Ema Kugler

Infinite Repetitions is a film collage that combines the opening sequences of two earlier works by Ema Kugler. A multidisciplinary artist, Kugler approaches her films in their totality as a director, screenwriter, scenographer and costume designer. The films she makes are not based on a narrative in the conventional sense of the word. Instead, they are often described as evocative, emerging images that are carefully choreographed and not anchored in a particular space or time. They are endlessly repeating, often otherworldly expressions of the human condition.

The two films combined here are Homo Erectus (short film, 2000) and Echoes of Time (feature film, 2013). The first consists entirely of images and music, a danse macabre, a confrontation with mortality, as described by the artist. The figures emerge as if from the underworld, the subconscious, making the film a striking visual reckoning, a contemplation of fate and death, imbued with an almost possessive quality.

The scenes from Echoes of Time, on the other hand, encapsulate the pain and devastation brought on by violent conflict and displacement while also emphasising that the suffering of the many is a consequence of the decisions made by the very few in power and facilitated by blind devotion and fanaticism. The two worlds seem to be entirely separate, with the rulers appearing in monumental spaces, yet completely isolated from the lived reality of the majority.

Supported by Batalha Centro de Cinema.