Anna Sanders Films
Screenings
Blanche–Neige Lucie by Pierre Huyghe
Atomic Park by Dominique Gonzalez–Foerster (UK premiere)
The Boy from Mars by Philippe Parreno (UK premiere)
Shimkent Hotel by Charles de Meaux
Book launch
The In–Between – Anna Sanders Films
Published by Forma and Les Presses du Réel
"The films of Anna Sanders take us on journeys…through the history of cinema, mental journeys, journeys between the imagined and the real." – Mathieu Copeland, Curator
Join Anna Sanders Films when Forma, in association with Artprojx, presents an evening of new cinematic experiences and an unmissable opportunity to view works by leading French artists at the forefront of the current convergence of visual art and cinema. This special event features British premieres of the short films Atomic Park and The Boy from Mars, and screenings of the acclaimed feature Shimkent Hotel and short Blanche–Neige Lucie. Audiences at Prince Charles Cinema will also be among the first to get access to the book The In–Between, when this key volume about the work of Anna Sanders is launched in the presence of several of the filmmakers.
Gonzalez–Foerster, Huyghe, De Meaux and Parreno are the founders of Anna Sanders Films, a Paris–based production company that has blazed a trail for a new breed of cinema – one that is made by visual artists and shown most often in galleries, but increasingly is finding its way into cinemas and film festivals. Indeed, the company's production with Thai artist Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Blissfully Yours, won the prize Un Certain Regard at Cannes Film Festival 2002 and the KNF prize at the 2003 International Film Festival, Rotterdam, and his new film Tropical Malady produced by Anna Sanders has been awarded the prestigious Cannes Jury Prize 2004.
Other Anna Sanders Films artists, meanwhile, have claimed some of the most prestigious visual art prizes. Pierre Huyghe was awarded the Hugo Boss Prize and Dominique Gonzalez–Foerster the Duchamp prize, both in 2002. The work of Anna Sanders Films is the subject of a major retrospective at the Filmmuseum in Amsterdam, as part of the World Wide Video Festival in June 2004.
In Shimkent Hotel (90 min), nominated as a highlight of the 2003 Edinburgh International Film Festival, Charles de Meaux explores the imagery of a place and its relationship to personal narratives. In a small, faded hotel room in Central Asia, Alex, with the help of a neurophysiologist struggles to regain his memory. Dominated by images of the infinite natural and gigantic industrial landscapes, his memories slowly reveal the story of the naïve adventure he embarked upon with two friends, reaching its climax in the traumatic shock that led to his amnesia.
Gonzalez–Foerster's Atomic Park (7 min) is a landscape of ambivalence – a space both for taking a picnic and for ballistic testing. Filmed in a national park not far from Trinity Site where the first atom bomb was detonated in July 1945, the stark white desert provides an inscrutable location in which any presence or movement is impossible to interpret with any consistency.
Shot on location in Thailand, The Boy from Mars (11 min) is a highly atmospheric meditation about a self–sufficient house – created by Parreno as part of an utopian artists' project, The Land begun by fellow artist Rirkrit Tiravanija – and the surrounding Thai rainforest. Enchantingly sensual images unfold and Devendra Banhart's bluesy musical score mirrors the tension created by an imminent storm as the film draws to a close.
Blanche–Neige Lucie (Snow White Lucie) (4 min) features the actress Lucie Dolene humming Some Day My Prince Will Come, one of the songs she sang in 1962 when she dubbed the French version of Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. An interview with Dolene, detailing her legal battle with Disney to regain rights over her own voice, runs as subtitles to the image. Huyghe presents a terse investigation into the complexities of identity and ownership.
The launch of The In–Between, a stunning new book about their cutting–edge body of work, will enable readers to find out the fact and the fiction of Anna Sanders Films. Key insights, from Mathieu Copeland, Chris Darke, Agnieszka Kurant and Tom Morton, delve in between the films and place Anna into the contexts of film history and current visual art practice. The volume – co–published by Forma and the French publisher Les Presses du Réel – offers a wealth of Anna Sanders film stills, production shots and a beguiling look and feel. Anna Sanders Films – The In–Between highlights the position of Anna Sanders as an in–between: in between the economies of the art world and of cinema; in between cinemas; in between realities, dreams and fictions.
Screenings & book launch
24 Jun 04 | Prince Charles Cinema, London, UK
Produced by Forma
Curated by Mathieu Copeland
