In contrast to her exquisitely measured film Kalendar, Naomi Uman’s Videodiary gives us the stories and struggles of her self-imposed migration. Here we have the artist’s search for a sense of belonging in the land her ancestors deserted a hundred years before. She shares the depths of alienation and regret, unbidden acts of generosity, her joyful friendship with local babushky. We start to understand how the camera is part of Uman – both prosthetic and companion. This relationship becomes scathingly manifest in an encounter with Hasidic pilgrims: she confronts their leering eyes and flashing guns with the gaze of a camera she refuses to put down. Videodiary 2-1-2006 to Present is a work in progress, never finished – less delicate than the Ukrainian Time Machine (of which Kalendar is one of four 16mm films), it is extraordinary because it is flawed, honest, human.
