In a two-dimensional dystopian landscape of deserted, half-built houses in ex-communist Albania, an allegorical version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears unfolds.
Like so many Albanians, the owners of the unfinished homes emigrated to the West after the end of the totalitarian regime (1991).
Effi Weiss & Amir Borenstein invade the liminal space of the houses and occupy their emptiness, while the voice of an Albanian iso-polyphonic choir* sings poems based on interviews with locals responding to the artists’ invasion.
This act of reverse immigration, from a place regarded as representative of Western affluence to a place considered destitute and deficient, critically inquires into the status of artists as privileged foreigners, short-term migrants who come to work with a local community. It’s a movement from the full to the empty, from excess to lack.
*a traditional form from southern Albania
BE/AL, 2016, 35’
AL spoken
EN subtitles
A film by: Effi & Amir
In collaboration with: Ilir Kaso
Original poems: Krenar Zejno
Iso-Polyphony Group: Ensemble Çipini, Vlora
Editing: Effi & Amir
Sound editing: Kwinten Van Laethem
Produced by: La chose à trois jambes asbl-vzw (BE)
Co-produced by: CBA (BE) and ORAFILM (AL)
With the support of: Centre du cinéma et de l'audiovisuel de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, Vlaams Audiovisuel Fonds, Ostrovsky Family Fund, ARGOS - Centre for Art & Media
Effi Weiss and Amir Borenstein (born in Israel, currently living in Brussels) are an artist duo who have been working together since 1999. Their work is mainly video-based, and often involves performative elements and participatory methods. In addition to their own projects, Effi & Amir collaborate with other artists as editors, effects designers and animators.
