22.01.25, 20:30, Ontroerd: ecological mourning short films

Sadness at the disappearance of a piece of nature or the extinction of, yet again, a species: ecological mourning is unfortunately no longer a new phenomenon. On the flip side of warm autumn days are floods, forest fires and other natural disasters. As part of their Moving Evenings, Kortfilm.be brings a programme that tries to give a place to emotions of confusion, loss and activist discontent. However, we move beyond doom and seek a collective space where imagination serves as a resistance strategy.

Indeed, the ecological crisis also inspires filmmakers, from activist pamphlets to poetic reflections on climate loss. In this short film programme, suffering nature is given audiovisual support, from material pellicule experiments to depicting dystopian worlds using archival material or sci-fi interpretations. Thus, the silver screen becomes a place where lost ecosystems, traditions or land are reclaimed, as a temporary memory or an immortalised cry for help.

Amérika: Bahia de las Flechas (Ana Vaz, BR/DO, 2016, 9’) The Veiled City (Natalie Cubides-Brady, UK, 2023, 13’) underneath it flickers (laura “lau” persijn, BE, 2024, 19)’ Urth (Ben Rivers, US, 2016, 19’) Sound of a Million Insects, Light of a Thousand Stars (Tomonari Nishikawa, JP, 2015, 2’)

This programme was curated by laura ‘lau’ persijn and Niels Putman and lasts about 60 minutes. All films are subtitled in English.

The screening will be followed by a conversation with One Field Fallow, a queer-run venue in Brussels for artistic research, community work and community building.