«Past, Encapsulated» is a doomed fight against change - a digital time capsule attempting to preserve the living spaces as they are through objects and conversations about memories.
Uliana’s grandparents’ bookshelves and cupboards are filled with little trinkets, statuettes, souvenirs, gifts and decor objects. In each – a multitude of memories and stories, hidden and often untold. As we explore the shelves, the grandparents are sharing the memories embedded into decor pieces placed in the bedrooms, kitchens and
living rooms.
To do the work of 18th century potassium nitrate collectors in Toggenburg. To be an electrician on a film set. Mix the two together and bring to a slow boil. What film will we see when all the water has evaporated? To be explosive, potassium nitrate would have to be mixed with some coal and sulphur. What else do we need to see the power of black powder?
In the experimental short film WHAT IF WE WANT IT ALL?, three women and three actresses explore the concept of "motherhood" within a stylized film set. Whose lives, desires, and inner conflicts do we hear? The boundaries between documentary and staging blur, as reenactments and personal commentary create a multi-layered narrative.
Driven by her personal experience as a woman with children, the filmmaker places reflection at the center and seeks dialogue with people from her surroundings. The film questions role models and societal structures—opening up space for collective exploration.
Format: 16mm, b&w and/or color
Length: max. 20 minutes
Camera: Arriflex 16s, Bolex H16 Rex 5
Sound: mono, recorded on 1/4" tape w/NAGRA
As the new radical right is gaining acting power in Italy, Antonio Gramsci’s Theory of Cultural Hegemony is offering us a possible explanation and solution.
For the first time since World War II, a post-fascist party has acting and policy-making power in Italy. To find a possible explanation on how conservative narratives -- constantly triggered by societal, cultural, and economic events: such as a possible economic crisis (Frank 2012; Hochschild 2016), the fear of the other (Stichweh 2010), and the threat of losing the identity of our imagined community (Anderson 2006) -- keep on reproducing, Antonio Gramsci’s Theory of Cultural Hegemony (1971) is offering us a way to understand how social movements come to be and how a hegemonial class tries to keep its power. It does so through the establishment of a common sense, making the lower, subaltern class believe to find itself in the best possible of worlds. Gramsci’s fragmented theory explains us, how narratives get created, where to find them, and how they’ll end up into such a common sense, that will continue to repeat them. But Gramsci also offers a way out, by telling how this common sense can be changed through the emergence of new, organic intellectuals and by creating new forms of knowledge. Populist right-wing parties often like to describe themselves as such: as outsider social grassroots movements, like the American Tea Party -- or like Giorgia Meloni from Fratelli d’Italia, who calls herself an underdog. But very often they are orchestrated from neoliberal and big business friendly parties, and are therefore doing nothing else than just repeating the same kind of conservative narratives (Crehan 2016) -- through tax cuts; dismantling of the welfare state; privatizations,...
This is a reflexive and essayistic documentary film about Gramsci’s theory and the emergence of the new Radical Right in Italy.
Jolanda Cordero desperately wants to return to the Dominican Republic. Thirty years ago, she came to Switzerland to escape poverty. Her husband and two sons were supposed to follow, but it never happened. She works seven days a week as a cleaner—for the Lake Lucerne shipping company, in residential homes, private households, and businesses. At the end of the month, there is little left, as her family depends on her income. Jolanda fights hard to pay rent and bills while saving for her return.
Now, she wants to put an end to it—by 2024, she hopes to be home. But an early termination of her lease by her landlord brings new financial challenges. Between a disillusioning work routine, joyful gatherings with friends, alcoholism, and the struggle to maintain an image of herself back home, I accompany her.
Joli—a charismatic everyday heroine, a woman whose story reflects the experiences of many migrants who came in search of a better life but couldn’t realize all their dreams.
