2024 - 69th Edition

TWST – Things We Said Today

Andrei Ujică

France, Romania

- 2024

Estreno nacional

No cultural milestone is isolated from its historical context. This is what Andrei Ujica proves in his film Things We Said Today: a journey into the past surrounding the Beatles' arrival to Manhattan in 1965. The Romanian filmmaker, whose work has a markedly political character, places this popular culture event in a convulsive moment in the history of the United States. The British quartet's concert at Shea Stadium coincided with events such as the New York World's Fair and the Watts riots against police, brutality and racism. Circumstances that together form a portrait of a bygone era that echoes the present day. Ujica incorporates found footage from newsreels, Super 8 home movies and recordings of the concert, while working with the French illustrator Yann Kebbi to create characters that dialogue with the archival material and breathe new life into it. As in the song that gives the film its title, past and present are two sides of the same coin.

Andrei Ujică

He was born on the 13th of November, 1951 in Timișoara (Romania). With a background in literature, he decides in 1990 to devote himself to cinema and creates ‘Videograms of a Revolution’ (1992), co-directed with Harun Farocki, which becomes a landmark film on the relationship between political power and the media in Europe at the end of the Cold War. His second film, ‘Out of the Present’ (1995), tells the story of cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, who spent ten months aboard the space station Mir, while on Earth, the Soviet Union ceased to exist. ‘The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceaușescu’ (2010) concluded his trilogy dedicated to the end of communism. He has also made two commissioned works for Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain: ‘2 Pasolini’ (short, 2000/2021) and ‘Unknown Quantity’ (2005).

O.V. in English, French, German subtitled in English and Spanish

Wed. 23, 16:15

Sala Fundos

Presentation

Q&A