EN - In The Wave the archaeological gaze of the viewer is set in motion: a mass grave from the Spanish Civil War (1936–39) opens and closes itself. In 2011 we placed a camera above the spot where nine victims were buried after their execution by Franco’s supporters in June 1939. On day one of the excavation, a digging crane gently loosened the top layer of soil, until the archaeologists came across a skull with a bullet hole. Then the archaeologists continued their work by hand. The skeletons appeared, then disappeared, as if a strong wind blew that removed the sand and uncovered death, a primal truth.
NL - In The Wave zet de archeologische blik van de toeschouwer een beweging in gang: een massagraf uit de Spaanse burgeroorlog (1936-1939) opent en sluit zichzelf. Pagina per pagina, frame per frame en korrel per korrel graaft de kijker dieper en komen de beenderen in beeld.
Info
| Title | The Wave |
|---|---|
| Original title | The Wave |
| Original version | Spanish |
| Status | Completed |
| Production | Majority Flemish |
| Category | Shorts , Lab |
| Year of production | 2012 |
Credits
| Photography | Katrien Vermeire |
|---|---|
| Editing | Inneke Van Waeyenberghe |
| Sound | Larry Sider, Gary Sanctuary |
Technical specs
| Running time film | 20' |
|---|---|
| Release format | HD Video, DCP, Blu-ray |
| Aspect ratio | 1:1.66 |
| Sound format | Mono |
| Colour | Colour |
Partners
| Supported by | Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF), Centre du Cinéma et de l'Audiovisuel, Beursschouwburg, Vooruit, Transat Video Caen, Vlaamse Gemeenschapscommissie (VGC) |
|---|---|
| Production partners | Michigan Films (Olivier Burlet, Sebastien Andres) |
Festivals
2012: Biennale of Sydney (AUS), IDFA - International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (NL), Locarno Film Festival (CH), Dokfest Kassel (D), Almost Cinema/ International Film Festival Gent (BE)
Courtisane presents Flemish experimental films
Els Van Riel’s short documentary film Gradual Speed and The Wave by Sarah Vanagt and Katrien Vermeire will be shown at the 12th edition of the Courtisane Film Festival in Ghent, Belgium. Pieter Dumoulin’s Het zwijgen van Helena and Anouk De Clercq’s Swan Song is also set for a screening in Ghent.
A few years ago Els Van Riel started collecting images with the idea to pay homage to the slowly vanishing techniques of analogue filmmaking. Now a series of these recordings makes Gradual Speed, a work on and for black and white 16mm-film seen as matter, and at the same time as a metaphor for everything we cannot grasp. It is the first time that Gradual Speed will be screened in front of a live audience at the Courtisane Film Fest.
IDFA: Less is more in The Wave
The subject of Sarah Vanagt and Katrien Vermeire’s IDFA Paradocs-selected short documentary The Wave is a sensitive one: the investigation of a site thought to contain the bodies of men executed by Franco's followers in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War.
At frequent intervals, Vanagt and Vermeire took still images of the site, first asking the forensic archaeologists to remove their tools and leave the frame. Edited together, these images become a time-lapse film in which the bodies slowly emerge from the earth.
IDFA: Flanders docs out in full force
Five documentaries as well as two projects from Flanders have been selected for this year’s 25th IDFA. The five docs are Rain by Gerard-Jan Claes and Olivia Rochette, The Sound of Belgium by Jozef Devillé, Expecting by Fabio Wuytack, Snake Dance by Manu Riche and Patrick Marnham, and The Wave by Sarah Vanagt and Katrien Vermeire. Projects from two Flemish documentary makers –The Shadow World by Johan Grimonprez and White Elephants by Kristof Bilsen – are also selected for the IDFA Forum.
Rain by Gerard-Jan Claes and Olivia Rochette features in the First Appearance competition and follows a ballet production from initial auditions right up to opening night. Producer is Bart Van Langendonck for Savage Film. In Expecting (pictured left), which is selected for the IDFA Panorama, director Fabio Wuytack portrays an Afghan-Kosovan refugee couple as they struggle through their daily lives. The Sound of Belgium by Jozef Devillé and produced by Visualantics is part of the Music Documentary competition and explores the rich, untold story of Belgian dance music.
Flanders docs bonanza at 25th IDFA
Five documentaries from Flanders as well as five co-productions are selected for this year's 25th edition of IDFA (14-25 November). The five are: Rain by Gerard-Jan Claes and Olivia Rochette, The Sound of Belgium by Jozef Devillé, Expecting by Fabio Wuytack, Snake Dance by Manu Riche, and The Wave by Sarah Vanagt and Katrien Vermeire. Projects from two Flemish documentary makers, The Shadow World by Johan Grimonprez and White Elephants (working title) by Kristof Bilsen, can also be found in the IDFA.
Rain by Gerard-Jan Claes and Olivia Rochette features in the First Appearance competition for first documentaries. On 25 May 2011, the world-renowned Ballet de l’Opéra national de Paris presented Rain, in its first ever performance by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker. Olivia Rochette and Gerard-Jan Claes followed the rehearsal process from the auditions to the opening performance. Producer is Bart Van Langendonck for Savage Film.
Shortissimo: The Wave
Less is more in The Wave, a short film by Sarah Vanagt and Katrien Vermeire that makes its mark by leaving out detail that conventional film-makers would consider essential. It continues Vanagt's interest in the visual treatment of history and how people relate to it.
Text Ian Mundell
The subject of The Wave is a sensitive one: the investigation of a site thought to contain the bodies of men executed by Franco's followers in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War. When bones are found, the exhumation continues with the same precision as an archaeological dig.
Last edited on 14 January 2013