SCREENING AND LECTURE
20. 05. 2014 + 20:00 + Hardenbergstr. 33, Raum 9
- 1. Al Intithar/The Waiting, 30 min, 2013: The Syrian refugee camp Zaatari lies seven kilometres to the south of the Syrian border in the Jordanian desert. Living conditions in the camp are by no means easy and the refugees are far away from their husbands and sons, many of whom have stayed behind to fight.The film’s protagonist is a widow from Homs whose husband was killed in an attack by the Syrian army. Director Mario Rizzi followed this widow’s life at the camp for seven weeks. Life’s rhythms are dictated by the place, and life here is all about waiting.
- 2. Limina, 22 min, 2008: In this short film, rich of dark humor and irony, aliens are becoming Dutch citizens, while being taught how to perform their „new self“. Habits and customs that constitute and hold communities together turn into ridiculously empty gestures when exposed as pure performative acts. Over and over again we are reminded of the hard fact that nothing is as it appears, that subjects and realities are complex and can’t be taken for granted, and that truth and the real are no static, absolute concepts but dynamic ones, in constant making in our daily encounters with the „others“ and in the seemingly impossible realm of human relations.
- 3. impermanent, 15 min, 2007: Ali Akilah is 96 years old and lives in Amman. He was born and lived in Lifta, the Palestinian village whose area today corresponds to West and North Jerusalem. While he recalls the events of his life, his words and feelings are infused with a sense of uprootedness and „permanent impermanence“. The short film was inspired by Giorgio Agamben’s writings on the „state of exception“.
Mario Rizzi was born in Italy and is now based in Berlin, Germany. He studied classics and psychology before turning his attention to photography at Ecole de la Photographie, Arles, France and the Slade School of Fine Arts, London, UK.
Rizzi’s photographs, films and video installations explore the impact of neo-liberal globalisation on individual lives through intimate, personal narratives. Rizzi collects these stories during extensive stays in the locations where his subjects live. He develops relationships with these ‚unknown‘ people and uses their everyday actions to illustrate the pressures of global conditions.
Rizzi’s work has been exhibited at Open Space, Vienna, Austria (2012), National Centre for Contemporary Arts, Saint Petersburg, Russia (2011), SALT Beyoğlu, Istanbul, Turkey (2011), Podbielski Contemporary, Berlin, Germany (2011), and International Istanbul Film Festival, Turkey (2010), among other locations. His work is part of several collections including that of the Sharjah Art Foundation, UAE, and the Permanent Collection of The Museum of Modern Art (Fund for the 21st Century, 2010), New York, USA.