About

Unseen showcases some of the most important new voices to emerge in the last decade in contemporary cinema, filmmakers whose work contribute to the formulation of innovative visual languages. Their singularity is a reminder of the endless possibilities of the cinematic, and contrasts strongly with the widespread contemporary homogenisation of film genre and visual style. Notably, in the last decade, feature film and documentary have been increasingly experienced as intertwined modes rather than distinct genres, each drawing on memory, testimonial, narrative and observation. The use of digital video combined with documentary strategies is widespread in contemporary film and video, and allows flexible responses to particular locations and interventions in existing social contexts.

The enormous creative freedom offered by digital video to the current generation of filmmakers is underlined by celebrated Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami in his film Ten on 10 2004, where he observes in voice-over: The video camera gives both the director and viewer the possibility of discovery. In this way, the camera eliminates the artifice so implanted in the industry. It gives you the possibility of expanding the dimensions of cinema and getting rid of clichés, traditions, imposed forms and pretentious aesthetics. [. . .] Now we can consider that filmmaking is not that different from writing a book, making a sculpture or painting a picture. You no longer really need investment and investors to make a film nor do you need all sorts of skills. All of the necessary skills are self-contained in this small camera. This camera allows artists to work alone again. This climate of freedom and experimentation has created new possibilities for cinema, whether digital or celluloid, and whatever narrative or visual strategies are employed. Observational details and non-narrative moments of life, interviews and handheld camera — all of these more documentary strategies may be combined with much more abstract approaches to convey broad visual statements, metaphor and commentary on the medium of cinema.

Unseen celebrates these moments of innovation in expressive languages which contribute to the perpetual reformulation of cinema.

List of Works

• Loong Boonmee raleuk chat (Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives) 2010 | Director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
• Hunger 2008 | Director: Steve Mcqueen
• Banjir Kemarau (Flooding in the Time of Drought) 2009 | Director: Sherman Ong
• La bocca del lupo (The Mouth of the Wolf) 2009 | Director: Pietro Marcello
• Jao Nok Krajok (Mundane History) 2009 | Director: Anocha Suwichakornpong
• Madeinusa 2006 | Director: Claudia Llosa
• La teta asustada (The Milk of Sorrow) 2009 | Director: Claudia Llosa
• Gabbla (Inland) 2008 | Director: Tariq Teguia
• Batalla en el Cielo (Battle in Heaven) 2005 | Director: Carlos Reygadas
• Luz Silenciosa (Silent Light) 2007 | Director: Carlos Reygadas
• Ling yi ban (The Other Half) 2006 | Director: Liang Ying
• Hao Mao (Good Cats) 2008 | Director: Liang Ying
• Strizh (Swallow) 2007 | Director: Abai Kulbai
• Fish Tank 2008 | Director: Andrea Arnold
• Babi buta yang ingin terbang (Blind Pig Who Wants To Fly) 2008 | Director: Edwin
• Karaoke 2009 | Director: Chris Chong Chan Fui
• Nem vagyok a barátod (I Am Not Your Friend) 2009 | Director: György Pálfi
• Taxidermia 2006 | Director: György Pálfi
• Lourdes 2009 | Director: Jessica Hausner
• Un lac (A Lake) 2008 | Director: Philippe Grandrieux
• Los Muertos (The Dead) 2004 | Director: Lisandro Alonso
• Liverpool 2008 | Director: Lisandro Alonso
• Honor de cavallería (Honour of the Knights [Quixotic]) 2006 | Director: Albert Serra
• El cant dels ocells (Birdsong) 2008 | Director: Albert Serra
• Here 2009 | Director: Ho Tzu Nyen
• La maison jaune (The Yellow House) 2008 | Director: Amor Hakkar
• Los viajes del viento (The Wind Journeys) 2009 | Director: Ciro Guerra
• Tony Manero 2008 | Director: Pablo Larraín
• Post Mortem 2010 | Director: Pablo Larraín
• Journey to The Moon 2009 | Director: Kutluğ Ataman
• Ang ninanais (Refrains Happen Like Revolutions in a Song) 2010 | Director: John Torres
• Sawan baan na (Agrarian Utopia) 2009 | Director: Uruphong Raksasad