- Sebastian Brameshuber, Ted Fendt, Isabelle Tollenaere, Bingham Bryant, João Pedro Rodrigues, and João Rui Guerra da Mata film the continent while challenging conventional narrative forms
- Karim Lakzadeh reveals an alternative Iran through humor and absurdity in Living Twice, Dying Thrice
Alchemies, the competitive section at SEMINCI that showcases the most daring and innovative cinema, will feature ten films in its 71st edition. The selection includes seven new titles: London, by Sebastian Brameshuber; Foreign Travel, by Ted Fendt; Paris, Paris, by Isabelle Tollenaere; 13 alfinetes, by João Pedro Rodrigues and João Rui Guerra da Mata; Promised Spaces, by Ivan Marković; Living Twice, Dying Thrice, by Karim Lakzadeh; and Mirage, by Bingham Bryant. These join the three Spanish productions already announced: Adiós, ríos, by Sebastián Uría; Benigno, by David Baute; and Dream of Another Summer, by Irene Bartolomé.
Drawing on vastly different geographical contexts, the films in the Alquimias programme seek new ways of portraying their territories through formal and narrative devices that invite the viewer to see things from different angles and to allow themselves to be surprised. In this way, they offer a fresh take on the story of old Europe whilst also exploring millennia-old Iran from new generational perspectives. In Living Twice, Dying Thrice, Karim Lakzadeh explores everyday life in a little-known country, offering, through an unbiased lens, a glimpse of alternative ways of life and the richness of a society that transcends established narratives. Three miners who have survived an accident decide to pretend they have died so that their families can claim compensation. The film blends humour and absurd situations with a reality marked by precariousness and exploitation.
New perspectives on old Europe
Journeys across Europe also serve as a starting point for a cinematic exploration of the present and the memory of the old continent, from Austria and Germany to Portugal and Spain. In London (Austria), Sebastian Brameshuber transforms carpool journeys between Vienna and Salzburg into a space for conversation. Bobby picks up strangers and, during the journey, spontaneous chats range from everyday topics to deeper issues. The Austrian director devises an original cinematic device to observe a Europe riven by contradictions.
The literary interests of a group of young Berliners form the starting point for Foreign Travel (Germany), by the American filmmaker Ted Fendt. Their gatherings to discuss the work of the Italian writer Anna Maria Ortese coexist with their day-to-day concerns: moving house, personal relationships and the experience of living in another country and speaking another language.
Also from the United States comes the perspective of Bingham Bryant, who turns his gaze towards Europe to construct, in Mirage (Portugal, United States, Germany), a web of appearances, reflections and shifting perspectives. The filmmaker constructs a film about the act of looking, drawing on a story by the Japanese author Edogawa Rampo, which tells the tale of two sisters whose relationship becomes increasingly enigmatic as their perception of one another shifts. Shot in San Sebastián, the film transforms the city and its landscapes into a realm of apparitions and explores what happens when we no longer recognise someone close to us.
Three immigrants who barely know one another begin living together in a Parisian building from which the residents have been evicted. Paris, Paris (Belgium), by Isabelle Tollenaere, follows this daily coexistence – made up of small gestures, humour and tenderness – as it gradually becomes a kind of family. Its protagonists, hailing from different places, find in this shared space a way of belonging to a city that initially feels alien to them.
In 13 alfinetes (Portugal, Spain), João Pedro Rodrigues (Phantom, To Die Like a Man, Will-o’-the-Wisp) and João Rui Guerra da Mata explore the tradition of Saint Anthony and the thirteen pins used in an ancient practice of love divination. The film weaves together religious, historical and artistic references, including the figure of Goya, to explore what remains of myths when viewed through the lens of desire. As in much of their joint filmography, characterised by a profound examination of Portugal’s colonial past and marginalised identities — as they previously explored in The Last Time I Saw Macao — the filmmakers once again find themselves in a realm where memory, identity and desire, the sacred and the profane, devotion and carnal fantasy intertwine.
The Fractures of Capitalism
Serbian filmmaker Ivan Marković travels to South-East Asia in Promised Spaces (France, Germany, Serbia, Cambodia), turning his gaze towards Cambodia’s large, newly constructed buildings.Alchemies thus establishes itself as the section of SEMINCI dedicated to works that explore new avenues of expression and push the boundaries of cinematic language.
- Living Twice, Dying Thrice, de Karim Lakzadeh
- London, de Sebastian Brameshuber
- Foreign Travel, de Ted Fendt
- El espejismo, de Bingham Bryant
- Paris Paris, de Isabelle Tollenaere
- 13 alfinetes, de João Pedro Rodrigues y João Rui Guerra da Mata
- Promised Spaces, de Ivan Marković