Svadba tishiny (Wedding of Silence)
Pavel Medvedev, RU, 2003, 35mm, b&w, sound, 28’

A depiction of a world of silence. Medvedev follows a community of deaf people, from the church where the liturgy is celebrated in sign language, to the wedding party where the guests dance to the rhythm of their hearts. The men in the local foundry, unaware of the infernal industrial sounds that surround them, are busy working on a clock destined to commemorate the 300 anniversary of the city of Saint Petersburg; a jubilee they will never get to hear.

Ägypten
Kathrin Resetarits, AT, 1997, 16mm, b&w, sound, 10’

A multi-layered exploration of sign language; a language which, like the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, links the symbolic terminology of words with the mimetic and analogous representations of graphic gestures. Soberly constructed scenes depict how notions like “shark”, “widow”, “Marilyn Monroe”, a James Bond movie sequence, a Viennese song or the story of two travellers treasure-hunting in Egypt are expressed in sign language. An introduction to an unfamiliar way to experience the world, in which sounds are seen but not heard.

Hand Movie
Yvonne Rainer, US, 1966, 8mm to video, b&w, silent, 6’17"

The debut film of dancer, choreographer and filmmaker Yvonne Rainer, filmed by her dancing colleague William Davis while she was confined to a hospital bed after an operation. The result is a close-up of the only member in her body which could still dance: her hand. A sensual dance of her fingers spreading, stretching and bending: the kind of everyday moves which were also at the heart of her groundbreaking choreographies. The simple, moving force of Hand Movie would have a big influence on artists such as Richard Serra, who would make his own series of “hand” films.

Dissonant
Manon de Boer, BE, 2009, 16mm to video, colour, sound, 11’

Manon de Boer films dancer Cynthia Loemij while she performs a 10 minute response to Eugene Ysaye's 3 sonatas for violin solo - a piece of music that holds vivid memories for Loemij. A physical time limit, the 3-minute duration of one 16-mm roll of film, interrupts the camera's recording of movement. While the dance continues, and the sound of movement is audible, the screen is black for the one minute that is needed to replace the roll of film. During the moments that the image is suspended, a game with the audience's memory is being played. Just as Loemij has to draw the music from her memory, the viewer can project the image of her dancing body onto the black screen, enabled by the sound and memory of her repetitive movement.

Image cinématographique de Bartok
Peter Sulyi, HU, 1989, video, colour, sound (FR version), 21’

An amateur, soundless Super 8 film fragment represents the only existing moving images of Hungarian composer Béla Bartók. Peter Sulyi films two musicologists as they attempt to reconstruct what Bartok is playing in the images. The position of his hands, the way he holds himself, the pressing of the keys: they are all the expression of a music without sound, which is analysed and deciphered in a careful, courageous but hopeless way. A thriller in true “mano a mano” style.