22.2. 11am Arsenal 2
Tickets at berlinale.de
Purple Sea
Director
Amel Alzakout, Khaled Abdulwahed
Germany / 2020
67 min.
/ Original version with English subtitles
Original language
Arabic
“I see everything,” she says, as if it were a curse. Brilliant sunshine, clear blue skies. The sea is calm, framed by a piece of railing. Buzzing voices. A peaceful moment if it weren’t for the fact that the sea is standing upright, vertical, like a waterfall. A rush of images, twirling, upside down, jolting. People in the boat, in the water, screams, life jackets, emergency whistles. Fluorescent orange, geometrical shapes cast by the sun. There’s no horizon any more, no sky, no up or down, only deepness and nothing to hold on to. Even time’s flow comes to a halt, contracting into the brutal present. She is filming and speaking. To him, to herself, to us, perhaps. Floating legs in sweat pants, jeans, thronged together. A blouse with butterflies, it looks like their wings are flapping in the water. The snake-like belt of a coat, a crumpled-up plastic cup, a pack of cigarettes. Fuck you all! She speaks, she rages, and she films to beat being tired, being cold, the fact that help isn’t coming. To beat dying, just for something to remain.
Amel Alzakout is an artist and filmmaker based in Leipzig. In 2020, Purple Sea was shown at Forum Expanded.
Khaled Abdulwahed is an artist, photographer, and filmmaker based in Leipzig. In 2020, Purple Sea was shown at Forum Expanded. From 2017 to 2018 he was part of the curatorial team of Forum Expanded.
Directors Amel Alzakout, Khaled Abdulwahed. Screenplay Amel Alzakout, Khaled Abdulwahed. Cinematography Amel Alzakout. Editing Philip Scheffner. Sound Design Simon Bastian. Producers Ines Meier, Alex Gerbaulet. Co-Producer Doris Hepp. Production company Pong Film (Berlin, Germany).
World sales Pong Film
Amel Alzakout: 2019: Stranger’s Diaries (with Khaled Abdulwahed, video installation, 35 min.). 2020: Purple Sea (with Khaled Abdulwahed, 67 min., Forum Expanded 2020), Home Sweet Home (with Khaled Abdulwahed, 11 min.). 2022: PM Tune (video installation, 12 min.).
Khaled Abdulwahed: 2011: Bullet (2 min.). 2012: Tuj (2 min.). 2013: Slot in Memory (2 min.). 2018: Backyard (26 min.). 2019: Stranger’s Diaries (with Amel Alzakout, video installation, 35 min.). 2020: Purple Sea. 2023: Background (64 min.).
22.2. 11am Arsenal 2
Tickets at berlinale.de
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