Unsound Festival 2016: Dislocated Visions

17th-20th October 2016

Sunday, October 16, marks the beginning of the Unsound Festival in Krakow. Once again, Kino Pod Baranami provides a unique space for festival’s film screenings, which have been branded this year as Dislocated Visions. Starting Monday, October 17, till Thursday, October 20, the audience will be able to see selection of movies about music and sound: they will hear the remake of Purple Rain in Tuareg, see a transcendental sci-fi documentary, search for the origins of spirituality in Benin and go on a journey full of magic and myth, following the traces of Haile Selassie I.


The theme of this year’s edition of Unsound Festival is Dislocation, following the provocative tension between “centre” and “periphery” that often fuels cultural development. It explores the fertile cultural grounds, seemingly marginal in the context of geography, politics and identity. Dislocated Visions at Kino Pod Baranami will take the viewers on a trip to the peripheries, with artists, musicians and visionaries escaping the mainstream as their guides.

Christopher Kirkley in his film Rain the Colour of Blue with a Little Bit of Red In It tells a story of a young guitarist trying to make a name for himself in the Nigerien city of Agadez. In Bight of the Twin, Hazel Hill McCarthy III and Genesis Breyer P-Orridge go to Benin in search of the origins of Voudun and its relations with the modern art. Unexpectedly, they discover a strong connection between Genesis’ life and artistic practice, and one of the world’s oldest religions. The Italian art duo Invernomuto will present their conceptual documentary feature Negus, in which the legendary musician and producer Lee "Scratch" Perry will take the audience on a journey full of myth and magic, connected with the complicated legacy of Haile Selassie I, the last Emperor of Ethiopia.

Within Dislocated Visions the viewers can also take a look into the future. In his directorial debut Dead Slow Ahead, cinematographer Mauro Herce documents the journey of an enormous shipping freighter across the Atlantic ocean. By creating an image of an effective but soulless machinery towering over people he makes an important point about the post-industrial reality.

The screening of the film Negus will be followed by a Q&A session with the Invernomuto members - Simone Bertuzzi and Simone Trabucchi, hosted by Andy Battaglia.

The films will be presented in original versions with English subtitles. The Q&A session will be held in English.

TICKETS:

15 PLN

PROGRAMME:

Monday, October 17, 3 p.m. 

 RAIN THE COLOUR OF BLUE WITH A LITTLE BIT OF RED IN IT
| AKOUNAK TEDALAT TAHA TAZOUGHAI
reż. Christopher Kirkley, Niger 2015, 75’

Tuesday, October 18, 3 p.m.

 DEAD SLOW AHEAD | DEAD SLOW AHEAD
reż. Mauro Herce, Hiszpania/Francja 2016, 74’

Wednesday, October 19, 3 p.m.

 BIGHT OF THE TWIN | BIGHT OF THE TWIN
reż. Hazel Hill McCarthy III, USA/Benin 2016, 55’

Thursday, October 20, 3 p.m.

NEGUS | NEGUS
reż. Invernomuto, Włochy 2016, 70’
Followed by a Q&A session with Invernomuto

ABOUT THE FILMS:

BIGHT OF THE TWIN | BIGHT OF THE TWIN
dir. Hazel Hill McCarthy III, USA/Benin 2016, 55’

(in English, French and Fon with English subtitles)

Transcending assumptions of what it means to be “gendered,” Genesis Breyer P-Orridge and late wife Lady Jaye underwent a series of surgical procedures to become physically identical to one another, seeking to perfect a gender-neutral state through a process they termed Pandrogyny. In 1997, Jaye unexpectedly died of cancer. Genesis has maintained the concept of the Pandrogyne and continues to self-reference in the plural (“we”) and uses the self-prescribed gender neutral “s/he”, “h/er”.

Hazel Hill McCarthy III, longtime friend and collaborator, in hopes of keeping Genesis positive and active, suggests a trip to Ouidah, Benin, the birthplace of Vodoun, to work on a project together exploring the relationship between Vodoun and Western performance art. The film was intended to be a phenomenological documentation of an experience, but what they found was something far beyond a mere cerebral study of an ancient belief system. Their journey takes on a new course once they discover that Benin has the highest national average of twins per birth in the world and twins carry a sacred meaning in local culture.

DEAD SLOW AHEAD | DEAD SLOW AHEAD
dir. Mauro Herce, Spain/France 2016, 74’

(in Tagalog with English subtitles)

Locarno International Film Festival 2015: Special Jury Prize - Filmmakers of the Present
Ann Arbor Film Festival 2016: Tios Award
Doclisboa International Film Festival 2015: FCSH Award for Best First Feature Film and Universities Award for Best Film
Las Palmas Film Festival 2016: Richard Leacock Award for Best Film
Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival 2015: Best World Documentary


Dead Slow Ahead has been called a “transcendent sci-fi documentary” and an “ecstatic, almost physiological experience” (The Verge). The film documents the journey of ashipping freighter called Fair Lady across the Atlantic ocean. The hypnotic rhythm of its pace reveals the continuous movement of the machinery devouring its workers: the old sailors' gestures disappearing under the mechanical and impersonal pulse of the 21st century neo-capitalism.

Until now, Mauro Herce has been known mainly for his work as a cinematographer. Dead Slow Ahead is his directorial debut. The Jury of Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival, awarded him with the Best World Documentary award “for respecting the basics of the film language”. 

NEGUS | NEGUS
dir. Invernomuto, Italy 2016, 70’

(in Italian and English with English subtitles)

Negus is a conceptual feature length documentary directed by the Italian art duo Invernomuto starring Lee “Scratch” Perry. The film explores the convergence of history, myth and magic through the complex and competing legacies of Ethiopia’s last emperor, Haile Selassie I. It features a soundtrack by Duppy Gun Productions, the label founded by Cameron Stallones and M. Geddes Gengras.

Lee “Scratch” Perry is a Jamaican music producer, composer, dubmaster and lyricist. Next to King Tubby, Perry was one of the pioneers in the development of dub music. He is considered as one of the most important figures in the history of reggae music.

Simone Bertuzzi and Simone Trabucchi have been collaborating as Invernomuto since 2003. Although they primarily work in moving image and sound, Invernomuto also integrate sculpture, publishing, and performance in their practice. They also pursue individual practices in the field of music, performing under the names Palm Wine and Dracula Lewis respectively. They live and work in Milan and Vernasca.


RAIN THE COLOUR OF BLUE WITH A LITTLE BIT OF RED IN IT
| AKOUNAK TEDALAT TAHA TAZOUGHAI
dir. Christopher Kirkley, Niger 2015, 75’

(in Tamashek with English subtitles)

Rain The Colour Of Blue With A Little Bit Of Red In It is a “remake” of Purple Rain, called Akounak Tedalat Taha Tazoughai; it is the world’s first feature film in the language of the Tuareg, a semi-nomadic Berber group. Set in the Nigerien city of Agadez, the film stars the guitarist Mdou Moctar as a motorcycle-riding musician trying to make a name for himself in the city “where guitars are king”.

Christopher Kirkley is an artist, archivist, curator and an occasional DJ, as well as the founder of Sahel Sounds. He calls himself a guerilla ethnomusicologist. His work examines contemporary popular musics in an evolving technological landscape in the Sahara and Sahel regions of West Africa.

Mdou Moctar is a miraculous Tuareg guitarist and singer from Niger, a master of hypnotic Saharan electro-drone blues. His early gigs included playing at wedding parties and occasional recordings via cellphone. He became known among wider audience when his track Anar turned up on the second volume of the Sahel Sounds label's essential Music From Saharan Cellphones series.

ORGANIZERS: