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Port City Film Programme

On The Waterfront: Diaries

Mon 17 Sep – Wed 26 Sep

In 2001, International Film Festival Rotterdam commissioned 10 filmmakers to create digital video diaries of a harbour of their choice. Given a small budget, a camera, and creative carte blanche, the result is an extraordinary collection of works spanning the globe that captures something of the wealth of stories, myths and dramas set around harbours and ports.

Curated by Gertjan Zuilhof. With special thanks to International Film Festival Rotterdam.

Programme 1 (18)

Mon 17 Sep 7.30pm / Tue 18 Sep 7.30pm / Wed 19 Sep 7.30pm / Sun 23 Sep 2pm

Mahamet Saleh Haroun’s Letter from New York City creates a fictional video letter of a young Chadian woman newly arrived in New York; From Lou Ye, In Shanghai (Suzhou River) is fascinated by the surface glamour of Shanghai and the reality of what lies beneath; also featuring Naiko (Buenos Aires) from director Pablo Trapero and Tanjan Priok/Jakarta by Indonesian filmmaker Garin Nugroho.

Video, apx. 84m

Programme 2 (18)

Thu 20 Sep 7.30pm / Fri 21 Sep 7.30pm / Sat 22 Sep 7.30pm / Sun 23 Sep 4pm

Jem Cohen watches in despair as a traditional harbour is turned into an amusement park in

New York (Southstreet Seaport/Staten Island Ferry); for Cargo, video artist Laura Waddinton lived for a month on a container vessel that visited several ports in the Near East, resulting in a lyrical voyage depicted in a series of distended moments; also screening are Nathalie Alonso Casale’s 11 November, Saint Petersburg, a poetic video diary about the movement of light, water and time in a

port, and The Carfax Agreement, a diary of an essayist with historical and literary interests by Chris Petit about the shipping out of criminals and the arrival of Count Dracula.

Video, apx. 89m

Programme 3 (18)

Sun 23 Sep 6pm / Mon 24 Sep 7.30pm / Tue 25 Sep 7.30pm / Wed 26 Sep 7.30pm

Gabriele Hochleitner and Michael Pilz’s La Habana presents everyday impressions of life in the capital of a poor, yet joyous and musical Cuba; for At Sea (Harbouring Thoughts: Adrift), Jon Jost collected pictures from his personal archive to form a hypnotic meditation about travelling and staying at home.

Video, apx. 89m