Arming the camera

This programme moves through different flashpoints where film served a cause that has led to a violent conflict. To do this, "Arming the camera" will trace out a map illustrating these battles, outlining a path to help us reflect on the connections between social and political conflicts and the mechanics of divergent film production, both in terms of aesthetics and narrative.

The purpose of aiming, the need for a lens or scope, and how you hold the device could all be attributed to either a weapon or a camera. The physical similarity between the two objects may be unsettling. Even common language shows connections between the two: we shoot a film. The act of mounting the filming device and pointing towards that being represented has, for many filmmakers and armed movements, been a tool used to open up new battle fronts through film. 

This programme moves through different flashpoints where film served a cause that has led to a violent conflict. To do this, "Arming the camera" will trace out a map illustrating these battles, outlining a path to help us reflect on the connections between social and political conflicts and the mechanics of divergent film production, both in terms of aesthetics and narrative. 

This cycle invites us to reflect on the power of images in context, and how they could dialogue with the present. Do images still hold their incendiary spirit? Can it be contemplated through cinematographic language?

"Arming the camera" cycle is a device proposed by EQZE’s FIlm Curating programme students, which will run throughout 2022. 

Programme:

January 27
Red Army/PFLP: Declaration of World War (Masao Adachi y Kôji Wakamatsu, Japan, 1971, 71 min.)

February 24
Sambizanga (Sarah Maldoror, Angola,1973, 102 min.)

March 31
Il n'y aura plus de nuit (Eléonore Weber, France, 2020, 75 min.)

April 28
Still recording (Saeed Al Batal y Ghiath Ayoub, Siria, 2018, 122 min.)

May 26 
Historias prohibidas de Pulgarcito (Paul Leduc, Mexico, 1980, 71 min.)

June 30
El enemigo principal (Jorge Sanjinés, Bolivia-Peru, 1973, 103 min.)

September 30
"Corto-grafia de un cine comprometido"
Black Panthers (Agnes Varda, France, 1968, 31 min.)
Riot (Nathan Silver, 2015, USA, 4 min.)
November (Hito Steyerl, Germany, 2004, 25 min.)
Specialised Technique (Onyeka Igwe, UK, 2018, 7 min.)
Irrintzi (Mirentxu Loyarte, Spain, 1978, 12 min.)
Respiración oceánica (performance by Izar Ocariz)

October 27
El cielo está rojo (Francina Carbonell, Chile, 2020, 75 min.)

December 8
48 (Susana de Sousa Dias, Portugal, 2009, 93 min.)