Vers la mer (1999) is a documentary about and inspired by the Danube, the river of Mitteleuropa. The Danube, the only river of our continent that connects so many people, is such a confusing mix. It is the route that links the West to the East, a myth as much as a reality, an epic towards the sea. A presence so strong, so dazzling, that it freezes the gaze and brings us back a certain humility. A film that wants to situate itself between poetic reverie, historical and contemporary reality, encounters with those who live along the shores of the river. Will the river be the symbol of something else than itself?
(Annik Leroy)
Annik Leroy (b 1952, Brussels) is a cinematographer and filmmaker, who made several films such as Le paradis terrestre (1973), In der Dämmerstunde – Berlin (1980), Vers la mer (1999), TREMOR. Es ist immer Krieg (2017), La force diagonale (2023), and installations such as Cellule 719 (2006) and Meinhof. 3 (2008). Between poetic documentaries and observant essays, Annik Leroy’s installation and meditative films explore the dark corners of European history, and unrealized utopic projects in the 20th century. She taught at ERG and LUCA Hogeschool Sint-Lukas.
The publication Distant voices emerged as a result of two conversations recorded in Brussels in November 2023 between Arindam Sen, Annik Leroy, and her collaborator, filmmaker Julie Morel. It is an attempt to engage in a productive dialogue about Annik Leroy’s films whose genealogy can be traced to political genre defying filmmaking of Danièle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub, Yvonne Rainer, Peter Nestler, and Robert Kramer, as they carry murmurs from the near and distant pasts. Leroy’s films intimate how radical imagination can work to establish a continuum of political defiance across timelines and geographies. (Arindam Sen)
Arindam Sen is a film critic, writer and curator based in Germany whose interests lie in experimental, documentary, and artists film. He co-founded the Brussels-based platform for experimental film programs, Cinema Parenthèse. His writings have appeared in Millennium Film Journal, Senses of Cinema, Lumière and Marg magazine among others.
Distant Voices is published by STEREO EDITIONS in a limited edition of 100 copies. A few copies will be available for purchase at the event or can be ordered online. Price: 17 €
Vers la mer, 1999, 87’
16mm & 16mm transferred to HD video, b&w, 4:3, stereo & 5.1, BE
Camera: Annik Leroy
Sound: Marie Vermeiren
Sound mix: Roland Boon
Editing: Eva Houdova
Produced by: Cobra Films
Co-produced by: RTBF ( télévision belge) & Centre de l’Audiovisuel à Bruxelles
With the support of Centre du Cinéma et de l’Audiovisuel de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles
Distributed by: Auguste Orts, Belgium
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