reviews

The ongoing journey

/ RCRuiz / Leave a comment

I’m still basking in the IFFR glow of watching our young filmmakers from Moving Love having that epiphany of: I am a filmmaker.

They finished the course, they made these films, and so they are deserving of that title: filmmaker. I’m looking forward to the premiere when all of the moving portraits will be seen in one space. At present, we continue to send out feelers for other possible locations as we want to bring these films all over The Netherlands and hopefully beyond The Netherlands.

My role as consultant and coach for this project is coming to a close, but I still feel connected to these young people. I very much wish that as they continue on with their journey, they will be able to find people who will help them grow further in their craft.

On Friday’s IFFR film-showing, I met a young filmmaker from Berlin whose film called Unbelong moved me so much. Pars Loren is a non-binary artist and filmmaker and for those interested in finding out more about them, they have an online presence on instagram.

Unbelong is like a visual poem. It has beautifully haunting imagery combining footage from Pars’s life with other archival footage. All throughout the film, we hear Pars’s voice telling us a story, we are invited to be part of the inner world of the self. Unbelong is vulnerable and intensely personal, and it speaks to us on a plane where we connect with that vulnerability and acknowledge the courage it takes to be so. If you ever have the chance to see this film, I want to encourage you to do so.

Unbelong will be shown during an Anatolian filmmakers in Exile event in Berlin on the 14th of February. This event is a Turkish event. but there will be another showing on the 7th of May at the Frauenzentrum (in Berlin) in English and in German for those who prefer English or German.

Do visit Pars’ website for more details.

On another note: I started organ lessons this Monday and am feeling quite rejuvenated and excited. It’s a feeling pretty similar to when I was studying at the conservatory back home in The Philippines. But where I used to dread piano lessons, I’m looking forward to my organ lessons. I can’t fit an organ in my house, but the digitaal piano has an organ set-up which helps in terms of understanding the difference in technique. I’m starting with the first of Bach’s eight preludes and fugues for the organ and with the second movement of Handel’s Organ Concerto HVW 295, which I’m told is called the Cuckoo concerto.

There are still a number of things to write about, but I thought I’d keep it to this for this post.

May blessings and peace be with you always and thank you for dropping by.

The joy of LIMBO

/ RCRuiz

On Sunday, we marked the close of this season with LIMBO and the close of our partnership with FramerFramed. Framer Framed has been home to LIMBO since the first workshop took place in 2022. When we start up again in September, it will be at a new place.

Sunday was a celebration with food, music, dance and presentations from different participants in the group. As part of the celebration, we put together a mini-exhibition to show off what we had done together during the LIMBO sessions.

Looking back at the season, I am thankful to be part of this space. Bearing witness to how participants take ownership of the space, makes me feel incredibly happy. We had a mini-workshop on self-defense (more practical than I had imagined), a workshop on Iranian dance, and a small open stage with a q&a with one of LIMBO’s budding artists, as well as sharing of poetry from a budding writer, and also a sharing of journey reflections.

Sahar, who is a friend of LIMBO, made a wonderful comforting dish called Ash Reshte. I am googling recipes to see if we can try to make it home ourselves.

When I see how participants are flourishing, it makes my heart expand. I think of one of LIMBO’s participants sharing with us how they’d forgotten what they had in their self, until they came to LIMBO. They remembered that they were an artist, that they had this capacity and capability not just to make art, but also to share it with others.

In conversation with some visitors who expressed a wish to create a space like LIMBO, we talked about what it means to establish such a space and how we need to change the way we look at organising and leadership. How at the beginning, we need to change our mindset from: I am helping you to I want to serve and understand your needs and I want to discover how to support you so you can see the power that you already have inside you. To say: “this space is created by all of us together and belongs to all of us together and my voice doesn’t carry more weight than yours, but all our voices are equal in weight”. That also requires a different kind of seeing and a different kind of discipline.

Spaces like LIMBO allow us to be vulnerable. In such a space where we don’t need to fear being judged, where we don’t have to be perfect, we can become as we were meant to be. No pressure. No “you must be”, but simply free.

We break bread together, we share our joys and sorrows, we laugh and we dance, and we give thanks even as we acknowledge that life is challenging and hard.

Blessings and peace to you who read this. Agyamanac Unay for stopping by.