When I witnessed this scene I immediately felt uncomfortable … But there, in the eyes of others all seemed innocuous. At the harbor in Essaouira, under the flight of the seagulls, the every day life followed its course, the women walked around, the fishermen did their work, the divers jumped … while construction works in progress seemed about to engulf this place and the people present. A mode of life related to this place was in phase of disappearance. This scene was unreal and strange. The divers and their games seemed for a moment to be fighting and going against the current of their usual space, which was in full transformation. The innocent game of young people touched the danger, as wanting to defy the machine, seeking a desire for freedom. During editing I continued to reinforce this idea of strangeness, desire for freedom, the bound of game/ danger, the challenge facing the threat of the machine, and this “in between” moment: past and forthcoming future mingling. The black and white images and the sound empower the tension of this environment.
Rent this work for public screeningsTehran
Noemi Sjöberg
2005, 00:05:11