Self-Portrait

Joële Walinga / Canada / 2022 / European Premiere / 66 min.

synopsis

What does the world look like from a non-human perspective? This surprisingly poetic film, which can be boldly described as an example of pure cinema, takes us on a journey through the seasons using security camera footage from various parts of the world. Individual, seemingly neutral snippets of life look like moving canvases with paintings or postcards that allow us to see places we could never otherwise visit. The cameras, like surveillance tools, reveal the unexpected beauty of industrial spaces, private buildings, and natural landscapes.

“Self-Portrait takes charge of its own interpretations, imaginings, and fictions for each moment, but aims still to leave room for the subjectivity of viewers, allowing them to find their own meaning or to slip into their own fictions.”

biography

Canadian filmmaker and visual artist Joële Walinga (* 1988) is originally from Calgary. She has studied intermedia at NSCAD University in Halifax and Concordia University in Montreal. Her first feature-length documentary God Straightens Legs premiered at the DOXA Documentary Film Festival and has also been screened at the Ji.hlava Film Festival. Her work was also featured in the programmes of Oberhausen, SXSW and Rencontres Internationales.