Seasick on solid ground

It is a seasickness on solid ground. Its nature is such that you have forgotten the true names of things and now, in all haste, tip random names over them. Hastily. Hastily. But no sooner have you run away from them, than you have forgotten their names again. The poplar in the fields, which you have called "The Tower of Babel" because you didn´t know or didn´t want to know that it is a poplar, sways nameless again, and you might be forced to name it "Noah, when he was drunk".

(Franz Kafka from "The Prayer")


 



The text above was the starting point and compass for our journey through a city which is, perhaps, Berlin.



Time is dis-jointed: a person is threatened with the loss of the ground under his feet. He meets a woman, is shot and dies in the desert under the greedy eye of a TV camera.

(C.F. & K.K.)


Nice and inventice short that is now about seasickness, but is itself seasick.

Funny and experimental film about a man who experiences the world as a ship in a heavy storm. Off-screen an ironic-scientific text taken from Thomas Eddington. The contribution by the cameraman Johannes Hammel (Schwarze Sonne) is substantial.

(International Film Festival Rotterdam)

Orig. Title
Eine Seekrankheit auf festem Lande
Year
1996
Countries
Germany, Austria
Duration
15 min
Category
Short fiction
Orig. Language
German
Subtitles
English
Credits
Director
Kristina Konrad, Christian Frosch
Script
Christian Frosch, Kristina Konrad
Cinematography
Johannes Hammel
Music
Paul Browse
Editing
Kristina Konrad, Christian Frosch
Sound
Paul Browse
Text Author
Sir Arthur S. Eddington
Production
Christian Frosch, Kristina Konrad
Actor/Actress
Ursula Ofner, Lars Rudolph
Available Formats
16 mm (Original Format)
Aspect Ratio
1:1,37
Sound Format
mono
Frame Rate
24 fps
16 mm (Distribution Copy)
Aspect Ratio
1:1,37
Sound Format
mono
Frame Rate
24 fps
Festivals (Selection)
1996
Solothurn - Filmtage
Rotterdam - Int. Filmfestival
Oberhausen - Int. Kurzfilmtage
Osnabrück - EMAF - European Media Art Festival
Luzern - VIPER - Int. Film und Video Festival
1997
Stuttgart - Filmwinter, Expanded Media Festival
Toronto - IMAGES - Independent Film & Video Festival
Onion City - Film Festival Chicago
Locarno - Festival Int. de film
Madrid - Semana de Cine Experimental
Winterthur - Kurzfilmtage
Ankara - Festival of European Film / Festival on Wheels
1998
Dresden - Filmfest
Helsinki - MUU Media Festival
Leeuwarden/NL - Noordelijk Film Festival
2002
Cork - Int. Film Festival
Stuttgart - Filmwinter, Expanded Media Festival
2003
Sao Paulo - Short Film Festival