Jan 6, 2013


IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DESERT



“In the middle of the desert“ is a cine poem about the existential emptiness and the human alienation in todays` postmodern world, in which we wake up and fall asleep with the images of total destruction and death. This monstrous reality, resembles a vast lifeless desert, where no one can see beyond the endless horizon.

 

In this monstrous creation of the modern industry, surrounded from endless fences, squeezed by the bustling crowds, illuminated from thousands of billboards, Phoenix heads on into her bleak future. With every step she makes her breath speeds up, she loses her dreams, her purpose, her mind. She wakes up and falls asleep with the images of total destruction and death but the future lasts forever. Phoenix is just one example from millions of people, whose lives are ingrained by thoughts of the end of the world and the feeling of hopelessness and despair. This reality resembles a vast lifeless desert, where no one can see beyond the endless horizon or imagine any new beginning. Once Phoenix starts understanding the nature of the desert growing around and learns how to survive in it, she can see the unique forms of life existing there. Then everything seems the same but is a little bit different.

 

 







Director´s statement:

Today we are waiting for the apocalypse to come, torn between the feelings of growing despair and uncontrollable rage, without recognizing that we already live in the midst of the total destruction. We can imagine the end of the world, but we cannot imagine the new world which would rise from the ashes of what was already destroyed. Only when this reality suddenly breaks down into pieces, we can realize how fragile our world actually is. The desert is physically present in our lives. It is not an imaginary world, it is the world we live in.This film is a reflection of the indefinite fears of the modern humanity from the bleak future where there is no more difference between dream and reality.

Director: Hristina Vardeva
Script: Hristina Vardeva and Harry Halpin
Director of Photography: Michael Steinhauser, 

Marcus Hoffmann, David Tena and Jytte Hill
Overvoice: Eni Aksoy
Director Assistant : Frauke Ludwig and Janne Jürgensen
Music: Pawel Wieleba and Rannug Fflow
Editting: Hristina Vardeva


Official screenings at: Konstanzer Kurz.Film.Spiele 1.9, Sofia Film Fest 2013, Chicago Anarchist Film Festival,  EUROPEAN MEDIA ART FESTIVAL Osnabrück , FilmFest Münster 2013


You can watch the whole video online:



 НАСРЕД ПУСТИНЯТА Bulgarian Subt.
https://vimeo.com/57735376

 TRAILER - https://vimeo.com/46257408

After the End of the World: Film and Text  оn CRIMETHINC