Conjurations: Shorts + Lecture Performance

Director: Helena Wittmann

2023 / 90min / DCP

A collection of four of Wittmann’s shorts, works that show all of the cinematographic audacity, mysterious allure, and alertness to atmospheric details of her feature works, followed by Conjurations, an in-theater hybrid-lecture performance from Wittmann inspired by Éric Rohmer’s The Green Ray.

In The Wild, Witmann splashes the walls and furniture of an elderly German couple’s home with projections of Super 8 recordings taken by the husband during trips to Africa over several decades. In 21.3°C, the quiet, patient observation of a single room renders a minimalist musique concrete masterpiece. In Later, Wittmann’s camera captures the splendor of a sunset in Quixadá, Brazil. In Ada Kaleh, a series of slow pans observe the languorous inhabitants of a shared apartment as they imagine other places they might live while never stepping outside.