Elemental: Family Fortunes + Public Pool + A Robust Heart + Victoria
Mila Turajlić, Elizabeth Lo, Martín Benchimol & Sam Soko / Serbia, United States, Argentina & Kenya / 46 min
‘Family Fortunes’ is a story about silver. As filmmaker Mila Turajlić helps her mother polish her family’s collection of silverware, she feels her ancestors emerge from the past like spirits from a lamp.
‘Public Pool’ is a meditative, observational portrait of the Hansen Dam Aquatic Center – a public park with its own swimming pool. In this urban oasis of chlorinated water, working class families flock to enjoy a moment of precious leisure.
In the Argentinian ‘A Robust Heart’, director Martín Benchimol talks to the men of a slaughterhouse, using simple means to uncover deep notions of masculinity and the bonds of blood – even between humans and animals.
‘Victoria’ takes us to Nairobi, where a woman has left an abusive relationship and found happiness in her new job surrounded by happy children as she drives around the Kenyan capital to birthday parties to make balloons.
Family Fortunes
Mila Turajlić / Serbia & United States / 2022 / 11 min
A tray. A chandelier. A full tea set – matching saucers and sugar bowl included. Many napkin rings. Spoons, forks. Everything engraved with names, initials, important dates in the life of their long-gone owners. This whole collection of silver objects, gathered throughout the years, has survived wars, revolutions, displacement, exile, to eventually end up displayed behind the doors of a glass cabinet. Like memories, silver plates tarnish with time. Once in a while, one must take them out of the cabinet and rub them. Serbian director Mila Turajlić joins her mother in her ritual cleaning of the family silverware and, while methodically polishing each item, feels her ancestors emerge from the past, like genies from a lamp.
Public Pool
Elizabeth Lo / United States / 2025 / World Premiere / 13 min
A meditative, observational portrait of Hansen Dam Aquatic center – a public park with its own swimming pool. Only 39 public pools exist in Los Angeles, and this is one of them. In the summer weekends, hundreds of residents, especially working-class families, rush towards this oasis of chlorinated water to cool off and relax. Children play in the sand, under the eye of their parents, enjoying an instant of luxurious leisure. But a team of vigilant lifeguards is here to watch out the rowdy and cheerful crowd.
A Robust Heart
Martín Benchimol / Argentina & United States / 2022 / 11 min
Seated before the pristine blue wall of a slaughterhouse, different butchers, old and young, shy and chatty, speak about their work, their knives, their joy, their fear, their way to best cut open the robust heart of an animal – ‘like a book’. As Argentinian director Martín Benchimol, who is the son of a butcher himself, starts to ask them questions, a deeper narrative is unlocked. Slowly, the hearts of men wearing white aprons covered in animal blood open up. With this simple but effective setup, Benchimol subtly explores notions of blood ties and masculinity.
Victoria
Sam Soko / Kenya & United States / 2025 / European Premiere / 12 min
‘Something special about Nairobi is the people. I love the people of Nairobi. One thing I dislike about Nairobi is that there are barely spaces for children to play’, says Victoria behind the wheel of her van, driving from one birthday party to the next. Five years earlier, she set up a helium balloon business in the Kenyan capital to surround herself with joy and find safety after escaping an abusive relationship. In the colourful bouncy castles she erects and in the children’s laughter that fill them up, she finds healing and new strength.