不安之躯
尽管我们早已认识到身体的凡俗与不完美，然而对理想形体的追寻、再现与构造的焦虑与不适似乎从未远离。形象的生产充塞了我们的日常生活，而这些图像里的身体却从不是个人的身体，它们始终背负着庞大的符号及其隐喻体系。
比起艺术史中年轻女子的画像，TikTok和Instagram上病毒式传播的“额叶切除术”女孩的照片让我们更难辨识出对血肉之躯的记录与捕捉。这种风格的标签背后的美学编码，掀起的是盛行于社交媒体上虚无主义女权主义的潮流，以及对上世纪这一饱受争议的精神疗法的浪漫化怀旧，折射出一种日益荒诞、令人疲乏的当代社会症候。
将目光转移至电影的领域，巴赞（Bazin）称艾蒂安-朱尔·马雷（Étienne-Jules Marey）的早期科学电影中创造了“电影最纯粹的美学”，其对身体运动与姿态的分解与融合呈现了图像走向运动的轨迹。而当我们审视当下影像生产中的身体图景，已经难以回避种种后现代控制论力量交织而成的复杂力场。
我们在《赫拉克勒斯：一段移工的旅程》（Hercules - A Migrant Worker's Journey，2023）中看见了这一神话中的英雄形象极具对比性的当代化身，作为外籍劳工的赫拉克勒斯在奥林匹斯山这传说中的诸神之地的当下严酷地貌中，其映射男性力量的理想的、完美的身体符号被瓦解，我们见证的是那渺小、脆弱肉身的回归。劳动者的图像在《隐秘的形象》（De Occulta Imagine，2024）和《不言而喻》（No Wonder，2024）中则以图像档案的形式被提取、重组，前者以一种炼金术的神秘逻辑形成语义的漂移，而后者则从家庭内部的性别分工议题进一步延展到电影创作自身的境况。
《反宗教改革》（Counter-Reformation，2024）也从图像研究的视角出发，产生了类似的迁移与转换。导演卡罗琳·约翰逊（Caroline Johnson）对第一位宫廷女画家索福尼斯巴·安圭索拉（Sofonisba Anguissola）的研究提供了其所处文艺复兴时期的政治与宗教格局的切片，而当目光转向对女性艺术家的自我凝视与形象控制的审视时，这种对望与对话则形成了没有定论也难以言说的联结。
从理想的、完美的身体到破碎甚至是缺席的身体，这种变革与转型的激流中虽有身体物质性的复归及其后的抵抗姿态，却也不可避免地折射出后现代与后殖民的种种感伤、焦虑与危机。在《漂流的潜力》（Adrift Potentials，2024）中叙述者的缺席与拍摄者的突然现身，以及对环境与景观充满怀疑的审视之中，观者也被卷入了一种图像所营造的强烈眩晕感。《再见暹罗》（Au Revoir Siam，2024）中将对政治难民脆弱身姿与破败空间的凝视并置，更多被遗弃在历史长河中的幽灵被召回。同样缺席的还有《消融》（The Melting，2024）中所纪念的39名越南移民，冰块融化的画面与热像仪生成的图像使观者无法不被热暴力所带来的焦灼与窒息感裹挟。
《流离失所之人的记忆》（Memory of a Displaced Body，2024）中玛丽安娜·门迪维尔（Mariana Mendivil）以手工拼贴动画构建、生成着无法被捕捉、定义的形象，并构建了一个脱离物质层面的、寻觅情感归依的仪式，生命从早期胚胎逐步发育成脱离母体的胎儿，联结起作者幼年时期的迁徙经验所带来的难以消弭的疏离之感。手，意味着姿势，意味着触摸，作为抽象与隐喻之物，其感官经验的空间性将人与其所处的环境之间形成紧密的纽带，召唤着集体的共鸣与情动。《每一个手势》（Every Gesture，2024）与《末日岛》（Terminal Island，2024）中以个体化、多感官的具身经验勾勒出饱含情感的城市景观，则是人文地理学中所提出经感官感受所形成的“空间”（space）与“地方”（place）间的转换的当下回响。
然而，当抵抗者呼告着身体赋权的同时，身体的战场业已面临着新的冲击。《我应得的绿洲》（The Oasis I Deserve，2024）模拟在线聊天机器人的视觉，探讨了身体存在日益模糊的边界和迫近未来的情感危机。《太空_入侵者.exe》（space_invaders.exe，2024）中戏谑地通过AI生成的声音和游戏引擎渲染的图像，以身体的匿名性和可生成性来回应流亡者的身份政治。赛博格、无器官身体、人工智能以及计算机环境的全面袭卷，究竟是对身体界限的超越，还是“人性化复归”的危机？《我无意间踩到了一朵花》（I Accidentally Stepped on a Flower，2024）向我们发出了想象的邀请，当面对完全由数字技术构建的虚拟空间与场景，我们将如何唤起我们对一朵花的感官意识？
关于身体的话语已被卷入错位、非线性的历史观念中，在我们通过身体所感受到的重重包围的影响下，追问的问题也许依旧是相似的。身体仍然是一个斗争的场域，是我们认识形象与自我问题最基本的视角与媒介，脱离肉身的思想或许难以承诺一个更自由的未来，因为它将我们置于生命存在的对立面。拉图尔（Latour）认为“拥有越多的身体，身体就会越协调、越清晰、越熟练，我们对他人的存在和干预也越敏感”，在种种试图定义身体的言说之下，我们期待从国际竞赛单元的影片中寻觅回归身体“内部”的意义与视角。（贺琳）
Bodies of Unease
Though we have long come to terms with the mundane and flawed nature of our physical forms, the anxiety and discomfort tied to the pursuit, portrayal, and production of an ideal body never seem to fade. Visual representations are ubiquitous in our daily lives, and the bodies they depict are never merely personal; they are inherently burdened by an edifice of symbols and metaphors.
In contrast to the classic portraits of young women in art history, the viral images of "lobotomy-chic" girls on TikTok and Instagram blur our perception of how real human experiences are documented and captured. The aesthetic codes driving trends like "lobotomy core" have sparked a surge of nihilistic feminism on social media, coupled with a romanticized nostalgia for the controversial psychiatric treatments of the past century, reflecting a disquieting symptom of our times—one that becomes more perplexing and draining with each passing day.
Turning to the realm of cinema, André Bazin saw in Étienne-Jules Marey's early scientific films the epitome of "the purest aesthetics of cinema," where the disassembly and reassembly of body movements and gestures lay bare the very essence of motion within the frame. Yet, as we delve into the construction of the bodyscape in today's audiovisual media, the convoluted force field shaped by the interplay of diverse postmodern cybernetic forces becomes ever harder to overlook.
In "Hercules - A Migrant Worker's Journey" (2023), the mythic hero is reborn in a modern context that starkly diverges from his storied legacy. Set against the unforgiving terrain resembling Mount Olympus—the fabled abode of the gods—Hercules is reimagined as a migrant worker. The once-celebrated paragon of masculine strength is now stripped of his grandeur, revealing a poignant return to his small and fragile human form. In "De Occulta Imagine" (2024) and "No Wonder" (2024), images of workers are extracted and reorganized from the archival images; while the former explores an alchemical transfiguration of semantics, the latter extends the discussion of gendered division of labor from the domestic sphere to the dynamics of filmmaking itself.
"Counter-Reformation" (2024) engages with similar themes of translocation and transformation through the lens of image studies. Caroline Johnson’s study of Sofonisba Anguissola, the first female court painter, offers a glimpse into the political and religious fabric of the Renaissance. As Johnson's gaze shifts toward Anguissola's self-observation and mastery over her own image, the encounter between director and artist forges a dialogue that is both elusive and ineffable, bridging centuries through resonant connections.
From idealized, flawless bodies to those that are fragmented or even absent, this torrent of revolution and change—while foregrounding a renewed focus on bodily materiality and the acts of resistance it inspires—inevitably reflects the postmodern and postcolonial undercurrents of sorrow, anxiety, and crisis. In "Adrift Potentials" (2024), viewers are thrust into a disorienting vertigo, provoked by a combination of factors: the absence of the narrator, the sudden appearance of the cameraman, and a sharp skepticism toward the ambiance and landscape, all conveyed through the film's visual language. In "Au Revoir Siam" (2024), the juxtaposition of frail refugees and decaying spaces conjures the lost spirits left behind in the relentless passage of time. Also absent, as if erased from history, are the 39 Vietnamese migrants memorialized in "The Melting" (2024): the imagery of melting ice, intertwined with the thermal visuals captured by the camera, engulfs the viewer in an all-consuming sense of burning and suffocation.
In "Memory of a Displaced Body" (2024), Mariana Mendivil employs handcrafted collage animation to create images that elude capture and resist definition, bringing about a ritualistic journey that transcends the material world in search of emotional belonging. Life begins as a nascent embryo, gradually unfolding into a fetus, and eventually separating from the mother's body—an evocative parallel to the author's enduring sense of alienation arising from her childhood experiences of migration. The hand, embodying gesture and touch, acts as a metaphorical bond with its sensory spatiality connecting individuals to their surroundings and awakening a collective resonance that stirs deep affect. In "Every Gesture" (2024) and "Terminal Island" (2024), the cities are brought to life with emotion through personal, multisensory, and embodied experiences, echoing the current discourse on the sensually realized transition between "space" and "place" as explored in human geography.
However, as activists call for body empowerment, the very battlefield of the body already confronts new challenges. "The Oasis I Deserve" (2024) simulates the visual language of online chatbots to probe the dissolving lines that define bodily existence and the looming emotional turmoil on the horizon. Meanwhile, "space_invaders.exe" (2024), deploys a whimsical fusion of AI-generated voices and game-engine visuals to address the identity struggles faced by exiles, leveraging the anonymity and malleability of the body to challenge the politics of representation. As we witness the pervasive encroachment of cyborgs, body without organs, artificial intelligence, and computerized environments, are we standing on the threshold of a new era that transcends bodily boundaries, or are we confronting a quest for a renaissance in restoring the human essence? "I Accidentally Stepped on a Flower" (2024) invites us to imagine how we would invoke sensory awareness of a flower when confronted with virtual spaces and scenes fully constructed by digital technologies.
The discourse surrounding the body has become intricately entangled with disjointed, nonlinear historical narratives, and amid the myriad forces we feel through the body, the questions we pose about our existence may, nonetheless, remain unchanged. The body persists as a battlefield, the most primal lens and medium through which we interpret representations and construct our sense of self. As such, thoughts that advocate detachment from it may fall short of promising a freer future, as they set us in opposition to the essence of life itself. As Bruno Latour suggests, the more we embody our bodies, the more finely attuned, articulate and skillful we become, making us more sensitive to the presence and interference of others. Among the many attempts to define the body, we look to the films in the International Competition section to uncover the meanings and perspectives that reconnect us to the "inside" of the body. (HE Lin, translated by WANG Zifei)
check here to see full Internatinal Competition list
Exergo, Jorge Moneo Quintana, 2024
IN COMPETITION - 1
Down by the River｜An der Saale hellem Strande｜在明亮的萨勒河畔
Dirk Hornschuch, Karl-Friedrich König
2024｜0:18:30｜Germany｜German, Castilian Spanish, English｜World Premiere
Feferle｜费弗勒
Alica Khaet
2024｜0:14:48｜Germany｜German｜Asian Premiere
In the Line of Fire｜火线之上
Felix Kenneth Galistan
2024｜0:13:03｜Singapore｜Indonesian, English｜Chinese Mainland Premiere
Memory of an Instant. Zóbel Notebooks.｜Memoria de un Instante. Los Cuadernos de Zóbel｜瞬间的记忆：佐贝尔的笔记本
Sonia Prior Gomez
2024｜0:28:00｜Spain｜Castilian Spanish｜International Premiere
The Melting｜消融
Lananh Chu
2024｜0:19:23｜US, Vietnam｜English, Vietnamese｜Asian Premiere
IN COMPETITION - 2
Anatomy Class Chap.2｜解剖课（第二章）
Hana Yoo
2023｜0:18:22｜Germany, Republic of Korea｜English, Korean｜Chinese Mainland Premiere
Luci｜卢奇
Mateo Vega, Mathieu Wijdeven
2024｜0:15:59｜Netherlands｜Flemish Dutch｜International Premiere
Memory of a Displaced Body｜Memoria de un Cuerpo Desplazado｜流离失所之人的记忆
Mariana Mendivil
2024｜0:09:20｜Mexico｜Castilian Spanish｜Asian Premiere
Photocopy Logs｜Fotokopi Günlükleri｜复印日志
Oguzhan Kaya
2024｜0:03:20｜Turkey｜No Dialogue｜World Premiere
Terminal Island｜末日岛
Sam Drake
2024｜0:12:56｜US｜English｜Chinese Mainland Premiere
The Announced Tragedy｜จงสวัสดิ์｜悲剧的宣告
Thanut Rujitanont
2023｜0:10:20｜Thailand, Belgium, Finland, Portugal｜No Dialogue｜Chinese Mainland Premiere
IN COMPETITION - 3
Endless Light｜Luz Interminable｜无尽之光
Ioritz Domínguez Makazaga
2024｜0:09:03｜Spain｜Castilian Spanish｜International Premiere
Ghost Writer｜影子写手
Abe Callard
2024｜0:16:02｜US｜English｜World Premiere
Grobbendonk｜赫罗本东克
Benjamin Sprengers
2023｜0:17:00｜Belgium｜Flemish Dutch｜Asian Premiere
Hexham Heads｜赫克瑟姆石人头
Chloë Delanghe, Mattijs Driesen
2024｜0:34:24｜Belgium, UK｜English｜Asian Premiere
I Accidentally Stepped on a Flower｜我无意间踩到了一朵花
Eneos Çarka, Stivi Imami
2024｜0:17:14｜Albania｜Albanian, English｜Asian Premiere
Memory of a Displaced Body, Mariana Mendivil, 204
IN COMPETITION - 4
Heliogabale｜Héliogabale｜赫利奥加巴卢斯
Arthur Chopin
2024｜0:25:49｜France｜French｜International Premiere
Impasse｜僵局
Khashayar Kalantari
2024｜0:14:59｜US｜English｜Asian Premiere
Object Lesson｜Leçon d’Objet｜客体课程
Herman Asselberghs
2024｜0:33:00｜Belgium｜French｜Asian Premiere
Street Light｜Le Reste n’a pas d’Importance｜路灯
Romain Dumont
2024｜0:15:58｜France, Canada｜French｜Asian Premiere
IN COMPETITION - 5
Blue Noise｜Ruído Azul｜蓝色噪音
Julia Maurano
2024｜0:15:34｜Brazil｜No Dialogue｜International Premiere
No Wonder｜Kein Wunder｜不言而喻
Lia Sudermann, Simon Nagy
2024｜0:11:26｜Austria｜German｜World Premiere
Padre Z.｜Z.神父
Luca Sorgato
2024｜0:20:00｜Italy, Romania｜Italian｜World Premiere
Skyward｜Gagan Gaman｜行于空中
Suruchi Sharma
2024｜0:30:00｜India, US, France｜Hindi｜International Premiere
Society of Clothes｜옷장 속 사람들｜服装社会
Dahee Jeong
2024｜0:15:07｜Republic of Korea, France, Canada｜No Dialogue
IN COMPETITION - 6
Adrift Potentials｜Potenciais à Deriva｜漂流的潜力
Leonardo Pirondi
2024｜0:11:30｜Brazil, US｜Portuguese, English｜Chinese Mainland Premiere
Counter-Reformation｜反宗教改革
Caroline Johnson
2024｜0:14:42｜US｜English｜World Premiere
Hercules - A Migrant Worker’s Journey｜Herkules｜赫拉克勒斯：一段移工的旅程
Felix Bartke, Nils Ramme
2023｜0:23:24｜Germany, Austria｜German, Modern Greek(1453-)｜Asian Premiere
Kingdom of Animals｜Reich der Tiere｜动物王国
Thadeusz Tischbein
2024｜0:15:54｜Germany｜German｜Asian Premiere
Stone Shadows｜Sombras de Piedra｜石之阴翳
Sebastian Paramio
2024｜0:20:00｜Spain｜Castilian Spanish｜Asian Premiere
The Crane Dance｜Trandansen｜鹤舞
Rasmus Kilander
2024｜0:08:02｜Sweden｜No Dialogue｜International Premiere
Padre Z., Luca Sorgato, 2024
IN COMPETITION - 7
April Mud｜Putik Abril｜四月的泥泞
TJ Collanto
2024｜0:19:00｜Philippines, Korea｜Tagalog, Korean｜Asian Premiere
Chimera｜Quimera｜奇美拉
Gael Jara, Martín André
2024｜0:11:21｜Chile｜Castilian Spanish｜Asian Premiere
Grotta｜洞窟
Carlos Casas
2023｜0:11:40｜Spain, Italy｜No Dialogue｜International Premiere
Hun Tun｜混沌
Magdalena Hejzlarová
2024｜0:14:58｜Czech Republic(Czechia), France｜Czech｜Asian Premiere
The Banished One｜Molelekoa｜被放逐的人
Moso Sematlane
2024｜0:21:38｜Lesotho｜Sotho(Southern)｜World Premiere
The Silence of Iron｜O Silêncio Elementar｜铁的沉默
Mariana de Melo
2024｜0:15:12｜Brazil｜Portuguese, English｜Asian Premiere
IN COMPETITION - 8
Au Revoir Siam｜再见暹罗
Domenico Singha Pedroli
2024｜0:29:50｜France, Switzerland｜Thai, French｜Asian Premiere
How to Excel at Everything｜万物指南
Marion Balac
2024｜0:23:28｜France｜English, Catalan, Valencian, French, Castilian Spanish｜Asian Premiere
Montsouris Park｜Montsouris｜蒙苏里公园
Guil Sela
2024｜0:13:53｜France｜French｜Chinese Mainland Premiere
The Oasis I Deserve｜我应得的绿洲
Inès Sieulle
2024｜0:22:27｜France｜English｜Asian Premiere
IN COMPETITION - 9
An Uncountable Number of Threads｜数不清的线索
Iona Roisin
2023｜0:20:48｜Finland｜English｜International Premiere
Concrete Whisper｜Betongeflüster｜城市的呓语
Jannis Lenz
2024｜0:12:45｜Germany, Austria｜German｜Asian Premiere
Distant Voices｜Ferne Stimmen｜遥远的声音
Annik Leroy, Julie Morel
2023｜0:05:00｜Belgium｜German｜Asian Premiere
Monologues for M｜Monólogos para M｜M的独白
Marta Vaz
2024｜0:09:51｜Portugal｜Portuguese, Castilian Spanish｜World Premiere
We Will Definitely Talk about This after the Lost Air Raid Stops｜Ми обов’язково поговоримо про це після відбою останньої повітряної тривоги｜最后一次空袭警报结束后我们需要好好聊聊这件事
Yuri Yefanov
2023｜0:16:29｜Ukraine｜Ukrainian｜Asian Premiere
When The Land Runs Away｜Quando a Terra Foge｜当大地消失
Frederico Lobo
2024｜0:29:06｜Portugal｜Portuguese｜Asian Premiere
We Will Definitely Talk about This after the Lost Air Raid Stops, Yuri Yefanov, 2023
IN COMPETITION - 10
De Occulta Imagine｜隐秘的形象
Stefano P. Testa
2024｜0:15:45｜Italy｜No Dialogue｜Chinese Mainland Premiere
Exergo｜边缘注解
Jorge Moneo Quintana
2024｜0:18:14｜Spain｜Basque, Castilian Spanish｜Asian Premiere
NEW｜新
Zhenia Kazankina
2024｜0:20:00｜Russia, Italy｜Russian｜Asian Premiere
Social Circles｜社交圈
Eri Saito
2023｜0:15:36｜Japan｜English｜Chinese Mainland Premiere
Theater｜剧场
Anastasia Lola
2024｜0:13:07｜Germany, Greece｜German｜Asian Premiere
To M｜Para M｜致M
Patricia Werneck Ribas
2023｜0:11:47｜Netherlands, Brazil｜Portugues｜Chinese Mainland Premiere
IN COMPETITION - 11
In Zainab’s Heaven｜بہش ِت زینب ｜在扎伊纳布的天堂
Ali Mehdi
2023｜0:25:40｜Pakistan, Lebanon, United Arab Emirates｜Persian｜Chinese Mainland Premiere
Meadows Wait, Mist Diffuses｜草甸静候，薄雾弥散
Dzhovani Gospodinov
2024｜0:17:11｜Luxembourg｜Luxembourgish｜Asian Premiere
Object 817｜对象817
Olga Lucovnicova
2024｜0:21:40｜Belgium｜Russian｜Chinese Mainland Premiere
The Eggregores’ Theory｜埃格雷戈雷斯理论
Andrea Gatopoulos
2024｜0:15:25｜Italy｜English｜Chinese Mainland Premiere
The Trap｜La Trampa｜陷阱
Ferney Iyokina Gittoma
2024｜0:13:20｜Colombia｜Castilian Spanish｜Chinese Mainland Premiere
IN COMPETITION - 12
Before Seriana｜Avant Seriana｜塞里亚纳之前
Samy Benammar
2024｜0:19:10｜Canada｜English, French｜Asian Premiere
Entropic Memory｜Mémoire Entropique｜熵记忆
Nicolas Brault
2024｜0:06:28｜Canada｜No Dialogue
Memories of an Unborn Sun｜未诞生太阳的记忆
Marcel Mrejen
2024｜0:22:20｜France, Algeria, Netherlands｜Chinese Mandarin｜Chinese Mainland Premiere
The House by the River｜La Maison d’en Face｜河畔小屋
Adrien Charmot
2024｜0:42:13｜France｜French｜Asian Premiere
The Eggregores’ Theory, Andrea Gatopoulos, 2024
IN COMPETITION - 13
space_invaders.exe｜太空_入侵者.exe
Malaz Usta
2024｜0:11:00｜Netherlands｜English｜Asian Premiere
Spring Plain｜春原
Mohammad Karimi
2024｜0:30:00｜Iran (Islamic Republic of)｜Persian｜World Premiere
The Interior Frontier｜内陆边境
Justin Clifford Rhody, Abigail Smith
2023｜0:19:58｜US｜No Dialogue｜Asian Premiere
The Memory of the Last Ones｜El Recuerdo de los Últimos｜最后的回忆
Simone Cardona
2024｜0:09:49｜Colombia｜Castilian Spanish｜International Premiere
Verochka｜韦罗奇卡
Anna Arutyunova
2024｜0:23:31｜Russia｜English｜World Premiere
IN COMPETITION - 14
Aldi｜阿尔迪
Giorgi Arabuli
2024｜0:18:11｜Georgia｜No Dialogue｜Asian Premiere
Black Silver｜Nero Argento｜黑色银色
Francesco Manzato
2024｜0:20:00｜Italy｜Italian｜Asian Premiere
Every Gesture｜Cada Gesto｜每一个手势
Valentina Alvarado Matos
2024｜0:09:41｜Spain｜Castilian Spanish｜Asian Premiere
Graziano - A Hermit’s Story｜格拉齐亚诺：一个隐士的故事
Jozefien Van der Aelst
2024｜0:40:32｜Belgium, Germany｜Italian, German｜Asian Premiere
Wildflower｜Maleza｜野花
Carina Pierro Corso
2023｜0:05:00｜Brazil, Spain, Portugal｜Portuguese｜Chinese Mainland Premiere