IF NOT NOW, WHEN? — JoannaPiechotta070625 copy 7

JOANNA PIECHOTTADIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY

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IF NOT NOW, WHEN?

dir. Anton Kats
video/animation, 14min (loop)
Germany
2023

At a moment when most political concepts are failing, this work draws inspiration from the protagonists of Ukrainian cosmism, such as Fedir Tetyanych, to address the tragedy and trauma of war. This new film, If not now, when? takes the form of past life recollections of two characters who meet sudden death in the aftermath of the explosion of the Kakhovka dam and the ongoing shelling of the Kherson shipyard in southern Ukraine by Russian forces.
Walking through a series of otherworldly portals, both characters — a fisherman and a welder — repeatedly transition between death and rebirth. As they find themselves in new bodies, the two souls walk through different worlds carried through the sonic space by the voice of the narrator and shadowed by a witness. Embracing transmigration as an operational mode the artist draws on the complex geopolitical context of both Ukrainian cities amidst invasion to explore the potentialities of a practice “after hope”.

CAST
// Susanne Sachsse
// Ligia Lewis
// Ilych

written & directed by Anton Kats
cinematography: Joanna Piechotta
structural design: Byron Kalomamas
VFX: RGB alpha
colourist: DwiiK
masks: Anastasia Pilepchuk
voice recording: Jared Meier-Klodt
mixing: Victor Kurando
mastering: Eugene “Diggidon” Don
production: Anton Kats

Contribution to the exhibition: As Though We Hid the Sun in a Sea of Stories 20.10.2023 – 14.01.2024 House of World Cultures (HKW)

As Though We Hid the Sun in a Sea of Stories was curated by Cosmin Costinas and co-conceptualised with Iaroslav Volovod, Nikolay Karabinovych, Saodat Ismailova
and Kimberly St.Julian-Varnon.

Supported by Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe

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