Britt Hatzius
BLIND CINEMA
BLIND CINEMA
Monday 24th August – Friday 28th August 2015 – 11am
Please note: this performance will take place at the Filmhouse on Lothian Road
In the darkness of a cinema space, the audience sits blindfolded. Behind each row of audience members is a row of children who in hushed voices describe a film only they can see. Accompanied by the soundtrack (which has no dialogue), the whispered descriptions are a fragile, fragmentary and at times struggling but courageous attempt by the children to make sense of what they see projected on the screen.
Based on the method of audio description, Blind Cinema as a live event is an experience where the act of watching a film becomes a shared investment: A collaborative and imaginative act between seeing children and blinded adults. It embraces the fact that the act of trying to find the right words to describe (even if at times being ‘at a loss for words’) and of trying to hold onto the unstable images created in the mind’s eye, will always only be an approximation. In focusing on that which lies beyond the sense of sight (leaving the illusory reality of cinema to re-enter that of the imagination), the attention oscillates between each shared but internal world guided by the whispering voice, and the shared physical space of the darkened cinema. Note: The film screened during the performance will be seen by the children for the first time. Each performance involves a new group of children (aged between 8 and 11) and is preceded by a workshop.
Direction / concept – Britt Hatzius Film – Britt Hatzius & Simon Arazi Dramaturgy – Ant Hampton Technical design / production – tbc. Children’s workshop coordinator – tbc. Creative Producer – Katja Timmerberg Thanks to – Thomas Tajo, Georgia Venetakis, Geertje De Ceuleneer, Axel Cleeremans, Campbell Works Gallery, Still Moving London, Susanne Dietz, Miila, Nico, Alice, Josh, Marina, Rebecca, Maxime, Anne Haaning. A co-production between Vooruit (Ghent), Beursschouwburg (Brussels) and Bronks Theatre (Brussels).
Forest Fringe Box Office: forestfringe.co.uk
Web: britthatzius.co.uk
Tags: Forest Fringe 15
