Exploring and expanding the dynamic concept of documentary, the filmmakers are continuously experimenting with expressive ways of grasping reality with and through images. The films in this program look for novel approaches to storytelling, using both archival and contemporary images. Some filmmakers mine the home movies for personal, moving stories of coming of age, generational tensions, parental challenges, or for piecing together the experiences of war-torn, dispersed communities (Apolonia, Apolonia; A Life Like Any Other; Silent House; Deserters). Others repurpose official newsreels and found footage for presenting new takes on global historical ruptures – such as the rise of fascism and anti-colonial wars (The March on Rome, Ciné-Guerrillas: Scenes from the Labudović Reels) or dramatic personal experiences, such as losing a child to mental illness (Falling). Following the vérité legacy of Jean Rouch, among others, documentary filmmakers increasingly make the very filmmaking their focus of analysis and engagement (Arsenie. An Amazing Afterlife, The Other Profile, Dancing on the Edge of a Volcano). Such experiments allow for novel, performative approaches which explore coexisting, plural takes on the world as well as prompt the audience to reflect on the multitudes of filming possibilities and ways of transforming reality into images.
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