2016
Locarno International Film Festival
入選
入選
入選
A story is a journey, with both its beginning and end unfolding before the screen. Yet each story calls for a different way of being read—through the eyes, ears, nose, mouth, hands, and feet. And at the end, like a white curtain of light, it’s as if a dream was gently dreamt atop a tree. Moonlight, sifted into fragments by the leaves, spills softly onto the body—only then do we realize that the self at the starting point has quietly changed… An unnamed kind of fullness.
Why do we write? When words erupt from the mind and pour into the heart, images and monologues take the place of daily tedium—of the mundane, the irritating, the unbearable. For some writers, however, writing is more than expression; it is salvation. It is an unshakable calling. In this themed selection on literature, Giloo presents documentaries that delve into the lives and inner worlds of writers—poets, novelists, critics—who wield pens (or typewriters) like swords, fearlessly confronting the truths of the world. The passage of time leaves behind not just pages, but marks of introspection—quiet yet undeniable badges of their creative journey.
Drawing from Nietzsche’s concept of the “untimely” (Unzeitgemäß), Giorgio Agamben reinterprets the question of the contemporary. For Nietzsche, to be contemporary is to place oneself in a state of rupture and disintegration: “Those who truly belong to their time are those who neither conform to its demands nor adapt to its rhythms. Precisely through this misalignment, they perceive and grasp their era more acutely than anyone else.” Visionary artists often belong to this untimely realm. From the tragic brilliance of fashion icon Alexander McQueen, to Chinese photographer Ren Hang’s raw, poetic gaze; from the transcendent cinema of Andrei Tarkovsky, to the solitary grandeur of Austrian writer Peter Handke, and the provocative anti-totalitarian performance of Laibach—these creators exist where genius borders on madness. Watch how they spark moments of radiance within the mundanity of flesh—the fleeting glow of existence.
To document an extraordinary soul through the lens is to constantly wrestle with the dilemma of completeness. How can one capture the vastness of a life within the limited time of a film? It challenges the filmmaker’s depth of understanding and precision of perspective. Rather than striving for an all-encompassing portrait, it may be more powerful to focus on select moments—those glimmers that illuminate the subject’s essence. The camera becomes not only a tool to pierce through the surface, but also a means for sincere conversation with the person in front of it.
In times of turmoil, I find myself drawn to documentaries. There’s something profoundly moving in watching people carve out a sense of “home” amid chaos—guarding a fragment of peace and expanding the inner landscape of the heart. I’ve always loved the phrase “a heart set on distant meaning.” We are born into constraints and often stumble through thorns, but perhaps it’s precisely these entanglements that awaken our yearning for freedom and for becoming. With that in mind, I’ve selected three documentaries. Some feature lives caught in inescapable webs; others portray souls that remain free, even when the body cannot move.
Answer the call of instinct—leave behind the trivialities of daily life and embark on a pilgrimage of encounters with nature and literary exploration. On these journeys of adventure, where limits are tested and boundaries redefined, the soul is transformed. These inseparable life experiences continue to inspire others to move toward distant light. As we listen to their stories, may we too be moved to shoulder our backpacks—and set out to meet a new version of ourselves.
For many, love begins with a talent, and leads to another kind of brilliance—only to end in disaster. The finest artists are singular—they cannot be replicated. Perhaps the best kind of love is found in quiet admiration: a photograph, a frontline report, a song, a book, or a stage play.