SHORTS

BLOW UP MY TOWN (SAUTE MA VILLE), 1968 
Belgium |DCP, Black&White, 13’| French
Director: Chantal Akerman
This movie was filmed when Akerman was 18 years old and takes place entirely in a very small kitchen. It uses an ironic tone to narrate the story of a woman trapped by boundaries, particularly those of the kitchen, as she breaks free through a destructive act. The director herself takes on the leading role in this harsh yet tragicomic story, adopting a slapstick comedy technique.

MESHES OF THE AFTERNOON, 1943 
USA |DCP, Black & White, 14’| No Dialogue
Director: Maya Deren, Alexander Hammid
A flower, a key, a door unlocked, a knife in a loaf of bread, a phone off the hook, a figure in the mirror… All of these are drawn from the stream of consciousness of a woman having a nightmare. This unforgettable surrealist and avant-garde film, made by Deren, a pioneer of independent cinema, and her husband, won the Grand Prize in the 16 mm category at the Cannes Film Festival.

INTERIORS, 2006
UK |DCP, Black & White, 3’| No Dialogue
Director: Ursula MayerThe film features two women walking through the home of architect Ernö Goldfinger and his wife Ursula, which houses famous art collections from the 20th century. These women, ascending and descending the stairs and touching objects in various rooms, never meet. What brings them together is a sculpture by Barbara Hepworth. The film centers on the absence of women in architecture and cinema.

THE LUNCH IN FUR, 2008
UK |DCP, Color, 7’| No Dialogue
Director: Ursula Mayer
The film revolves around a fictional encounter in an early ‘70s modernist glasshouse of three iconic female artists, Dora Maar, Meret Oppenheim, and Josephine Baker. In an enigmatic play, the three women interact through their attitudes towards the objects, instead of directly interacting with one another. The 16 mm film draws inspiration from the Surrealist idea of extending dialogues with objects.

SOFT MATERIALS, 2004
UK |DCP, Color, 10’| No Dialogue
Director: Daria Martin
Shot in the Artificial Intelligence Lab at the University of Zurich, this 16 mm film introduces two performers, a man and a woman, to robots that are aware and can function through the experience of their own physical bodies. Together they begin to dance. The film offers a fresh perspective on the modernist concept of “man and machine.”