12: Lav Diaz

5 April, 2015 - 13:00
SPHINX 5

 

 

SELECTION 2015

A dialogue between new audiovisual works, older or rediscovered films and videos by artists and filmmakers who work in the expanded field of moving image practice.

Storm Children – Book One

Lav Diaz
,
PH
,
2014
,
DCP
,
b&w
,
143'

A terrible typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) has left a city on the coast in a state of post-apocalyptic chaos. Freight ships were thrown from the sea and lie around between what remains of houses and shacks, and countless people tragically lost to the waves. In the middle of it all a group of children are creating a new world for themselves. Diaz’ characteristic, cinematic signature – the long and hypnotic scenes held in patiently observing black and white images – is present in every composition and every instant. A sublime, cinematic report from a devastating corner of reality.

The children, as they cope with the disaster, are scavenging for food and materials, telling stories, playing amid the looming ships run aground on the town’s main street, and diving from others that still sit in the sea. Storm Children – Book One is a moving reflection on human resilience, and shows the filmmaker’s deeply rooted sense of community and his connection with the past and the future generations of his country.