After watching her first ‘feature’ film together, Rushing Green with Horses (2019), Tijana, Oath and Max asked Ute Aurand if they might be able to interview her. She offered instead that the group first watch more of her work so that she might see what they had to say about it.
On a sunny Saturday afternoon, we visited Ute and were offered a list of her film works – complete with runtimes – to select what we wanted to watch. Time was limited, so in the end it was narrowed down to the hour-long India, followed by a triptych of shorts; A Walk, Im Park and ZUOZ. What follows are our brief + lyrical impressions of that day’s screening.
MLP:
There are few images as joyous as Robert Beavers on ice skates, filmed by Ute Aurand. In her film India, I was most struck by the brief and most personal aside; filming her own earrings in the mirror. They glisten, she turns them, the film rolls on.
Tijana:
Ute is the older cousin you never had, but taught you all about the true values of living. She creates each film thru a mixture of feeling & seeing, while free-floating among people. She is inherently sensitive to both verbal and non-verbal cues, and her portraits of life are filled with love and authenticity. She is forever curious and even more open to new signals and youngsters as we were when we stepped into her heavenly apartment.
Oath:
The soul playing the role of Ute was forged from the ashes of sunflower petals and childhood memories. She holds a Bolex and releases such a clarity + exuberance over the rolling frames, that one’s eyes are cleaned and life’s wonder resurrected. When that 16mm sunshine is projected for the rest of the soul family, as I’ve had the privilege of experiencing both in a large darkened theater and a private DIY space, it’s like an infant child gently reaching out and touching your eyelids, reminding you to open up and feel the purity + joy of simply being.
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