PROGRAM A seeking traces
A family-run farm, a minority language and culture, and a home full of song seem forsaken in this contemporary world that demands exceedingly larger and faster lives. In Pizzet, the filmmaker returns to his hometown with nostalgia—and perhaps some shame for having turned his back years ago—to film and make peace with himself. The film crew of Memories of Agano struggle to discover traces of those who have passed away and remnants of their first filmmaking experience ten years ago. They set up a movie screen in the middle of an abandoned rice field, project their film and gather outtakes from the original shoot, pasting and re-shooting the film stock against window panes.
There are lifestyles and landscapes that a filmmaker yearns to capture before the changing world sweeps it away. They need not be extraordinary in news or commercial terms, but with a filmmaker’s personal and emotional attachment, the film will reveal a singular and rare record of the ephemeral.
Pizzet (Maybe the Last Year)
Pizzet (Forsa l’ultim on)
SWITZERLAND / 2003 / Romansh / Color / 35mm / 52 min
Director: Ivo Zen
Photography: Milivoj Ivkovic
Editing: Anita Holdener, Ivo Zen
Sound: Hatsui Masaki, Cédric Flückiger
Music: Choeur Val Müstair
Production: Alva.Film, Ivo Zen
Source: Alva.Film
The filmmaker’s elderly aunt and uncle raise cows and hand cut grass on a farm in an Alpine valley. A sincere and patient camera traces both childhood memories and empathy towards a disappearing lifestyle in the Romansh culture.
Ivo Zen
Born 1970 in Grison, Ivo Zen’s first language is Romansh. After studying architecture in Zürich and filmmaking studies at ESBA Genève, he made several shorts including the fiction film Frédéric. |
Memories of Agano
(“Aga no kioku”)
JAPAN / 2004 / Japanese / Color / 16mm / 55 min
Director: Sato Makoto
Photography: Kobayashi Shigeru
Editing: Hata Takeshi
Sound, Sound Design: Kikuchi Nobuyuki
Music: Kyomaro
Producer: Yatabe Yoshihiko
Production Company, World Sales: Kasama Film
Co-Distribution: BLUEBUCK Films, P.O.P. Networks
Ten years after the acclaimed film Living on the River Agano, the film crew returns to Niigata. Personal memories reflect upon remnants of those who passed away as the camera observes abandoned rice fields and hearths that have lost their masters.
Sato Makoto
Born 1957 in Aomori. Directed many films since his debut Living on the River Agano (1992), the product of seven crew members living on location for three years. His latest work Out of Place will be screened as a Special Invitation film. |