Two Suns + You, My, Omma, Mama + Lichens are the Way
SUPERFLEX , Laure Prouvost & Ondřej Vavrečka / Denmark, Marshall Islands, Belgium, France, Austria, Czech Republic & Slovakia / 72 min
Three short films nominated for the CPH:DOX Art Film Award and screened together.
Two Suns
SUPERFLEX / Denmark & Marshall Islands / 2024 / World Premiere / 15 min
A collaborative film work created by the artist group Superflex in collaboration with residents of the Marshall Islands, where the echoes of America's many nuclear tests still reverberate.
Between 1946 and 1958, the US tested 67 nuclear bombs on the Marshall Islands. A spectator of the blasts said: ‘It was as if there were two suns in the sky.’ ‘Two Suns’ is a description of this complex history seen from the point of view of two children, Ahti and Aapo, who are chiefs on Enewetak Atoll. Some of the radioactive waste on the Marshall Islands was collected and stored in concrete in the Runit Dome. Locally, the dome is known as ‘The Tomb,’ and its imposing mass is iconic, appearing like a massive alien object. In Two Suns, Ahti and Aapo take apart a small copy of the Runit Dome and build new designs for a playground with the pieces. By taking apart the shape of the dome and reorganizing it in new configurations, the children transform it from a symbol of nuclear death and destruction into a symbol of life and open-ended play. The film is made by SUPERFLEX in collaboration with Ahti Moses and Aapo Moses, as well as their mother Brooke Takala and Maureen Penjueli.
You, My, Omma, Mama
Laure Prouvost / Belgium, France & Austria / 2024 / World Premiere / 15 min
The Turner Prize-winning artist's new video work is a feminist ritual held in a cave in Marseille.
Women of different ages and backgrounds meet in the mountainous landscape outside Marseille. In a cave overlooking the land, they gather to perform a ritual of thanksgiving addressed to their own mothers. Turner Prize-winning artist Laure Prouvost (who had a major exhibition at Kunsthal Charlottenborg during CPH:DOX 2021) works in a range of media and formats, and her short video works live both in an installation context and as independent beings on the cinema screen. ‘You, My, Omma, Mama’ is a feminist tribute to motherhood and sisterhood from one of the most singular of contemporary artists.
Lichens Are The Way
Ondřej Vavrečka / Czech Republic & Slovakia / 2024 / World Premiere / 42 min
A close-up study of radically different life forms that puts our own human scale in a new and thought-provoking light.
Lichens are amazing organisms. A combination of a fungus and algae, two life forms that once upon a time decided to enter into symbiosis with each other. Fungi have difficulty photosynthesising and algae have difficulty incorporating sugar. Therefore, their union is beneficial for both parties. Or in other words: It is better to live together than to live alone. ‘Lichens are the Way’ is a loving and thought-provoking close-up study of radically different life forms, and of what happens when we turn our attention to beings and life forms outside our own scale. Czech Ondřej Vavrečka shot his radically imaginative, organic film in Canada, where lichenologist Trevor and his partner have created a home together in the symbiotic spirit of the object of their studies.