07.
02.
2024.
Department
Direction
Direction
The projects, ROOM 404 produced by vnLab and GRANDMAMAUNTSISTERCAT developed at vnLab and produced by the Educational Films Studio in Łódź, are in the prestigious section of the Berlin festival.
The Expanded Forum runs from 15 to 25, February and is part of BERLINALE, one of the most important film festivals in the world. “The Forum and Forum Expanded aim to expand knowledge of what film is, test the boundaries of convention and open new perspectives which will help us understand cinema and its relationship with the world in new ways. Programmes can include anything that serves these purposes: contemporary and historical film, analogue and digital film, installations, performance and music," the organizers write.
This year's edition of Forum Expanded includes projects implemented and developed by vnLab operating at the Lodz Film School:
ROOM 404
Elysa Wendi and Lee Wai Shing
Production: vnLab, Lodz Film School
The passage of the new security law in 2020 marked a major change for Hong Kong residents. This two-year process brought about a reality which would not have materialised until 2046. This raw, unexpected acceleration has fuelled feelings of anxiety. The fear of prosecution mixed with the impulse to self-censor, and the desire to leave grappled with a sense of loss. Room 404 is an essayistic response to the documentary Room 525 made by the same artists during an artist residency in Hong Kong in 2019, when social unrest was on the rise. The film is a transition from a documentary to an essay, from the real space of room 525 to the reality identified with the most common error of the digital era: 404: File Not Found. The desire to express the objective truth about the situation that guided the creators experiencing the cataclysm gives way to doubts which have arisen in the world since the cataclysm.
About the project berlinale.de/en/2024/programme
See the trailer: vimeo.com
GRANDMAMAUNTSISTERCAT
Zuza Banasińska
Production: Educational Films Studio in Łódź
Project developed at vnLab.
The classic Slavic witch figure, Baba Yaga, was reimagined as a prehistoric goddess from the time of matriarchy. This transformation provokes multi-layered reflections on kinship and identity as the child navigates binary gender roles. Women in the family find a home in the archive, engaging in a process of creating themselves and a world which transforms often sexist and anthropocentric images into tools of freedom and resistance.
About the project berlinale.de/en/2024/programme
ed. JK
still 1 - ROOM 404
still 2 - GRANDMAMAUNTSISTERCAT
This year's edition of Forum Expanded includes projects implemented and developed by vnLab operating at the Lodz Film School:
ROOM 404
Elysa Wendi and Lee Wai Shing
Production: vnLab, Lodz Film School
The passage of the new security law in 2020 marked a major change for Hong Kong residents. This two-year process brought about a reality which would not have materialised until 2046. This raw, unexpected acceleration has fuelled feelings of anxiety. The fear of prosecution mixed with the impulse to self-censor, and the desire to leave grappled with a sense of loss. Room 404 is an essayistic response to the documentary Room 525 made by the same artists during an artist residency in Hong Kong in 2019, when social unrest was on the rise. The film is a transition from a documentary to an essay, from the real space of room 525 to the reality identified with the most common error of the digital era: 404: File Not Found. The desire to express the objective truth about the situation that guided the creators experiencing the cataclysm gives way to doubts which have arisen in the world since the cataclysm.
About the project berlinale.de/en/2024/programme
See the trailer: vimeo.com
GRANDMAMAUNTSISTERCAT
Zuza Banasińska
Production: Educational Films Studio in Łódź
Project developed at vnLab.
The classic Slavic witch figure, Baba Yaga, was reimagined as a prehistoric goddess from the time of matriarchy. This transformation provokes multi-layered reflections on kinship and identity as the child navigates binary gender roles. Women in the family find a home in the archive, engaging in a process of creating themselves and a world which transforms often sexist and anthropocentric images into tools of freedom and resistance.
About the project berlinale.de/en/2024/programme
ed. JK
still 1 - ROOM 404
still 2 - GRANDMAMAUNTSISTERCAT