WELT SPIEGEL KINO (WORLD MIRROR CINEMA)

Filmic images of the past between illusion and reality. In this stunning and enthralling collage of documentary and feature film archive footage from the years 1912 and 1929, found-footage artist Gustav Deutsch revives everyday life in Austria, Indonesia and Portugal at the start of the last century. The result is a profound reflection on the medium of film and its unique ability to travel through time and space and recall memory.

The three episodes each start with historical camera pans in front of the large cinemas of Vienna, Surabaya and Portorespectively in the early days of the cinematic era. Then the camera zooms in on random people, vehicles and events. In an associative montage à la Godard, passers-by become chance protagonists in a series of short stories where the realities inside and outside of the cinemas are mixed. The gaze of a Viennese passer-by leads us to the battle of Isonzo, to Vienna's Prater, and to the punishment of suburban ruffians. In Salazar's Portugal, a general bestows honours upon weeping veterans while female labourers work in a sardine factory. In front of the cinema, a group of girls stares into the camera of an anonymous film chronicler. World history and the personal, everyday stories of the 20^th century are mirrored through the eye of the camera.