The Projector | ‘Isolation cinema’: filmmakers under lockdown explore big ideas in small spaces
- Thessaloniki International Film Festival commissioned directors from around the world to make short films in conditions of confinement
- Despite the limitations, or perhaps because of them, the resulting shorts explore the despair and hope brought on by the coronavirus pandemic
In March 2011, Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi shot a documentary entirely within the confines of his home with just a camcorder and a mobile phone. It was a practical rather than an aesthetic choice as he was under house arrest at the time, slapped with a filmmaking ban for his support of pro-democracy movement Green Wave, which the Iranian authorities had brutally quashed two years earlier.
This Is Not a Film premiered in Cannes two months later to rave reviews. Filmmakers and critics lauded Panahi for delivering a full-fledged and reflective treatise while secluded from the world in a state-enforced lockdown. Who could have guessed Panahi’s “isolation cinema” – his second attempt being Closed Curtain (2013), a slightly more expansive drama filmed in a more spacious house by the sea – would become the new normal for many filmmakers stuck at home due to the coronavirus pandemic?
Despite the limitations – or maybe because of them – directors from far and wide have signed up for the project. The results have been diverse: entries range from a slick, po-faced comedy of social-distancing manners to a tour of a veteran director’s personal library. They are, however, all alike in their attempts to channel the despair and hope of humanity during this seemingly never-ending crisis.
Chinese director Jia Zhangke’s Visit might remind future audiences of the rituals of human (dis)connection during these strange days of 2020 as two filmmakers ponder the perils of a handshake, punctuate a business meeting with hand sanitiser and sit down to watch old footage of happier times, when crowds could mingle freely.
