Curated by Chiara Ghidelli and Chiara Granata
Found footage, defined as “the practice of reusing preexisting material, edited so as to produce something that is at times abstract, at times ironic, political or counter informative”, is seemingly making a comeback. After being used in blockbuster movies and TV productions, whether commercial or auteur cinema, archive footage is finally being employed in fiction, video clips, and the mainstream world. This, despite being historically merely used in documentaries and niche productions. In the age of vintage craze, fake news, and picture overdose, reusing archive footage is getting the validation and attention that it never got before.
That’s why, for its 22nd edition, the Concorto Film Festival decided to allocate a space to these new forms of expression: Mnemosyne. The name “Mnemosyne” is a reference to the title of one of Warbug’s works, which proved how our visual culture is filled with recurring images. Hence, the focus on analyzing and showing the conventions and aesthetics of found footage in today’s world. Through fiction, documentaries, experimental forms of expression, and video clips, Mnemosyne is therefore portraying this new trend, giving archive footage the chance to venture into all the spaces it couldn’t explore before.
Condition D’élèvation (State of Elevation), Isabelle Prim, 2021, France
Dima, Dmitry, Dmytro. Glory to the heroes, Clemens Poole, 2022, Ukraine
Home When You Return, Carl Elsaesser, 2021, USA
La Hija de la Azafata (The Stewardess’ Daughter), Sofía Brihet, 2022, Argentina
Long time no techno, Eugenia Bakurin, 2022, Germany
Majmouan (Subtotals), Mohammadreza Farzad, 2022, Poland/Germany/Iran
Mary, Mary, So Contrary, Nelson Yeo, 2019, Singapore
Persiamia, Stefano P. Testa, 2017, Italy
White Afro, Akosua Adoma Owusu, 2019, Ghana