Blueprint of a Pleasure Machine
Sukh yantr ka ruphala khaaka- INDIA / 2023 / Hindi / Color / Digital File / 10 min
Director: Amit Dutta
Animation, Text: Gaurav+Anuj
Assistant Animator: Vatsal
Commission: Museum of Art and Photography (MAP)
Source: Amit Dutta
A detective recruited to locate a secret hidden in the back alleys of a lost film city. Little does he know that it is all a set-up—a conspiracy to send him on a mission with no return. Slowly, he is consumed by the quest and the pleasure it generates, never to be seen again. Imagined like a spy thriller, this film follows his journey through the symbols and desires hidden in the debris of film ephemera. Commissioned by the Museum of Art and Photography (MAP), Bengaluru, this film is composed from items found in the museum’s film paraphernalia collection, including posters and lobby cards.
Amit DuttaBorn 1977, in Jammu. Graduated from the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in 2004. He has made over forty films and published six books. His films range from literary adaptations to fiction, documentation, video-diary, and animation. He is known internationally in the fields of experimental film and contemporary art; many of his films have been screened at festivals such as Oberhausen, Rotterdam, Venice and Berlin. His films include Kramasha (2007), The Man’s Woman and Other Stories (2009), Nainsukh (2010), The Seventh Walk (2013), and Chitrashala (2015).
Silent Witnesses
Mudos testigos- COLOMBIA, FRANCE / 2023 / Spanish / Color, B&W / Digital File / 78 min
Directors: Jerónimo Atehortúa, Luis Ospina
Script, Research: Luis Ospina, Jerónimo, Atehortúa, Juan Sebastián Mora
Editing: Juan Sebastián Mora, Federico Atehortúa
Music: Carlos Quebrada
Sound Design: Mercedes Gaviria, Diana Martínez, José Gaviria
Cast: Mara Meba, Roberto Estrada Vergara
Producers: Jerónimo Atehortúa, Juan Sebastián Mora, Lina González, Eva Chillón
Production Companies: Invasión Cine, Pomme Hurlante Films
An imaginative journey through the turbulent history of Colombia in the first half of the 20th century, using surviving archival footage. The records say that twelve feature films were made in Colombia during the silent era, of which two have been fully preserved, two have been lost, and only fragments of the rest remain. Documentary films are even scarcer, and it is still difficult to know exactly how many were made. This film is a re-editing of all of Colombia’s surviving silent films to create a single fiction film. What begins as a melodrama in which Efrain falls in love with Alicia—the fiancée of the powerful and vengeful Uribe—turns into a contemporary story as it goes deeper into the jungle, where we witness the humiliating conditions of the Southern farmers and the birth of an armed rebellion.
Luis OspinaBorn in Cali, Colombia in 1949. After studying film at the University of California (UCLA) he returned to his home country, where he worked with Andrés Caicedo and Carlos Mayolo throughout the 1970s as one of the main directors in the “Cali Group (Caliwood),” aiming for a collective practice of film making and critique. His major titles include The Vampires of Poverty (1978), Pure Blood (1982), The Supreme Uneasiness (2003), and A Paper Tiger (2007). He came to YIDFF 2015 to show his film It All Started at the End (2015) in the first Double Shadows program. Passed away in 2019.
Jerónimo AtehortúaBorn in Medellín, Colombia. After studying directing at the Universidad del Cine in Buenos Aires, Argentina, he studied under Tarr Béla at the Film Factory in Bosnia-Herzegovina. In 2018, together with Federico Atehortúa and Juan Sebastián Mora, he founded the film production company Invasión Cine aiming at reconstructing the Colombian cinematic tradition. He produced and co-wrote Mute Fire (2019, Dir. Federico Atehortúa), which was screened in the Double Shadows 2 program at YIDFF 2019. He is also a film critic and has published Los cines por venir (Editorial Planeta 2020), a record of conversations with Pedro Costa, Tarr Béla, Víctor Erice, Luis Ospina, and others.