Look Closely at the Mountains
Regardez bien les montagnes
Commande et production Le Conseil Régional des Hauts-de-France, Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa of Minas Gerais, The Federal Estate of Minas Gerais, Service des Relations Internationales de l'Université de Lille, en coopération avec Le Fresnoy – Studio National des Arts Contemporains, Spectre Productions
Spectre Production, diff@lafabrique-phantom.org +33 (0)1 80 06 08 34
"Look closely at the mountains!": this imperative came from the artist Manfredo de Souzanetto during Brazil's years of dictatorship. Mining
activities were destroying the environment in the State of Minas Gerais in the South-West of the country. Through the editing, Ana Vaz draws a parallel between this region and the very distant Nord-Pas-de-Calais region in France, which was also marked by three centuries of mining. On one side, eroded mountains where the inhabitants are plagued by deadly landslides. Hollow and gutted, these mountains have become the receptacles of a ghostly memory. On the other side, in France, the traces of mining activity, at one time covered over, are now being redeveloped under heritage rehabilitation schemes and, paradoxically, the waste stacks have become mountains and reservoirs of biodiversity, where the frontier between nature and technology is now indiscernible. The filmmaker surprises us with each shot. Poetry takes precedence over any activist or environmental discourse – as in the sequence showing scientists measuring bats in the moonlight. The "look closely" steers the film towards details, towards visual and sound material. Yet, it is never disconnected from the political: a shot of the sky taken from the bottom of a ravine is enough to conjure up the ghosts of eradicated indigenous peoples, whose cave paintings nonetheless continue to exist. (Charlotte Garson)
Sunday 25 March 2018 | 18H30 | Petite Salle
Original Version Subtitled in French and English + debate
Film Projeté avec : Salarium de Sasha Litvintseva Daniel Mann Voir la grille
Saturday 24 March 2018 | 14H30 | Salle 300
Wednesday 28 March 2018 | 17H00 | Salle 100
Original Version Subtitled in French and English