The Sky Trembles and the Earth is Afraid and the Two Eyes are no Brothers

 

 

foto

Ben Rivers

Großbritannien 2015

96 min – 35mm auf HD – Arabisch, Französisch, Spanisch, Englisch
B+K: Ben Rivers – Mit Oliver Laxe
S: Ben Rivers, Benjamin Mirguet
SD: Philippe Ciompi – P: Jacqui Davies – V: LUX
theskytrembles.com


 

 

“Can all people who aren’t acting leave?” The hardships of being a director are tangible in the latest Ben Rivers film, which is just as mysterious as its title (a reference to a work by Paul Bowles). Rivers was present in Morocco’s Atlas mountains on the sets of Oliver Laxe’s Herzog-inspired production ”Mimosas”, and there he primarily documented frustration, hiatus and inertia.

It is only when Laxe doesn’t see the point of filming any more (beware: we are slowly moving into fictional territory) that ”The Sky Trembles…” becomes more than a film in a film and a film about film. Rivers then puts Laxe through a new agony, based on Bowles’ short story ”A Distant Episode”. The Spanish director is kidnapped by a group of nomads who sell him to different tribe as a gleaming, dancing object. It is an unthinkable action that reflects as much on the difficult relationship between man, nature and film as on the previous difficult scenes behind the scenes.


friday 7 oct 10.30 p.m. werkstattkino

Ben Rivers  studied Fine Art at Falmouth School of Art, initially in sculpture before moving into photography and super8 film. After his degree he taught himself 16mm filmmaking and hand-processing. His practice as a filmmaker treads a line between documentary and fiction. Often following and filming people who have in some way separated themselves from society, the raw film footage provides Rivers with a starting point for creating oblique narratives imagining alternative existences in marginal worlds.

Films Ah, Liberty! 2008 (6. UX) – I Know Where I’m Going 2009 (6. UX) Slow Action 2010 (6. UX) – Two Years at Sea 2011 (7. UX) – The Creation As We Saw It 2012
Phantoms of a Libertine 2012 – A Spell to Ward Off the Darkness 2013 (9. UX) – Things 2014 – What Means Something 2015 – A Distant Episode 2015 (11. UX)