18:00, 31 May 2022
Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo
Tickets via Kunstnernes Hus website
This evening we are joined by artist and writer Fatou Åsbakk for a two-part event about how the films we watch seep into our everyday lives. In the first part Åsbakk will screen a brand new video and introduce her ‘film memories’ – short poetic texts which she writes in response to the films she sees – in conversation with curator Marit Paasche. In part two we will watch an acclaimed recent film by French filmmaker Frank Beauvais, Just Don’t Think I’ll Scream, which examines a life lived through the lens of binge-watching.
A limited-run fanzine collecting Åsbakk’s Filmerindringer will be launched at the event and every audience member will receive a free copy. There will also be several online elements extending the screening itself (see below).
Photo of Fatou Åsbakk by Therese Hagen.
Please note: the conversational part of this event will be in Norwegian.
Program
Fatou Åsbakk
En filmerindring i films form – Livet på Frogner.
(Norway, 2022)
A new video in which Åsbakk reflects on Anne Haugsgjerd’s film Livet på Frogner.
Frank Beauvais
Just Don’t Think I’ll Scream
(France, 2019, 72 min, digital video, French with English subtitles)
“January 2016. The love story that brought me to this village in Alsace where I live ended six months ago. At 45, I am now alone, without a car, a job or any real prospects, surrounded by luxuriant nature, the proximity of which is not enough to calm the deep distress into which I am plunged… I am lost and I watch four to five films a day. I decide to record this stagnation, not by picking up a camera but by editing shots from the stream of films I watch.”
“When his relationship fell apart and his partner moved out, Frank Beauvais was left trapped in the French countryside. He had no driver’s license to escape his depressing surroundings and no money to return to Paris, but he did have a huge stack of films on DVD, which he constantly supplemented with online orders and illegal downloads. Over a period of six months he watched 400 films, from obscure Soviet productions and black-and-white classics to horror and Japanese soft porn. From these images, he distilled a film that is an amalgam of a visual autobiography, a literary confession and a superior sampling composition.” – International Documentary Filmfestival Amsterdam
Online
The Film Memories event will be extended with additional content on the PRISMS website:
Watch online: you will be able to stream two recent short films by Fatou Åsbakk, Solanotatene and Hamarøynotatene, for free from 20 May – 5 June.
Listen: a podcast in which Mike Sperlinger speaks with British writer Andrew Key about his weekly email/blog roland barfs film diary, in which he records both his everyday existence and his extensive film-viewing. (Key will also be watching and writing about Life in Frogner (1986), a short film by Anne Haugsgjerd, for this week’s edition of his diary – sign up to his Substack here: https://rolandbarfs.substack.com.)
This event is supported by Kulturrådet.