TristxtOTL, 2022

By Mădălina Zaharia

Synopsis:

TristxtOTL is a melancholic science-fiction film exploring sadness and grief as instruments for transformation and imaginative thinking. A desolate speech is being rehearsed and delivered at the very same time, a stone becomes the physical manifestation of despair, heavy arms fall to the rhythm of anxiety, while an empty space is incessantly hunted by intrusive blue thoughts. Starring performers Fionnuala Kennedy and Ebun Sodipo, the film embarks on a gentle exchange that depicts the grieving body as a collaborator, one that instills empathy and receptivity within a viewing audience by mixing dejection with imagination. Drawing on a multitude of literary and scientific references, this sad sci-fi drama aims to reimagine sorrow as a capable force that can be reassembled and mobilized in order to produce cognitive change; a coping mechanism, whose resignation and paralysis are its best strategies in resisting an impatient reality.

Starring Fionnuala Kennedy and Ebun Sodipo

Director's Bio:

Mădălina Zaharia (b. 1985, Sighetu Marmatiei, Romania) is a Romanian artist and filmmaker who lives and works in London. Her film, Public Figure – made in collaboration with poet and performer Ryan Ormonde, has won 'The best film in the national competition' prize at Bucharest International Dance Film Festival 2021 and has also been part of the official selection of SQIFF 2021 (Scottish Queer International Film Festival) in Glasgow and GRRL HAUS CINEMA 2021 in Boston, MA. Recent exhibitions include: VIDEO+RADIO+LIVE (co-lateral event of the Art Encounters Biennial 2021), Casa Artelor, Timisoara; So Far So Good, Budapest Gallery, Budapest; Viral self-portraits, Moderna galerija (MG+MSUM), Ljubljana; Art Encounters Biennial 2019 (curated by Maria Lind and Anca Rujoiu), Timisoara; Reading as Rhythm: A Sonic Exploration of the Visual Vocabulary of Control Magazine, Tate Exchange Liverpool (2018); DEBT., Tintype Gallery (solo), London (2017); Identify Your Limitations, Acknowledge The Periphery, Vitrine Gallery, London (2016); The Staging of an Exhibition, Ivan Gallery (solo), Bucharest (2016); London Open 2015, Whitechapel Gallery, London.