In 1984, for three weeks in May, what appeared to be a giant cloud shrouded the small town of Hüllen-Hüllen in darkness. Before the end of the month the cloud had dispersed and life seemed to return to normal. One month later, however, the town was hastily abandoned and its residents were nowhere to be found. They left most of their belongings behind in such a way as to make one think they would return at any moment.
The search that followed led investigators to a cave on the outskirts of town. Inside the cave a number of homemade contraptions were discovered. Connected by a variety of mirrors and fitted with a wide array of lenses, they were found to form a large projection device. Even though at first sight it appeared to be either unfinished or broken, it was eventually determined to be in working order. When it was turned on it projected a series of images onto every surface of the cave. Initially the source of the images could not be established, yet upon further examination it was found that the images were engraved directly on the lenses of the machine.
Along with the machine a sheet of paper covered in handwritten text was also found. It was titled Wolkenschatten. Beyond the uncertain clues provided by the images and the text, no verifiable explanation for the disappearance of the town’s residents has ever been given. For the sake of preservation the engraved images were transferred onto 35mm slide film. Copies of the text and images were made and archived together. We have been lucky enough to obtain one of these sets. For the benefit of those interested in examining this strange occurrence, we’ve put them together as a narrated slideshow.
Screenings:
Light Cone Scratch Projection, Hotel Luminor; Paris, France 2022
Visionary Medium: Psychoanalysis and the Magic of Cinema, Husets Biograf; Copenhagen, Denmark 2022
Cinéma Utopia; Bordeaux, France 2022
Cinemancia Festival Metropolitano de Cine; Envigado, Sabaneta, Colombia 2021
Our Habitats; Pravo Ljudski Film Festival (online retrospective), 2020
Aashra; Ashkal Alwan (streaming platform), 2020
LaborBerlin en Argentina, Casa Nacional del Bicentenario; Buenos Aires, Argentina 2019
Anthology Film Archives; New York, USA 2019
Standards; Milan, Italy 2019
KASK visit, LaborBerlin; Berlin, Germany 2018
Zone Disco Autonome; Chars, France 2018
Kino Climates Melting Pots, Nova Cinema; Brussels, Belgium 2017
25 FPS; Zagreb, Croatia 2017
Independent Film Show; Naples, Italy 2017
FAR OFF art fair; Cologne, Germany 2017
Process Experimental Film Festival; Riga, Latvia 2017
Close-Up Film Centre; London, UK 2017
Cine Esquema Novo; Porto Alegre, Brazil 2016
Imagine Science Film Festival; New York, USA 2016
London Ontario Media Arts Association; London, Canada 2016
Visions; Montreal, Canada 2016
Message to Man International Film Festival; St. Petersburg, Russia 2016
Bains Argentiques – International Film Labs Meeting; Nantes, France 2016
Oak Cliff Film Festival; Dallas, USA 2016
Light Cone Distributors‘ Screening, Short film festival Oberhausen; Oberhausen, Germany 2016
The Rearview Mirror, Nightingale Cinema; Chicago, USA 2016
Future Projections, Moog Fest; Durham, USA 2016
Corps Volatils, Le Bal; Paris, France, 2016
Experiments in Cinema; Albuquerque, USA 2016
Canon Masterclass, International Film Festival Rotterdam; Rotterdam, Netherlands 2016
Goethe Institut; Barcelona, Spain 2015
Pleasure Dome, Cine Cycle; Toronto, Canada 2015
Experimenta; Bangalore, India 2015
Kasseler Dokfest; Kassel, Germany 2015
WNDX Film Festival; Winnipeg, Canada 2015
Media City Film Festival; Windsor, Canada 2015
Syros International Film Festival; Syros, Greece 2015
Projekt 66; Cologne, Germany 2015
Kunsthochschule für Medien; Köln, Germany 2015
Edinburgh International Film Festival; Edinburgh, UK 2015
VideoEx; Zurich, Switzerland 2015
Milwaukee Underground Film Festival; Milwaukee, USA 2015
Cineworks; Vancouver, Canada 2015
Cinevic; Victoria, Canada 2015
Northwest Film Forum; Seattle, USA 2015
Cinema Project; Portland, USA 2015
EMAF; Osnabrück, Germany 2015
Black Hole Cinematheque; Oakland, USA 2015
Crossroads; San Francisco, USA 2015
Echo Park Film Center; Los Angeles, USA 2015
Ann Arbor Film Festival; Ann Arbor, USA 2015
$100 Film Festival; Calgary, Canada 2015 – Audience Choice Award
International Film Festival Rotterdam; Rotterdam, Netherlands 2015
Image Forum; Tokyo, Japan 2014
Cork Film Festival; Cork, Ireland 2014