In a beautiful and extraordinarily well-shot scene from The Chechen Family, we see Abubakar, the father of this family, frenetically dancing a zkir, the ritual dance of the Chechen Sufis. More than a dance, it is a kind of hypnotic mantra, a sequence of repetitive movements with monotonous music that lead to an ecstatic trance.
For Abubakar, the zkir are a way of exorcising himself from Russia after long years of occupation. Martín Solá's project is to film a trilogy of nations not considered free and sovereign countries, subjugated by an invader, and to see the different forms of resistance that these people have against their oppressor. First there was the armed struggle in Hamdan (2013) about a Palestinian leader of Al-Fatah, now in Chechnya about the opposition through religious faith, and the next will be in Tibet with the love of a newly married couple. Solá does not waste time explaining these historical conflicts but rather focuses on the physical space of the occupation, and the material manifestation of that rebellion. Because in that dance all those years of helplessness and pain are granitely concentrated more than in any geopolitical reflection.
– Jorge Morales
Category: International Panorama Director: Martín Solá Screenplay: Martín Solá Producer: Guillermo Pineles, Martin Solá, Gustavo Schiaffino and Omar Mustafá Photography: Gustavo Schiaffino Editing: Lorena Moriconi and Martin Solá Sound: Jonathan Darch and Omar Mustafá 60'
Argentina - Russia, 2015
This film is presented within the framework of the Santiago International Documentary Festival, FIDOCS.
Nov 11, 2016
Fri, 6 p.m.
Room A1
Building A, floor 1
$2,500 General.
$1,500 Est. and 3ed.
Sale available only at GAM Ticket Office.