REOPENING THE PAST
REOPENING THE PAST
a film by Liliana Resnick
12 min
dance, experimental
color, 16:9
year of production: 2010
countries of production: USA/CROATIA
shooting format: digital video
exhibition formats: digital video, Beta SP
Log line:
What happens when the past walls the mind?
Synopsis:
Although it has been 15 years since the war has ended a few women still await the return of their missing husbands.
Director’s Statement:
The feeling of destruction that war brings about is still very palpable in Croatian society, and it will remain so until there is a collective effort to recuperate and to forgive.
‘Reopening the Past’ is an experimental dance film created from my own personal archive footage of my dance performance that tell the story of the above subject.
Credits:
Director, Choreographer, Producer, Editor:
Liliana Resnick
Story:
Liliana Resnick
Cast:
Blazenka Kovac, Nevenka Miklenic, Ivancica Horvat, Ana Maria Sremec
Camera:
Dragutin Ramadza, Liliana Resnick
Lighting design:
Olivije Marecic
Music fragments by:
Dalibor Bukvic
Sound design:
Liliana Resnick
Many thanks to
Jozo Patljak / Alka Film
Letters of Support:
Dear Liliana:
I just today found a moment to watch your 12′ experimental film Reopening the Past calmly. I have waited with some anticipation to find such a moment. You asked for my thoughts, and here they are, directly and spontaneously:
The visuals are intriguing and sustain the viewer’s attention– a solo within a solo, within a solo – reflecting the viewer’s glance upon the work of art. The sound kept me calm, The mood for the viewer is trance-like, instead of making the eye trace a specific idea. The eye starts to slide admiringly with the movement catching something like a “natural context” of movement within the shelter of a dark stage. Your film touches me from somewhere– a hidden side, a place where no language seems to be needed. The effect of watching the piece is more like a drug, something sedative-like in quality, hidden in the sensibility of my own private glance. It stirs a desire to be somewhere close to the grass and roots, why do I keep coming back to that? You create a sense of nature and purity among the technical effects.
Hope, these notes say something to you. I am thankful for the pause this gave to me,
Yours, Arnd
Arnd Wesemann is an editor of Ballet/Tanz, a leading European dance magazine
“What happens when the past walls the mind?”