The screening series “Framing Collective Action” presents artistic and documentary films created within collective structures. By linking historical and contemporary examples, the series explores the potentials of collective filmmaking through diverse aesthetic approaches. Each film program focuses on a specific spatial context (House, Street, Land) and examines the political and social impact of collective filmmaking both in front of and behind the camera, within and beyond the frame.
“House”, the first iteration of this series, brings together three short films which frame collaboration and action within a domestic building—simultaneously opening up and critically interrogating the notion of home. Through this selection of audiovisual works, the house reveals itself as an impermanent shelter, a site with questionable borders, and a space that invisibilizes the working conditions of those that must maintain it. Yet, as these films from India, Ukraine, and Brazil demonstrate, this very same house can serve as a place from which collective action might emerge.
With films by Center for Spatial Technologies in collaboration with Forensis & Forensic Architecture, cinéma copains & pátio vazio, Yugantar Film Collective
“Molkarin (Maid Servant)” is a film that documents the oppressive working conditions of domestic workers in Pune, a city in western India, and how these women organise to fight for their rights. It is a portrait of female solidarity in action, exploring themes of inequality, exploitation, and the power dynamics between employers and domestic workers.
“A City Within A Building” examines the war crime committed at the Mariupol Drama Theater in Ukraine. During Russia’s invasion, the theater served as a shelter for thousands of people before it was destroyed by Russian military forces. Drawing on images, videos, and eyewitness testimonies, the work sheds light on the gravity of this crime as part of Russia’s war against Ukraine.
“urban solutions” is an uncanny examination of Brazil’s landscape through the lens of current isolating security architecture in Brazilian cities and the workers that guard the borders between private and public space. Combining various image and text sources with performative moments, the film connects Brazil’s colonial past to the country’s contemporary class society.