Rituals, Loops & Dances
by Becky Tan

Ten films projected ideas in the special section Rituale, Loops und Tänze (Rituals, loops and dances). From Germany, USA, Great Britain, and Morocco, they represented a time span of 72 years, having been created in 1946, 1981, 1990, 1998, 2004, 2013, 2016, and 2018. We saw ten guys playing flutes and drums and a dancer shaking (THE MASTER MUSICIANS OF JOUJOUKA). In one we see women rolling yarn, disappearing, and standing like statues – all very quiet ( RITUAL IN TRANSFIGURED TIME). We saw three minutes of animation that repeated itself three to four times ( FLYING IMAGE). In one there are 21 dancers all crowded together (YOU MADE ME LOVE YOU), while in another four dancers share a multicolored square painted on the floor (QUAD I). One (FILMS TO BREAK PROJECTORS) featured scraps of films rolling by. This might be art, but what does it have to do with the main topic? Jumping from one square to the next is dance? Repeated animation is a loop? Okay, maybe Moroccan musicians playing native music can be a ritual. The festival catalog talks about “timelessness, communication, interaction” as well as “disciplining, conditioning, and self-optimization” and “the borderline between philosophy, film and choreography.” Huh? Sometimes films make me think/realize that I’m too daft to go to the movies.