Olivia Rochette, Gerard-Jan Claes Because We Are Visual

Who remembers the birth of the webcam? Observing those strange stages when we were learning a new way of interacting with the/our image, representing the self not only on the screen but also on the Internet. This is (also) Internet Cinema, from no less than 15 years ago. Rather than continue to be victims of the image, we decided to become image.

synopsis

In Because We Are Visual Olivia Rochette and Gerard-Jan Claes immerse themselves into the world of public video journals. The Internet and its online communities intend to bring people closer together and to connect them. Yet, surprisingly, it seems that the virtual world confronts these so-called vloggers more than ever with their own loneliness. This documentary allows the viewer to discover this contemporary phenomenon and focuses on the experience of the body within this virtual space. By means of visual material gathered from online sources, the cineastes create a unique poetic realm in which thoughts, fears, desires and worries, shared via the webcam, merge together.

about

Olivia Rochette (Belgium, 1987) is a director, cinematographer, and co-founder of the online film magazine Sabzian and Avila, a film distributor and online video platform for Belgian cinema. Gerard-Jan Claes (Belgium, 1987) is a filmmaker, lecturer, author, both founder and artistic director of Sabzian, and co-founder of Avila. Their shared filmography consists of Because We Are Visual (2010), Rain (2012), Grands travaux (2016), Mitten (2019) and Kind Hearts (2022). Since 2009, the duo provides audiovisual work for choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and her dance company Rosas. Claes teaches at P.A.R.T.S. and LUCA School of Arts.
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