Maart
| 26 t/m 01 | | Porn Film Festival Amsterdam |
| Wo. 04 | | No Passport for Spain: The images of anti-fascist solidarity |
| Do. 05 | | Sandberg Critical Studies Department presents: Little to Glamorise but Much to Preserve |
| Vr. 06 | | Citizens of Unreason: Ucho |
| Za. 07 | | The Ludification of Vision |
| Zo. 08 | | The Watermelon Woman |
| Wo. 11 | | WET Film: A Home for Rita |
| Do. 12 | | Into the night...: Toute une nuit |
| Vr. 13 | | Citizens of Unreason: Khrustalyov, My Car! |
| Za. 14 | | Brazil Unfiltered: A Queda do Céu |
| Do. 19 | | Into the night...: Nightshift |
| Vr. 20 | | Kaboom Animation Festival: Inside the TV Box, I Found the True Story of the People of Palestine |
| Za. 21 | | 8sploitation Grindhouse Cinema #1 |
| Vr. 27 | | Into the night...: Elevator to the Gallows |
| Zo. 29 | | Myanmar in the Spotlight |
| Zo. 29 | | Citizens of Unreason: We and Our Mountains |
Donderdag 26 februari – zondag 1 maart
SEX POSTIVE
Porn Film Festival Amsterdam 2026
NL Porn Film Festival Amsterdam staat voor pluraliteit, kunst, plezier en gemeenschap. Het overkoepelende doel is om een spannende en toegankelijke ruimte te creëren waar zeer verschillende lichamen en seksualiteiten samenkomen. Om verlangen in al zijn diversiteit te verkennen en urgente vragen met een positieve en creatieve houding aan te pakken. Van 26 februari t/m 1 maart vieren we de pluraliteit van seks met films, workshops, lezingen, performances, kunstinstallaties en twee feesten. MEER→
EN Porn Film Festival Amsterdam stands for plurality, art, pleasure and community. The overarching objective is to create an exciting and accessible space for very different bodies and sexualities to come together. To explore desire in all its diversity, addressing urgent questions with a positive and creative attitude. From February 26 to March 1, we celebrate the plurality of sex with films, workshops, talks, performances, art installations and two parties. MORE→
Woensdag 4 maart, 20:30
SPECIAL
Lecture + film
No Passport for Spain: The images of anti-fascist solidarity
VARA, International Confederation of Free Trade Unions | 1969 | NL, Spain | 25’ | EN subtitles
EN In April 1961, the Spanish and Dutch governments signed an agreement for the recruitment of Spanish guest workers. Ten years later, around thirty thousand Spanish migrants were living in the Netherlands. Although little is known about them today, many of these migrants were actively involved in the fight against Franco's fascist dictatorship in Spain. Collaborating with Dutch audiovisual producers, they activated a network of counter-propaganda that would impact the Dutch government's relationships with the Spanish dictatorial government. Where are the images of these Spanish migrants today? To whom do they belong?
In this special session, Fidel Enciso Durán, film archivist at the International Institute of Social History, will recount his journey across diverse film archives trying to find the images of Spanish anti-Francoist migration in the Netherlands. During the session, footage from diverse media productions will be screened. After an introductory lecture, the film No Passport for Spain about the repression of Spanish activists will be screened.
This film was produced in 1969 by the Dutch broadcaster VARA in collaboration with Spanish exiles and migrants as part of a campaign organized by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions.
Today, these images shed light on the emergence of an international anti-Francoist movement on the verge of 1960s activism, an aspect rarely acknowledged by Spanish or Dutch historians. It also raises questions about the reparation of the victims of Francoism, an issue still unresolved in contemporary Spain. Moreover, the session will highlight the role of film archives in keeping alive the memory of social struggles.
Donderdag 5 maart, 20:00
EXPERIMENTAL
Sandberg Critical Studies Department presents:
Little to Glamorise but Much to Preserve
EN The Critical Studies department of Sandberg Instituut invites you for an evening programme of 9 video essays completed under the guidance of belit sǎg. Culminating our first semester’s research seminar, we collectively engaged with language, narrative and shape through the moving image. In this research led process, we approached experimental modes of lyrical and speculative writing and investigated their relationship with the video form.
With works by: Jody Aikman, Brandon Chow, Cecilie Fang, Miglė Lukoševičiūtė, António Manso Preto, Macarena Magaña Villar, Maximilian Pellizzari, gervaise alexis savvias and Iris Verge.
Doors open at 19:30
Programme starts at 20:00
Tickets: donation-based or Cineville
Vrijdag 6 maart, 20:30
CLASSIC
Citizens of Unreason
Ucho
Karel Kachyňa | 1970 | Czechoslovakia | 94’ | EN subtitles
NL Een van de meest aangrijpende films uit de Tsjechoslowaakse New Wave is The Ear (Ucho), een beklemmend en psychologisch drama dat na voltooiing verboden werd en pas in 1990 officieel werd uitgebracht.
Tijdens één lange nacht in het Praag van de jaren vijftig volgen we Ludvík, een invloedrijke ambtenaar, en zijn vrouw Anna. Na een regeringsbijeenkomst keren zij terug naar hun villa, maar niets lijkt nog vertrouwd. Ze staan voor een gesloten deur, moeten via de kelder naar binnen en treffen een huis aan waar duidelijk iemand is binnen geweest. Wat volgt is een koortsachtige nacht waarin niet alleen de dreiging van buitenaf groeit, maar ook hun huwelijk ontrafelt.
De geschiedenis van de film zelf weerspiegelt die onderdrukking: scenarist Jan Procházka belandde tijdens de periode van “Normalisatie” op een zwarte lijst, regisseur Karel Kachyňa kon alleen blijven filmen door artistieke concessies te doen.
‘Citizens of Unreason’ werpt een blik in de claustrofobische werelden van achterdocht, censuur en het stille verzet onder het oog van de Sovjetmacht, evenals de fragiele menselijke logica die blijft bestaan wanneer de rede zelf wordt gecontroleerd.
EN One of the most haunting films to emerge from the Czechoslovak New Wave, The Ear (Ucho) is a tense and intimate psychological drama that was banned for decades and only released in 1990.
Set during a single night in 1950s Prague, the story follows Ludvik, a senior ministry official, and his wife Anna as they return home from a government reception. Locked out, forced to enter through the cellar, and confronted with a house that shows signs of intrusion. An anxious and desperate night ensues, as the couple break down their own relationship. Morning brings fatigue, and a terrifying sobering reality: it isn’t over; the nightmare continues
The film caused many headaches for its authors during the “Normalisation”, screenwriter Jan Procházka found himself blacklisted. Kachyňa, while able to continue directing, was forced to make creative compromises.
‘Citizens of Unreason’ peers into the claustrophobic worlds of suspicion, censorship, and quiet revolt under the Soviet gaze, idem the fragile human logic that persists when reason itself is policed.
Zaterdag 7 maart, 19:00
EXPERIMENTAL
The Ludification of Vision
Various | approx 90’ | EN subtitles
NL Aan het begin van de twintigste eeuw veranderde een visuele revolutie niet alleen wat we zien, maar ook hoe we zien. Terwijl camera’s sneller klikten en drukpersen op volle toeren draaiden, begonnen beelden zich te verplaatsen met de snelheid van de moderniteit: ze circuleerden op grote schaal, vermenigvuldigden zich eindeloos en hervormden onze dagelijkse waarneming. Stabiele gezichtspunten maakten plaats voor gefragmenteerde perspectieven, optische trucs en een overvloed aan prikkels. Zien werd dynamisch, speels en vol mogelijkheden: een transformatie die onze door schermen verzadigde wereld nog altijd bepaalt.
Ter afsluiting van de The Ludification of Vision International Conference aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam viert dit bijzondere korte filmprogramma die speelse wending. Met een verrassende selectie films nodigen we je uit om cinema op haar meest ondeugende manier te ervaren: optische experimenten, visuele grappen en slimme staaltjes mise-en-scène die het oog prikkelen en uitdagen wat we denken te zien. Geïnspireerd door strips, populaire media en een lange geschiedenis van speelgoed dat met onze blik speelt, betrekken deze films het publiek in het spel en belonen ze nieuwsgierigheid, interpretatie en het eenvoudige, opwindende plezier van kijken.
EN At the turn of the 20th century, a visual revolution changed not just what we see, but how we see. As cameras clicked faster and printing presses roared to life, images began to move at the speed of modernity, circulating widely, multiplying endlessly, and reshaping everyday perception. Stable viewpoints gave way to fractured perspectives, optical tricks, and sensory overload. Seeing became dynamic, playful, and full of possibility: a transformation that still defines our screen-saturated world.
To close The Ludification of Vision International Conference at the University of Amsterdam, this special short film program celebrates that playful turn. With a surprise selection of films, we invite you to experience cinema at its most mischievous: optical experiments, visual gags, and clever sleights of mise-en-scène that tease the eye and challenge what we think we are seeing. Inspired by comics, popular media, and a long history of toys that toy with our gaze, these films put viewers in on the game, rewarding curiosity, decoding, and the simple, exhilarating fun of looking.
Zondag 8 maart, 20:30
CLASSIC
International Wxmen's Day
The Watermelon Woman
Cheryl Dunye | 1996 | USA | 90' | EN subtitles
NL The Watermelon Woman is een mijlpaal in de New Queer Cinema van de jaren 90, een tijdperk van queer experimenten met filmtaal. Deze veelal low-budget indie-films werden gekenmerkt door excessen, spot en het revolutionaire cynisme van de aids-epidemie. De eerste speelfilm van Cheryl Dunye, en tevens de eerste speelfilm ooit geregisseerd door een zwarte lesbische vrouw, vertelt het verhaal van Cheryl, een jonge zwarte lesbische vrouw die overdag in een videotheek werkt en tegelijkertijd een film probeert te maken over Fae Richards. Deze zwarte actrice uit de jaren 30 stond bekend om haar vertolking van de stereotiepe 'mammy'-rollen die in die periode vaak aan zwarte actrices werden toegewezen. Een speciale vertoning op een speciale dag!
EN The Watermelon Woman is a landmark of the New Queer Cinema of the 1990s, a time of queer formal experimentation with cinematic language. These mostly low-budget indie features were characterised by excess, irreverence and the revolutionary cynicism of the AIDS period. The first feature film of Cheryl Dunye, and the first ever feature film directed by a Black lesbian, it stars Dunye as Cheryl, a young Black lesbian working a day job in a video store while trying to make a film about Fae Richards, a Black actress from the 1930s known for playing the stereotypical "mammy" roles relegated to Black actresses during the period. A special screening on a special day!
Woensdag 11 maart, 20:00
DOCU
WET Film: A Home for Rita + Q&A
Yulia Appen | 2025 | Ukraine | 90’ | Ukrainian, Romani and Russian, EN subtitles
EN WET presents an evening of film and Q&A with a director of the film, Yulia Appen. The conversation after the screening will be in both English and Ukrainian.
A Home for Rita follows a Roma family that were forced to flee the Russian occupation in spring 2022. The film centres Roma women’s direct experiences of the war, drawing on their playful, imaginative commentary. The narrative revolves around the housing problem for displaced Romas, and their search for a home and a sense of belonging. In Zaporizhzhia, located 40 kilometres from the frontline, the protagonists face discrimination and neglect. The film documents Roma people’s reflections on Ukraine and their own complex identity during the full-scale invasion and in the context of the resistance to Russian aggression.
A Home for Rita was made over many months, through the sharing of life experiences and struggles, and reflects the friendship and relationships of mutual care between the director and her protagonists.
Yulia Appen is a documentary filmmaker, photographer and member of Freefilmers. Her films explore the topics of home and boundaries, seen through a personal lens, as well as landscape as a carrier of sociocultural and historical conditions. Since February 2022, she has been working as a journalist for a volunteer channel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine documenting life during wartime and the stories of people who survived occupation. Together with Freefilmers she has produced a series of interviews with anti-authoritarian fighters (in collaboration with Solidarity Collectives) and engaged in humanitarian work supporting Roma, and other marginalised communities in war-affected villages.
This event is part of a film tour with screenings in Warsaw, Łódź, Poznań, Berlin and Amsterdam, organised by Freefilmers and Marta Hryniuk with the support of House of Europe.
Donderdag 12 maart, 20:30
CLASSIC
Into the night...
Toute une nuit
Chantal Akerman | 1982 | Belgium, France | 90’ | EN subtitles
EN Toute une Nuit is a film consisting of fragments, snippets from the lives of dozens of people during a night in Brussels in the summer.
A door swings open. A woman throws herself into a man's arms; she is holding her shoes in her hand. A café. A man looks at a woman; he stands up, she does too. Love at first sight. They rush into each other's arms and lose themselves in a dance. A phone rings, a man comes running, out of breath. Grinding music echoes through the feverish night. A girl pulls a man towards her. A woman throws open the door and storms up the stairs. A man grabs a woman. Resistance. Two men separate. A highly emotional woman collapses into a taxi.
In a city, on a hot, tumultuous summer night, men, women, and children, seized by desire, capable of anything, allow themselves to be carried away by their frenzied feelings, sometimes to the point of madness. As long as the night lasts.
Dark alleys, people coming and going. You can’t see them, but they’re there. The sun has set, streetlights are on. We’re allowed to commit crimes, to fall in our lovers’ arms, to chase temptation, to enchant one another. To roam the streets endlessly, looking for danger. The mystery of the nocturnal offers us what we can’t have during the day. These films bring you the witching hours. Nightly escapades, midnight mischief. Places you can get lost in. Elevators, for example. Or dusty hotels. Step into the night with this curated selection of films that (mostly) unfold over the course of one night.
Vrijdag 13 maart, 20:30
CLASSIC
Citizens of Unreason
Khrustalyov, My Car
Aleksei Yuryevich German | 1998 | Russia, France | 150’ | EN subtitles
NL Januari 1953. Moskou houdt zijn adem in. Stalin ligt op sterven. Militair chirurg generaal Yuri Glinski raakt verwikkeld in het zogenoemde Dokterscomplot, waarbij vooral Joodse artsen worden beschuldigd van een samenzwering tegen de Sovjettop. Na zijn arrestatie en verbanning wordt hij onverwacht teruggehaald naar de hoofdstad: uitgerekend hij blijkt de enige die de zieke dictator nog kan behandelen.
Regisseur Aleksei German verbeeldt deze historische breuklijn in contrastrijk zwart-wit. Langzamerhand ontvouwt zich een wereld waarin ziekenhuisgangen iets dreigends krijgen en gemeenschappelijke appartementen aanvoelen als benauwende microkosmossen.
De titel verwijst naar een beruchte uitspraak van veiligheidschef Lavrentiy Beria na Stalins dood, maar een heldhaftig middelpunt blijft uit. In plaats daarvan volgen we een man die wordt meegesleurd door krachten buiten zijn controle. TW: seksueel geweld.
‘Citizens of Unreason’ werpt een blik in de claustrofobische werelden van achterdocht, censuur en het stille verzet onder het oog van de Sovjetmacht, evenals de fragiele menselijke logica die blijft bestaan wanneer de rede zelf wordt gecontroleerd.
EN January 1953, Moscow holds its breath. Stalin is dying. Military surgeon General Yuri Glinsky finds himself caught in the machinery of the so-called Doctors’ Plot, accused alongside other predominantly Jewish physicians of conspiring against Soviet leaders. Arrested and sent away, he is abruptly returned to the capital when he proves to be the only one capable of treating the ailing dictator.
In his film, Aleksei German depicts this historical moment in luminous black and white, the film immerses us in a world where hospital corridors resemble prison cells and communal apartments feel like battlegrounds.
The title echoes the phrase allegedly cried out by secret police chief Lavrentiy Beria at the moment of Stalin’s death, yet the expected hero never appears. Instead, we follow a man whose life is shaped by humiliation and sudden reversals of fate. TW: sexual violence
‘Citizens of Unreason’ peers into the claustrophobic worlds of suspicion, censorship, and quiet revolt under the Soviet gaze, idem the fragile human logic that persists when reason itself is policed.
Zaterdag 14 maart, 20:30
DOCU
Brazil Unfiltered
A Queda do Céu (The Falling Sky)
Eryk Rocha, Gabriela Carneiro da Cunha | 2024 | Brazil, Italy | 110’ | EN subtitles
NL In samenwerking met de inheemse Yanomami-bevolking van Brazilië volgt The Falling Sky de Yanomami-leider en sjamaan Davi Kopenawa in zijn strijd om de wereld weer in balans te brengen door middel van nauwlettend geobserveerde rituelen en scherpe commentaren op de meedogenloze logica van een materialistische, buitenstaanderscultuur. Illegale houtkap, goudwinning en de dodelijke mix van epidemieën die deze indringers verspreiden bedreigen het voortbestaan van de Yanomami. Gebaseerd op een scherp inzicht in geopolitieke krachten, houdt Davi Kopenawa de kapitalistische samenlevingen van 'de handelsmensen' en de onhoudbare levensstijl van de zogenaamde 'ontwikkelde landen' een spiegel voor, die het voortbestaan van de mensheid als geheel bedreigt.
EN In collaboration with Brazil’s indigenous Yanomami people, The Falling Sky follows the Yanomami leader and shaman Davi Kopenawa as he fights to return the world to balance in closely observed rituals and trenchant comments on the ruthless logic of a materialistic outside culture. Illegal logging, gold mining, and the deadly mix of epidemics these intrusions spread threaten the existence of the Yanomami. Based on an acute understanding of geopolitical forces, Davi Kopenawa holds up a mirror to capitalist societies of “the merchandise people” and the unsustainable lifestyle of the so-called “developed countries” that threatens the survival of humanity as a whole.
Donderdag 19 maart, 20:30
CLASSIC
Into the night...
Nightshift
Robina Rose | 1981 | USA | 68’ | EN subtitles
EN A gorgeously photographed work of surreal, somnambulant cinema, Robina Rose’s singular snapshot of London’s early 1980s art scene casts a hypnotic spell all its own. Over the course of a single nightshift, a West London hotel clerk plays silent witness to a nocturnal constellation of guests ranging from punk rockers and scenester magicians to seemingly staid businessmen and old-world gentry. As the hours march deeper into night and the varied clientele depart the waking world, the hotel transforms into an otherworldly liminal space swaying between the everyday and the enchanting. Screening the 4K restoration.
Nightshift has been digitally restored by Lightbox Film Center (Philadelphia) in collaboration with the British Film Institute and Cinenova. Restoration funding provided by Ron and Suzanne Naples. Film distributed by Cinenova.
Dark alleys, people coming and going. You can’t see them, but they’re there. The sun has set, streetlights are on. We’re allowed to commit crimes, to fall in our lovers’ arms, to chase temptation, to enchant one another. To roam the streets endlessly, looking for danger. The mystery of the nocturnal offers us what we can’t have during the day. These films bring you the witching hours. Nightly escapades, midnight mischief. Places you can get lost in. Elevators, for example. Or dusty hotels. Step into the night with this curated selection of films that (mostly) unfold over the course of one night.
Vrijdag 20 maart, 20:00
SPECIAL
Kaboom Animation Festival
Inside the TV Box, I Found the True Story of the People of Palestine
Storytelling performance and a screening of three short films by Ahmad Saleh
EN In this performance, presented as part of the Kaboom Animation Festival 2026, Saudi-born Palestinian artist Ahmad Saleh stands before the audience to narrate true stories from his journey—from outside Palestine to inside, and back out again. The films serve as chapters in this narrative, complementing his live narration. Throughout the performance, he intermittently dims out the lights to allow the films to speak for themselves before resuming the live narration. MORE→
Tickets for the event will also be available at the door, half an hour before the film starts.
Zaterdag 21 maart, 20:30
SPECIAL
8sploitation Grindhouse Cinema #1
Various directors | 2026 | NL | 95'
NL Uit de ondergrondse Super 8-wereld komt de eerste editie van 8sploitation Grindhouse Cinema voort!
Super 8mm-films worden gemaakt door filmmakers met veel passie en toewijding. Je vindt ze overal op het internet. Maar deze prachtige films verdienen het om in de bioscoop vertoond te worden. Filmhuis Cavia is erg blij om een thuis te bieden aan dit zeldzame en unieke project.
Filmmaker en fervent Super 8-liefhebber Roy Rezaäli heeft deze korte films met een 'no-to-low' budget gecureerd. Na de productie en release van zijn initiatief 'Impression X', een Super 8mm anthologiefilm, vormde dit de basis voor deze programmering. 28 korte films in allerlei genres, gemaakt door verschillende filmmakers, samengebracht in een vertoning van 100 minuten die ons doet denken aan de tijd van de grindhouse cinema.
EN From the underground Super 8 caverns emerges the first edition of 8sploitation Grindhouse Cinema!
Super 8 mm films are being made by filmmakers with a lot of passion and dedication. You can find them hidden all over the internet. But these beautiful films deserves to be programmed in the cinema. Filmhuis Cavia is very happy to provide a home for this rare and unique project.
Filmmaker and staunch super 8 supporter Roy Rezaäli curated these no to low budget short films. After the production and release of his initiative 'Impression X', a Super 8 mm anthology film, it set the blueprint for this programming. 28 short films in all kind of genres, made by different filmmakers, brought together in a 100 minutes screening that reminds us of the grindhouse cinema days.
The films:
Non Films - Real and Concrete: A Tribute to Jonas Mekas (Non Films)
El Retorno de Saturno (Sebastian Palmeiro)
No. 2 (Ana Martínez)
Errances (Sophie Bouloux)
Real Gravity (Alessia Mandanici)
Road of no Return (Stefanie Weberhofer)
La Robe Rouge & La Femme Disparue (Lars Kemnitz)
Living on the Edge (Aaron Zeghers)
Tags (Roy Rezaäli)
Movimiento en blanco y negro (Jerónimo Cabrera Rodríguez)
Hidden Before Found with No Solution (Andy Rowe)
River (Adam Butcher)
In the Realm of Void, Seeking the Sun (El Zoid)
Bogota (Maxime Michel)
Kinda Spooky & A Meditation on Water (Derick Crucius)
Faces in the Forest (Christopher Lange)
It's all because of you (Marta Grimalt Canals)
Mesmerized (Chris Hite)
Unfortunate Sword Fight (Rasmus B. Jørgensen)
Cloven Sunset (Gwen Trutnau)
Election Day in Wick (David Graham Scott)
Winter Flare (Max Wolf)
2 Faces (Yannis Lianos)
Krystal (Eliane Lima)
The River (Pieter Swier)
La Piel Dulce (Lucía Torres Minoldo)
Vrijdag 27 maart, 20:30
CLASSIC
Into the night...
Elevator to the Gallows
Louis Malle | 1958 | France | 93’ | EN subtitles
EN Haunting, melancholy, and achingly cool, Louis Malle’s 1958 debut Elevator to the Gallows (Ascenseur pour L’échafaud) laid the cinematic foundations for motifs and aesthetics that are now shorthand for French New Wave. This tautly paced noir thriller, which takes place over the course of a long, nightmarish night and morning in and around Paris, weaves together murder and mistaken identity to elevate a relatively straightfoward plot into high melodrama.
Ex-French Foreign Legion paratrooper Julien Tavernier (Maurice Ronet) and his mistress Florence Carala (a luminous Jeanne Moreau) connive to dispatch her husband, a high-rolling military contractor who happens to be Julien’s boss. It was never going to be the perfect crime, even if ill timing and worse luck hadn’t contrived to trap Julien in his office elevator after carrying out the deed. It’s an absurd turn of events, played with utmost gravitas by all involved. Unlike the train-in-tunnel symbolism of other films of the era, this elevator is exactly what it claims to be.
Dark alleys, people coming and going. You can’t see them, but they’re there. The sun has set, streetlights are on. We’re allowed to commit crimes, to fall in our lovers’ arms, to chase temptation, to enchant one another. To roam the streets endlessly, looking for danger. The mystery of the nocturnal offers us what we can’t have during the day. These films bring you the witching hours. Nightly escapades, midnight mischief. Places you can get lost in. Elevators, for example. Or dusty hotels. Step into the night with this curated selection of films that (mostly) unfold over the course of one night.
Zondag 29 maart, 15:00
DOCU
Fundraising screening
Myanmar in the Spotlight + Q&A
Four shorts + online Q&A with filmmakers
EN A series of short films from Myanmar directors to raise funds for Pe Maung Same Film Fund (PMSFF), established in honor of the late documentary filmmaker Pe Maung Same.
Pe Maung Same was arrested in Karenni State while filming and was subsequently sentenced to 3 years in Loikor Prison for "illegal association". Sadly, on August 19, 2024, at the age of 50, Pe Maung Same passed away due to spinal tuberculosis and the aftermath of military torture, just 3 days after being released from a military-run prison.
Pe Maung Same's close friends, including Lay Thida and fellow documentary filmmakers, lead this initiative. The fund will provide annual grants to young and aspiring filmmakers from Myanmar, enabling them to produce artistic and activist documentary stories. MORE→
Zondag 29 maart, 20:30
CLASSIC
Citizens of Unreason
We and Our Mountains
Henrik Malyan | 1969 | Soviet Union, Armenia | 94’ | EN subtitles
NL In We and Our Mountains bewerkt regisseur Henrik Malyan een verhaal van de geliefde Armeense schrijver Hrant Matevosyan tot een scherpe en tegelijk warme satire over macht en gemeenschap.
Op een ijskoude nacht slacht herder Ishkhan een verdwaald schaap om zijn hongerige metgezellen te voeden. De volgende dag verschijnt buurman Revaz, op zoek naar zijn verdwenen dier. Met enige schaamte erkennen de mannen dat zij het schaap hebben opgegeten en bieden zij een vergoeding aan. De kwestie had daarmee afgedaan kunnen zijn, ware het niet dat een ambitieuze jonge politie luitenant besluit een officieel onderzoek te starten.
Luchtig en tegelijk subtiel ondermijnend vangt de film de spanningen tussen centrum en periferie, tussen staat en individu, die in de jaren zestig door de hele Sovjet-Unie voelbaar waren. Algemeen beschouwd als de grootste Armeense film ooit gemaakt.
‘Citizens of Unreason’ werpt een blik in de claustrofobische werelden van achterdocht, censuur en het stille verzet onder het oog van de Sovjetmacht, evenals de fragiele menselijke logica die blijft bestaan wanneer de rede zelf wordt gecontroleerd.
EN In We and Our Mountains, director Henrik Malyan adapts a story by celebrated Armenian writer Hrant Matevosyan into a sharp and affectionate satire about power and community.
On a freezing night, the shepherd Ishkhan slaughters a stray sheep to feed his hungry companions. The next day, their neighbour Revaz appears, searching for his missing animal. Faced with the uncomfortable truth, the men admit they have eaten it and offer compensation. The matter might have ended there, were it not for the intervention of an ambitious young police lieutenant determined to launch an official investigation.
Both comic and quietly subversive, the film captures the tensions between centre and periphery, state and individual, that ran throughout the Soviet Union in the 1960s. Widely regarded as the greatest Armenian film ever made.
‘Citizens of Unreason’ peers into the claustrophobic worlds of suspicion, censorship, and quiet revolt under the Soviet gaze, idem the fragile human logic that persists when reason itself is policed.