Koudelka
Lin Xin • 2015
This is a documentary filmed in a subjective perspective. Without any commentary, the film records, in the switches and transitions of the faces, the gamut and track of emotions and vision of the author in enjoying the photographs by Koudelka—from the scenes of life in “Gypsies”, to the conflicts in “Invasion”, further to the still images in “Exiles”, and finally focused on desolately dignified “Chaos”. The four chapters of the film echo the four photo albums of Koudelka. With the indoor CD player playing the music by Shostakovich, the invasion of the landscape without the windows, intermingled with the background noise, complicates the ambient circumstances of the film and renders an immediate sense of urgency and relevance.
AWARDS & FESTIVALS
Director Statement
The documentary is a record of personal reading experience. The incessant decomposing and restructuring of the images correspond to the encounters and dislocations of my eyes towards Koudelka. I take time to closely examine the details of his instantly frozen frames of pictures
but my perspective is still that of a reader who moves his eyes in the movements and switches of the lens. Koudelka mirrors the foot-prints and emotions of the world in which we live—gazing at him
we are gazing at ourselves.
Festivals and Awards
The 12th Beijing Independent Video Exhibition [Excellent Documentary Award]
