For five days Sarah Vanagt and cinematographer Annemarie Lean-Vercoe followed a donkey during its weekly visits to old people in nursing homes in England. From home to home, from room to room. Time and again the donkey was welcomed with open arms, with songs, gentle strokes, childhood stories, poems, and laughter. It was only when the donkey entered the room of Norbert, a man who had lost his ability to speak, that an altogether different encounter took place.
Even though Vanagt initially followed the donkey‘s steps in search of reminiscences brought about by the animal’s mute presence, she came home with an altogether different film. While editing, the film became shorter and shorter, as if the words that had accompanied the donkey’s visits became a distraction. What is left is perhaps a bas-relief disguised as a painting, disguised as a film.
Info
| Title | The Corridor |
|---|---|
| Original title | The Corridor |
| Original version | English |
| Status | Completed |
| Category | Lab |
| Year of production | 2010 |
Credits
| Photography | Annemarie Lean-Vercoe |
|---|---|
| Editing | Effi Weiss, Amir Borenstein |
Technical specs
| Running time film | 6'45 |
|---|---|
| Release format | HDV-cam |
| Aspect ratio | 1:1.66 |
| Sound format | Maxime Coton |
| Colour | Colour |
Partners
| Supported by | University College Ghent - KASK |
|---|
Awards
Festival selections
2011: Courtisane Festival For Short, Video And New Media, Ghent (BE)
Festival awards
2011: Best Belgian Film (Courtisane Festival For Short, Video And New Media)
Docs & Lab from Flanders in Kassel
Sarah Vanagt’s The Corridor, Bram Van Paesschen’s Empire of Dust and Tim De Keersmaecker’s Aperture were recently selected for the Kassel Documentary Film and Video Festival (8-13 Nov). All three films are travelling the festival circuit extensively and again testify to the vibrancy of documentaries and video art from Flanders.
Bram Van Paesschen’s Empire of Dust kicked of its festival tour with selections at DOK Leipzig and Kassel but more recently the film was also confirmed for IDFA’s Panorama section. Empire of Dust is produced by Bart Van Langendonck for Savage Film (Bullhead, The Co(te)lette Film). In the documentary wo men representing two different cultures clash in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The result is an endless, harsh but absurdly funny rollercoaster of misunderstandings, as Yang is introduced to the Congolese way of dealmaking.
Flemish Artists take over VIDEOEX
Disorient by Florence Aigner and Laurent Van Lancker received the Main Prize at VIDEOEX, the International Experimental Film & Video Festival in Zürich (21 – 29 May). Because We Are Visual by another helmers' duo, Olivia Rochette and Gerard-Jan Claes, was given an Honourable Mention by the Jury.
The International Jury, consisting of Maria Palacios Cruz (BE), Seppo Renvall (FIN) en Georges Salameh (GR) decided to share the Main Prize between two ‘brave’ films which ‘experiment with storytelling and with the absence of images. Both films share a sense of internal rhythm and pacing, as well as a strong correspondence between the chosen formal strategies and the subject matter that is being dealt with.’ Because We Are Visual also received praise from the jury for its ‘fragile beauty, ‘highly complex editing’ and ‘the two young filmmakers’ ambition.’
The Corridor wins Courtisane 2011
Sarah Vanagt’s The Corridor has won the Award for Best Belgian film at the 10th Courtisane Festival for Film, Video and Media Art (30 March-3 April). Vanagt had already won the Belgian competition at Courtisane in 2007 with her documentary First Elections.
The international jury, comprising Marina Kozul (Croatia), Adam Pugh (UK) and Vincent Meessen (Belgium), appreciated the film’s “proposal te re-evaluate the relationship between humans and animals on a political level… The film is courageous, too, for choosing to reveal its own process, and for its subsequent restraint: in speaking quietly, it achieves a clarity and depth which might in other hands have been lost.”
Last edited on 21 January 2013