Unreal Boys

Unreal Boys discussed at SIEF 2021

July 23, 2021 by Karl Leave a Comment

My film Unreal Boys was selected for the audio-visual programme of the 15th congress of the International Society for Ethnology and Folklore “in” Helsinki (online) in June 2021. The theme of the congress was “breaking the rules”, which sort of aligns with the theme of my research.

After the screening I participated in a roundtable discussion called Mediating Empowerment, a title that I think captures quite well how my research participants use the “medium” of comics to empower themselves.

Here is the recording of my part of the roundtable (shared by the organisers with a Creative Commons license):

Memories of Days of Ethnographic Film 2021

March 9, 2021 by Karl Leave a Comment

I went all in and watched all the films at DEF 2021. Except the two I had already seen (The Chateau and A New Era), and my own film Unreal Boys of course. So 17 films in total:

China In Ethiopia (Paul Zhou, 30 min)
Congo Calling (Stephan Hilpert, 90 min)
Flox (Hady Mahmoud, 45 min)
Her Family (Elizabeta Koneska, 49 min)
Keeping Track (Hugo Chávez Carvajal, 15 min)
Moving Towards Visibility (Laura Molsbergen, 32 min)
Talamanca (Davide Marino, 22 min)
Talking Dreams (Bruno Rocchi, 37 min)
The Body Won’t Close. (Mattijs Van de Port, 74 min)
The Daring Young Girl on the Flying Trapeze (Nina Ross, 27 min)
The Days After (Jérémie Grojnowski, 72 min)
The Fantastic (Maija Blåfield, 30 min)
The Life We Know (Cláudia Ribeiro, 82 min)
To Save a Language (Liivo Niglas, 74 min)
Tobacco Memories (Manca Filak, 31 min)
Trabolsi (Ina Schebler, 55 min)
Zagros (Ariane Lorrain & Shahab Mihandoust, 58 min)

I was touched the most by The Daring Young Girl on the Flying Trapeze, a sensitive film about a woman with muscular dystrophy, who in a way frees herself through her art. She regretted some choices she had made earlier in life because she didn’t think she would live past 20. Now she’s 65. I think I will always remember these moments.

My favourite was probably Flox, which put me right in the middle of the chaos of a minibus station in Cairo.

China in Ethiopia was interesting and gave me a detailed view, from a Chinese perspective, of a larger development in Ethiopia and other parts of Africa. Tobacco Memories and Zagros also captured larger systems by showing us otherwise unseen parts of the production and manufacturing of tobacco and carpets in Bulgaria and Iran respectively. Likewise, The Days After was ostensibly about alternative farming in France, but captured so much more in terms of suspicion of what diverges from the normal.

To Save a Language surprised in becoming a portrait of a passionate linguist. And I loved the mixture of art and anthropology in The Fantastic – fantastic visuals!

All in all an interesting and inspiring mix of films. I think my film fit well in that it “brought us some variety” (as the organiser said) and showed how one can research a sensitive topic.

The organisers were kind to send us the Q&A’s for our personal use, so here is mine:

Watch my film at Days of Ethnographic Film 2021

February 26, 2021 by Karl 2 Comments

My graduation film Unreal Boys will be shown at the film festival Days of Ethnographic Film in Ljubljana – but online this year.

This means you can watch it and a bunch of other interesting films – at home and for free! There will also be a prerecorded Q&A with the filmmakers, including myself.

The films will be available from 3 to 6 March 2021. You need to register, and a password will be sent to you the day before the festival. Just follow the instructions here:

Days of Ethnographic Film 2021

This is my first film festival and I can’t stress enough how proud I am to be featured! I’m so happy for everyone involved: Solomon, Andy, and my brave protagonists. Kudos to DEF for their fierce selection – I wish we could be there in person!