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Films in this programme

#088 Mirror Image Observation

A New selection of videos on the IMPAKT Channel
This programme was created by Jackie Tan as part of her Internship in 2020

Living in this post-pandemic situation, we witness the waning of hyper-globalization and the building of barriers between countries, ethnicity and cultures. Social and cultural differences varying among nations, races, and language are being emphasized once more, which confronts us with a concentration of contradictions and divisions.

Observing through the image they have built about the other, people are constantly entangled in the obstacles of “self-the other” and the desire of identification. There are traces of self in the image of others, and also non-selfness mixed in the image of self. Mirror image is actually a mixed projection of the external and the internal world, and the observer is also part of the observed.

Through the lens of these video artists, observation of intercultural estrangement and misunderstanding arouse our empathy for the individual experience of outsiders and reflect on the danger of single narrative. They’re also seeking for the potentiality of recontextualization to engage in dialogue with the other and to bridge across different languages, geographies and cultural genealogies.

Films in this programme

The Wallraff Method
Thierry Geoffroy
(DK 2005, 3:53 min)
“Are you busy? Can I borrow your hat so I look like you?” The artist tried to investigate what is the best nationality to integrate...
5 lessons and 9 questions about Chinatown
Shelly Silver
(US 2009, 10:00 min)
Combining documentaries and animations, this film presents how the historical facts, including Chinese Exclusion Act and racial...
Buyer Walker Rover aka. Then There (Yiwu)
Amalia Ulman
(ES 2019, 15:18 min)
Buyer Walker Rover depicts the journey of a Spanish girl Anna who came to Yiwu in search of dreams alone. The video with its multiple...
Fire Fly
Caroline Kamya
(UG/CN 2011, 16:00 min)
For the director, it was her first visit to China. That is why she chose a kind of fairytale, since for her a fairytale has universal...
On the BG Track. 03
Krassimir Terzeiv
(BG 2002, 6:57)
On the BG Track. 03 compares the urban spaces of Sofia with Hollywood film dialogues which portray Bulgarian culture, customs and...
Squattertown (episode 1), 1st Man Down
Marco Sparmberg
(HK 2011, 07:05 min)
The web video series transplants a dystopian Western to the rooftops of Hong Kong. Drawing from the two hallmark film movements: the...
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