New Shorts: Anthropocene's Deities
Saturday, 22 January 2022
Image: A sip of water, Hyuna Cho, 2021
Exploring spiritual practices and self-reflection through acknowledging other beings, these films are an invitation to contemplate the richness and fragility of ecosystems. What can we learn from humanity’s celebration and destruction of nature and animals? An eclectic exploration into the role of shamans as mediators between mystic and the mundane, and daydreaming in the long grass in India. The echo of textured traditional songs of the Koli tribe resonates with lush images of an ethnographic diary (Kalsubai). Featuring RCA alumni Hyuna Cho (A sip of water), and independent filmmaker Balaram (The Grasshoppers Sleep Here).
Curated by Emma Bouraba
The Grasshoppers Sleep Here
Balaram J
8'
2021
India
When a man comes with grass cutting machine to a field, a girl is seen sleeping there.
Where developments are inevitable, this simple yet layered film strongly prompts the audience to acknowledge the small ecosystems that are inevitably important.
Starlings
Simon Allen
8'
2021
United Kingdom
An elderly man sets out to remove unwanted visitors from his garden.
Summer of Bees
Ida-Maria Olva
23'
2021
Finland
On a particularly hot summer, Eedi, suffering from eco-anxiety, decides to quit their studies and start beekeeping. Eedi gets reluctant help from their mother Anne who, rather than fearing for the future, is scared of every single little bee.
A sip of water
Hyuna Cho
7'
2021
United Kingdom
In Korean society, the shamans are considered extraordinary because they bridge the gap between the gods and humans with their psychic talents.
The shamans do not exist in a binary. Neither ordinary people or gods, and distanced from both these spirits and ordinary people, they often feel lonely and confused in equal measure.
This film focuses on their extraordinary position based on their testimonies.
Life Liberation
Pasang Dawa Sherpa
15'
2021
Nepal
A middle-aged woman Pema Omu relates herself to a fish in a folktale which tries to jump out of the pond. She contemplates her life and seeks an answer to liberation.
Divination
Gopal Acharya
15'
2021
Nepal
In a village deep in the mountains of Nepal, an aging shaman ekes out a living as a farmer. Since his childhood, the villagers have called him whenever they’ve been plagued by illness and suffering. One day, when he is asked to heal a sick man, his healing powers no longer work. Neither his trance-like recitation of mantras nor the sacrifice of a rooster has any effect. The gods don’t hear him. Has he become too old to be a healer? In tranquil and contemplative images, AAKHAT tells the story of a shaman who is facing the end of his life.
Kalsubai
Yudhajit Basu
20'
2021
India
An ethnographic film exploring the legend of a Mahadeo Koli Goddess Kalsu whose story and identity remains impregnated in the consciousness of the women of the tribe even today. The film tells the story of the Goddess while drawing visual contrasts between primordial and contemporary images.