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Uncanny Valleya film by Paul WenningerANIMATION | 2015 | Austria/France | 13 min | no dialog | Mixed Media: found footage, Animated Painting, Pixilation, Realtime Film
One paradox of images is that they hold back what they show, and keep at a distance, what they bring close. At the same time, the canvas or screen on which they appear seems like a shield offering protection from what is shown. As pictures, they guarantee a distance between the present of perception and the elsewhere of the recording. This seems even more applicable to a film such as Uncanny Valley, which deals with World War I—an event that is already beyond something that can be remembered, and now only plays out in historical memory. When it wants to be called to mind again, then as depiction—as representation, which in the image, can’t help but depict its distance to what is shown. Paul Wenninger traces the arc of representational history to representation-critical parable: he straddles the Uncanny Valley with motifs from found footage material from World War I, which he connects to the actors’ performances, to bring them into the image again using techniques from animation and then, with a diorama, to land in a museum-like ambiance. What the film documents is a parable about the difficulty of making present what one wants to show: in this film, the soldiers’ fear and wounds also applies to the distance, which is injured here, in order to gapingly gaze in the semblance of illusion. The stop-motion aesthetics jiggles at the seamless course of images, making the representation stutter: the body language follows the media’s staccato, which intrudes in the dance to perforate the movements, punch holes through the appearance of humanity. What is then shown is a distance, which affects us deeply, the impossibility of backing away, an iconoclastic dance. (Andreas Spiegl) Translation: Lisa Rosenblatt
Cast:
Raul Maia, Jan Jakubal, Paul Wenninger Director: Paul WenningerScreenplay: Paul WenningerCamera: Paul WenningerMusic: Nik Hummer, Michael MoserSound: Nik Hummer, Jean-Michel TresalletArt Direction: Nik HummerProduction Management: Marie Tappero, Jérôme NunesKey-Gaffer: Paul Wenninger Production: Paul Wenninger, Marie Tappero, Gabriele Kranzelbinder, Jean-Laurent Csinidis Funding: Stadt Wien, BKA, ORF-FFA, Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée, Région PACA, Land Niederösterreich, ZDF/ARTE Worldsales: sixpackfilm
Ein Paradoxon von Bildern liegt darin, dass sie vorenthalten, was sie zeigen und auf Abstand halten, was sie näher bringen. Die Leinwand oder der Schirm, auf dem sie erscheinen, erscheint zugleich als Schutzschirm, der vor dem Gezeigten schützt: Als Bilder garantieren sie eine Distanz zwischen der Gegenwart der Wahrnehmung und dem Anderswo der Aufnahme. Dies scheint umso mehr zu gelten für einen Film wie Uncanny Valley, der sich mit dem Ersten Weltkrieg auseinandersetzt – mit einem Ereignis, das schon jenseits des Erinnerbaren liegt und sich nur mehr im historischen Gedächtnis abspielt. Wenn es noch einmal in Erinnerung gerufen werden will, dann als Darstellung – als Repräsentation, die nicht anders kann als im Bild ihre Distanz zum Gezeigten abzubilden. Paul Wenninger spannt den Bogen der Repräsentationsgeschichte zur repräsentationskritischen Parabel: er überbrückt das Uncanny Valley mit Motiven aus Found Footage-Material aus dem Ersten Weltkrieg, an die er die Performance der Darsteller anschließt, um diese wiederum mit Methoden des Animationsfilms ins Bild zu nehmen und dann bei einem Diorama im musealen Ambiente zu landen. Was der Film dokumentiert, ist eine Parabel über die Schwierigkeit zu vergegenwärtigen, was man zeigen will: Die Angst und Wunden der Soldaten gelten in diesem Film auch der Distanz, die hier verwundet wird, um klaffend in den Schein von Illusion zu blicken. Die Stop-Motion Ästhetik rüttelt am nahtlosen Verlauf der Bilder, die die Repräsentation zum Stottern bringen: Die Körpersprache folgt dem Stakkato des Medialen, das in den Tanz eindringt, um die Bewegungen zu perforieren, zu durchlöchern den Schein von Menschlichkeit. Was sich dann zeigt, ist eine Distanz, die nahegeht, die Unmöglichkeit Abstand zu halten, ein ikonoklastischer Tanz. (Andreas Spiegl)
One paradox of images is that they hold back what they show, and keep at a distance, what they bring close. At the same time, the canvas or screen on which they appear seems like a shield offering protection from what is shown. As pictures, they guarantee a distance between the present of perception and the elsewhere of the recording. This seems even more applicable to a film such as Uncanny Valley, which deals with World War I—an event that is already beyond something that can be remembered, and now only plays out in historical memory. When it wants to be called to mind again, then as depiction—as representation, which in the image, can’t help but depict its distance to what is shown. Paul Wenninger traces the arc of representational history to representation-critical parable: he straddles the Uncanny Valley with motifs from found footage material from World War I, which he connects to the actors’ performances, to bring them into the image again using techniques from animation and then, with a diorama, to land in a museum-like ambiance. What the film documents is a parable about the difficulty of making present what one wants to show: in this film, the soldiers’ fear and wounds also applies to the distance, which is injured here, in order to gapingly gaze in the semblance of illusion. The stop-motion aesthetics jiggles at the seamless course of images, making the representation stutter: the body language follows the media’s staccato, which intrudes in the dance to perforate the movements, punch holes through the appearance of humanity. What is then shown is a distance, which affects us deeply, the impossibility of backing away, an iconoclastic dance. (Andreas Spiegl) Translation: Lisa Rosenblatt
Festivals:
Tampere Filmfestival / Finland 08.-12. März 2017 Reporters de Scienses Marseille/ France 6.02.2017 RISC films awarded- Videodrome Marseille/ France 21.01.2017 Indie Cork - A festival of independent film & music 09.-16.October 2016 Pann Opticum 2016 - Internationales Figurentheaterfestival/ Neusiedl am See 03.07.2016 Animated Spirits - EUNIC Animation Film Festivals / New York 04.05.2016
Animafest Zagreb 2016 - selected for the Grand Competition - Short film
NexT International Film Festival 2016 / Bukarest
Busan International Short Film Festival 2016 /Korea
FIFDH Paris 2016 - International Human Rights Film Festival
Intern. Experimental Film Festival - Bukarest 2016 (BIEFF)
One Days Animation Festival Vienna
Annecy - Festival Int. du Cinema d'Animation
Badalona - Internacional de Filmets
Cordoba - Anima Festival de Film d´animacion
Montreal - Les Sommets du Cinéma d’Animation de Montréal
New Chitose (JP) - Airport Animation Film Festival
Paris - Emily Reynaud Award
Paris - Festival Courts Devant
Sevilla - Festival del Cine Europeo
Uppsala - Int. Short Film Festival
Wien - One Day Animation Festival
Yerevan – ReAnimania IAFFY
Paul Wenninger ist freischaffender Tänzer und Autor choreografischer Werke, Bühnenbildner und Musiker. Arbeiten mit verschiedenen Choreografen und Companien,
© Kabinett ad. Co, KGP Kranzelbinder Gabriele Production, Films de Force Majeure |
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