How do we document the implications the lockdown had on our lives, as exceptional moments in times, but also slow emerging changes in new forms of realities? Lucie and Jonny have documented those processes in short films. These projects show that documenting becomes not only an act related to the future and how we will think about the world afterwards, but the process of filming itself becomes a crucial act in a moment of crisis. Or, as Jonny explains in the film ‘Easter’: “Unlike any other time I wasn’t filming for any other reason than the pleasure of it despite being mostly confined to the same three rooms with two views.” Since both pieces were filmed during an early phase of the pandemic, these pieces may allow us to look back and understand how we arranged paid work, household work and ‘free’ time under conditions of unfree movements as well as high levels of stress and anxiety about loved ones.
Views from the Red Zone
Italy was one of the first European country from where news channels broadcasted images of emptied and deserted streets and public places. Starting with a Facebook Post, Filmmaker Jonathan Hunter collected voices from people behind the windows and shared their changed perspective.
Jonny: “After the borders closed and I was locked out of Italy, I spent the first few weeks in grief for my home city. This film is about home to me: about being locked out and locked in. It’s also an attempt to build community, keep busy, and imagine I am somewhere else.”
Easter
What to document in a moment of crisis? This film turns inwards in many ways, inside the house, inside of the drivers of tradition.
Jonny: “This is a video made mostly out of desperation in my girlfriend’s home town of Ostrava, Czech Republic. Two months into a one-week visit, the video is part of a collection of attempts to keep myself lucid as the no-work/tv-binge aspect of quarantine grew. It’s about Easter traditions here from the “innocent perspective” of a curious outsider: what they have developed into, some of the politics surrounding them and whether it’s possible to whip a 93 year-old woman without shame.”