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ANALOGICA RE/COLLECTION TRAINS by Maciej J. Drygas Poland / 2024 / 81 min screening |
12 NOV / h 20.00 > Filmclub in partnership with FAS - Film Association of Southtyrol (DOC DAY) ZeLIG School for Documentary with the support of Istituto Polacco Roma |
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TRAINS is a “found-footage” documentary consisting of solely archival materials, which creates a collective portrait of people in 20th century Europe, capturing their hopes, desires, dramas, and tragedies.
A train compartment is a place where, for a while, people are taken out of their everyday context. For a few hours or days, they inhabit a temporary community, and their lives unfold according to a timetable. A train journey is something beautiful, magical, but also often very dramatic. Sometimes, the journey is accompanied by the hope that something will change in our lives upon reaching the destination, or conversely, by a stark absence of hope. And yet the history of the world unfolds in railway carriages in repeating refrain. |
Every few years, hauntingly similar scenes occur at railway stations worldwide: carriages filled with men going off to war, only to return wounded or as casualties.
This cycle is followed by an exodus of civilians, evacuees mingling with prisoners of war returning from camps, and soldiers of victorious armies leading the defeated, until ordinary passengers once again appear at the stations. TRAINS is an artistic endeavor to explore new possibilities in expanding the language of cinema and to rebuild the emotional connection between the viewer and archival reality. |
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DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT TRAINS is a documentary crafted in the found footage genre, using archival film materials from 46 archives around the world. One of the most significant and timeconsuming challenges was finding a common thread to unify sequences to be edited from materials created in different eras and technologies (the oldest unique archival footage dates back to the early 20th century). The narration of this wordless film relies on the interplay between visuals and a highly developed sound design. This film harnesses the vast potential of cinematic language to forge an emotional connection between the viewer and the archival reality. |
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Maciej J. Drygas is a renowned film and radio director, screenwriter, producer, and professor at the Polish National Film School in Łódź (PWSFTviT). His works have received numerous prestigious awards, including the European Film Academy Award for Best Documentary for “Hear My Cry” (1991), the Prix Italia for the radio documentary “Last Will” (1992), the Grand Prix at the Monte Carlo International Television Festival for “State of Weightlessness” (1995), and the award for Best Feature-Length Documentary at the Cinema Verité festival in Tehran for “Abu Haraz” (2013).
Drygas also wrote the libretto for the opera *Qudsja Zaher*, which was nominated for the International Opera Awards in London in 2014. He is the originator and founder of the Filmoteka Narodowa at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Warsaw.
His films and radio documentaries have been broadcasted across Europe, as well as in Canada, Japan, Brazil, South Africa, New Caledonia, and Australia.
Drygas also wrote the libretto for the opera *Qudsja Zaher*, which was nominated for the International Opera Awards in London in 2014. He is the originator and founder of the Filmoteka Narodowa at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Warsaw.
His films and radio documentaries have been broadcasted across Europe, as well as in Canada, Japan, Brazil, South Africa, New Caledonia, and Australia.
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IT
TRAINS è un documentario di found footage che, attraverso esclusivamente materiali d’archivio, compone un ritratto collettivo dell’Europa del Novecento. Nei vagoni ferroviari si intrecciano speranze, desideri e tragedie: per qualche ora i passeggeri formano comunità provvisorie, vivendo sospesi tra partenze e arrivi. Il treno diventa specchio della storia: soldati che partono per la guerra e tornano feriti, civili in fuga, prigionieri di ritorno dai campi, vincitori e vinti che si incrociano sulle stesse banchine. Poi, lentamente, le stazioni tornano a popolarsi di viaggiatori comuni. Film senza dialoghi, TRAINS attraversa il secolo 'breve' unendo filmati raccolti in 46 archivi diversi. Un prezioso lavoro di ricerca, che diventa narrazione visiva grazie al sapiente lavoro sonoro e di montaggio. TRAINS attareversa il tempo per farci scoprire, nuovamente, la potenza evocativa del cinema d'archivio e di memoria. |
DE
TRAINS ist ein Found-Footage-Dokumentarfilm, der ausschließlich aus Archivmaterial ein kollektives Porträt Europas im 20. Jahrhundert zeichnet. In Eisenbahnwaggons verweben sich Hoffnungen, Wünsche und Tragödien: Für einige Stunden bilden Reisende provisorische Gemeinschaften, schwebend zwischen Aufbruch und Ankunft. Der Zug wird zum Spiegel der Geschichte: Soldaten ziehen in den Krieg und kehren verwundet zurück, Zivilist:innen fliehen, Gefangene kommen aus den Lagern heim; Sieger und Besiegte begegnen sich auf denselben Bahnsteigen. Und langsam füllen sich die Bahnhöfe wieder mit gewöhnlichen Reisenden. Ohne Dialoge durchmisst der Film TRAINS das „kurze“ 20. Jahrhundert und vereint Aufnahmen aus 46 verschiedenen Archiven. Aus akribischer Recherche wird eine visuelle Erzählung – getragen von kunstfertiger Tonarbeit und Montage. TRAINS durchquert die Zeit und lässt uns die suggestive Kraft des Archiv- und Erinnerungskinos neu entdecken. |