▲ LES MAINS, NÉGATIVES, 2012, ANA VAZ Courtesy of the MMCA

The 2024 Seoul International Experimental Film Festival (EXiS) will highlight the work of Brazilian filmmaker Ana Vaz in the Indi-Visual section, which focuses on contemporary video artists. Ana Vaz, known for her films made in Brazil, Australia, and France, has gained international recognition in both the film and art worlds through her screenings, exhibitions, and lecture performances.

Following last year's focus on Apichatpong Weerasethakul, this year’s Indi-Visual section will showcase 15 of Vaz’s films, spanning from her early works to her recent projects. While some of these films have been shown at other domestic events, this will be the first comprehensive introduction to her work for Korean audiences. 

▲ OCCIDENTE, 2014, ANA VAZ Courtesy of the MMCA

Ana Vaz explores time and space in the Americas, often portraying the displacement of native peoples and the complex relationships between humans and nature. Her films challenge the traditional Western dichotomy of humans and nature, blending locations, people, and events in an interconnected narrative. In her film "SACRIS PULSO" (2008), the modernist city of Brasília serves as a backdrop, character, and event, encapsulating the utopian vision and human desires that created it.

Her work "THERE IS LAND!" (2016) revisits the moment of European colonization in the Americas, highlighting the cultural ignorance and perceived emptiness of the land they claimed. "APIYEMIYEKÎ?" (2019) documents the struggles of indigenous peoples in the Amazon, who faced eviction and violence during highway construction. In "IT IS NIGHT IN AMERICA" (2022), Vaz examines how urban development affects both human and non-human life, advocating for an "Earth perspective" rather than a regional one.

▲ SACRIS PULSO, 2007, ANA VAZ Courtesy of the MMCA​For Ana Vaz, film is a medium that reveals the historical issues of colonization and invasion in her native Brazil, as well as a medium that constitutes a new perspective on the climate crisis and the Anthropocene that humanity confronts. In "A FILM, RECLAIMED" (2015) and "THE TREE" (2023), these films operate as processes of experience and perception.

For "13 WAYS OF LOOKING AT A BLACKBIRD" (2020), she spent a year with two high school students as part of the “Unschool” program in Lisbon, watching numerous experimental films with them, stimulating their senses, and walking a lot with them. For her, film is a process of asking questions and creating knowledge that does not suppress imagination and thinking. If we comprehend the questions in her films and ask our own, the process of watching films may also act as a process of experience and perception for us.
 

▲ The poster of the festivalThe festival will run from July 19 to August 24, 2024, at the MMCA Film and Video Theater in Seoul. It is organized by the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) and the Moving Image Forum. Admission is free to all.

In addition to the screenings, an artist talk featuring Ana Vaz and film critic Shin Eun-shil will be held on July 23, 2024, at the same venue. The talk will be moderated by Jo In-han, a programmer for the Seoul International Experimental Film Festival, offering a deeper exploration of Vaz’s work and artistic vision.

Sayart / Maria Kim, sayart2022@gmail.com