OCCIDENT
dir. Thomas Taube
experimental, 30 min
Germany/ France
2021
The question of what we can and want to see or consciously do not want to perceive is central to Thomas Taube’s film essay OCCIDENT. In parallel and collage-like visual and narrative layers, he links the threat and danger of the invisible substance, asbestos, with Eadwaerd Muybridge’s 19th-century photographs of human movement. His systematical analysis of individual body movements is historically linked to the exploitation of industrial workers. At the same time, a report by a present-day French asbestos removal company can be heard stating that this type of work is mainly carried out by migrant workers. As a whole, OCCIDENT is a visually stunning reflection on the instrumentalisation of the human
body and how society deals with physical danger: a manner historically linked to the history of colonialism, which also plays a role in Muybridge’s photos. These photos were produced at the time when asbestos was first used on a larger scale.*
*blinkvideo.de
CAST
// Pina Bergemann
// Christian Erdt
// Claude Turquin
written & directed by Thomas Taube
cinematography: Joanna Piechotta
editing: Thomas Taube
light: Inga Riedel
composition: Gregor Pfeffer
costume: Marina Minst
colourist: Enrico Wittich / Trickkiste Leipzig
production: Thomas Taube
F E S T I V A L S // S C R E E N I N G S
Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin : New Cinema and Contemporary Art // 2021
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