Competition programme №6

Many cities or countries have a distinct malaise. They are places that could be Portugal, so sunk in a painful longing of the past, and where each tension of the present is only the tip of an iceberg that is explained in successive retreats that can go straight until origin of the species, at least. This feeling common to many latitudes is often presented as a diagnosis, a denial of a painful present as opposed to the desire to return to a glorious past. (Pedro Penim)

The thing about Ghost stories is that they are often the product of localized subjectivities, united by geographical, regional or internet niches, coming together to create a story that is passed on over time. Often, ghosts and spirits are tools for resisting oppressive power from empires or dominant tribes of people.
A cave in Northern Thailand has a few of these ghost stories. The most famous one – about a princess, "who lay down in agony, waiting for her lover, and became the goddess of the cave". This is the cave where the kids were trapped. The cave sits in a border area, home to a large population of stateless people and ethnic minorities – three of the kids fled Burma as refugees. This year, the cave was home to many forces. The state, which is now a military-run government, became the protagonist of the story, shaping the narrative to support an election planned for February 2019 – the first since the coup. Spirit mediums, monks, and ghosts of Thailand were there, shoulder-to- shoulder with the American military, international capitalist Elon Musk and his staff, the state scientists.

By turns raucous and reserved, 'I Hope I'm Loud When I'm Dead' ponders the future of a world in flux as seen through the eyes of motherhood accented by poets CAConrad and Eileen Myles.

The film UMBRA deals with rare and common optical phenomena that occur in nature. These phenomena evoke familiar images such as shadows or reflections on a water surface; but also unusual ones like the "Brocken spectre" or the pinhole effect during a solar eclipse. These ancient and natural projections can be considered as pre-cultural and independent of any apparatus. They occurred even before mankind and are united by their intangible, ephemeral presence. In their immateriality and fragility, they are precursors of the cinematic image. The film UMBRA develops a visual dialogue between phenomenon and apparatus, archetype and image, self and self-perception.