Illiyeen + Songbook
Eliyah Mesayer, Nanna Rebekka & Mariah Garnett / Denmark & United States / 67 min
Eliyah Mesayer and Nanna Rebekka’s ‘Illiyeen’ is a black and white film work from an imaginary state of the same name, where a lone rider crosses an empty landscape in a meditation on identity and belonging. The Bedouin term ‘Illiyeen’ refers to a heavenly record or register where the deeds of the righteous are recorded and protected. But here, Illiyeen is transformed into an allegorical ‘state of nowhere and nation of everywhere’ beyond geographical or national borders.
Mariah Garnett’s ‘Songbook’ intertwines two parallel processes: The process of staging an opera composed by Garnett’s great-great-grandmother with contributions from an international cast of musicians and performers, and a journey to Cairo, where her great-great-grandmother, Ruth Lynda Deyo, once lived and worked. Her diaries contain passages transcribed from her conversations with spirits who reassured her not to worry about money or the broken state of the world.
Illiyeen
Eliyah Mesayer & Nanna Rebekka / Denmark / 2024 / World Premiere / 12 min
A lone rider from the imaginary state of Illiyeen crosses an empty landscape and their reflections unfold in a poetic meditation on identity and belonging.
‘Illiyeen’ is the result of a collaboration between filmmaker Nanna Rebekka and visual artist Eliyah Mesayer. A black and white film work from an imaginary state of the same name, in which a lone rider crosses an empty landscape in a meditation on identity and belonging. The Bedouin term ‘Illiyeen’ refers to a heavenly record or register where the deeds of the righteous are written down and protected. But here, Illiyeen is transformed into an allegorical ‘state of nowhere and nation of everywhere’ beyond geographical or national borders.
Songbook
Mariah Garnett / United States / 2025 / World Premiere / 55 min
Two parallel paths are intertwined in a film in which artist Mariah Garnett stages an opera written by her great-great grandmother in Cairo.
Mariah Garnett’s ‘Songbook’ intertwines two parallel processes: A process of staging an opera composed by Garnett’s great-great-grandmother with contributions from an international cast of musicians and performers, and a journey to Cairo, where her great-great-grandmother, Ruth Lynda Deyo, once lived and worked. Her diaries contain passages transcribed from her conversations with spirits who reassured her not to worry about money or the broken state of the world.