005, 95', 35mm, Fr./Engl. subtitles
First screening in Switzerland
A young gay poet begins to systematically chronicle his precarious life,
his failing health and his short-lived affairs as the AIDS virus spreads
through his body. Attracted by the S&M scene, he hangs out in a club that
brings him intense yet confused thrills. The hero's fascination for unconventional
practices becomes very acute, as does the sensation of living that this
ritualized cruelty brings him.
Bavaria Media/Allemagne , T + 49 89 64 99 37 52, sales@bavaria-film.de
CAC Simon, sat 11, 10 pm - thu 16, 5.30 pm - sat 18, 10 pm
Une fenêtre ouverte
Khady Sylla
doc, Senegal/France, 2005, 52', beta sp, Fr. subtitles
First screening in Switzerland
Fascinated by the sheer number of madmen walking the streets of Dakar, the
filmmaker makes a strangely overexposed film about madness before sinking
into the illness herself. She attempts to document her own experience by
looking at the experience of a friend who used to publicly display her madness
and is now living as a recluse with her family.
By closely following her paranoid friend, to whom her family never speaks,
she lingers on the loneliness and the silence that await her. Her technique
is drastic: we live with the sick woman, examine with the filmmaker the
meaning of each movement of her face, and between two shots of silent distress,
see close-ups of the filmmaker voicing her feelings. This could be disturbing,
but the filmmaker is a veritable poet and transcends pain and madness by
the strength of her words.
Athenaïse/France, T + 33 1 41 72 02 75, athenaises@aol.com