How and by whome is history written and re-written?
Vortex is a Cameroonian-German short film by Cyrielle Raingou and Felix Klee that combines found footage materials, 3D animations and live action to explore the dynamics of remembrance.
Vortex is a Cameroonian-German short film by Cyrielle Raingou and Felix Klee that combines found footage materials, 3D animations and live action to explore the dynamics of remembrance.
LOGLINE
Mandou and Eff are gate keepers of memory. They experience the history of the world through a stream of memories. When Eff starts to alter memories to build a virtual home, a conflict arises over how and by whome history is written and re-written.
SYNOPSIS
Sometime in the future Mandou and Eff are virtually submerged in a dreamlike state of rememberence where images of the past float by in a steady stream. When Mandou dives in she experiences personal memories, war, colonization, art of all ages, pop cultural images... She is a „jardinière de la memoire“, a gardener of memory. She and Eff are gate keepers to the past with very different ideas of what constitutes remembrence.
When Eff starts to alter memories to build a place to live in this virtual space, everything starts to come apart. A conflict arises over how and by whome history is written and re-written.
„Vortex“ is an experimental Cameroonian-German film about post-colonial rememberence that utilizes experimental animations, 3D modelling, archive footage and live action.
When Eff starts to alter memories to build a place to live in this virtual space, everything starts to come apart. A conflict arises over how and by whome history is written and re-written.
„Vortex“ is an experimental Cameroonian-German film about post-colonial rememberence that utilizes experimental animations, 3D modelling, archive footage and live action.
Fiction film, black and white, aprox. 14min., 2020, in production
English, French, Bamum with English, French or German subtitles
with
Cyrielle Raingou and Adrian von der Borch
Written and directed by
Cyrielle Raingou and Felix Klee
Cinematography by
Markus Schindler and Rina Zimmering
Editing, CGI and animations by
Felix Klee
with
Cyrielle Raingou and Adrian von der Borch
Written and directed by
Cyrielle Raingou and Felix Klee
Cinematography by
Markus Schindler and Rina Zimmering
Editing, CGI and animations by
Felix Klee
BACKGROUND
Vortex is a Cameroonian-German production. The two countries share a brutal history of colonization. Through the lens of science-fiction, „Vortex“ questions how the oppressor shapes history and how we remember realities.
APPROACH
The basis of the film is a collection of archival images. Using those images, the film weaves a delicate network of associations. The archive forms an associative narrative of history. When this narrative comes apart in the film through Eff‘s manipulation, the images themselves break up.
A combination of 3D and 2D animation, digitals image composition and data moshing is used to generate the sequences of the desintegrating memory.
A combination of 3D and 2D animation, digitals image composition and data moshing is used to generate the sequences of the desintegrating memory.
The concept for the film draws from Chris Marker‘s recontextualization of material and his work with still images. Our archive is inspired by Arthur Jaffas archival work-practice.
The realization of Vortex combines Cyrielle‘s genre-bending approach to fiction film, Felix‘ digital experimental animations and both their experiences in documentary image research.
The realization of Vortex combines Cyrielle‘s genre-bending approach to fiction film, Felix‘ digital experimental animations and both their experiences in documentary image research.
