Solaris

A sensory ethnography of a hidden reality behind a postsocialist euphoria 

2015, 25 min.

“The world is flesh.“

Synopsis

The film exposes the closing hours and nighttime heartbeat of Tallinn shopping mall – a place built to entertain and mirror the world. The ambiguity of the camera gaze and the immersive soundscape will confront a viewer with a raw materiality of fleeting encounters, circulatory systems and a gradually transforming atmosphere.

The dialogue-free sensory ethnography will invite you to question the limit between the body and the world in one of the most vibrant urban ecosystems.

Academic context

The methods of anthropological enquiry were based on theories of radical empiricism (Jackson), non-representative scholarship (Ingold, Thrift, Latour) and school of new thoughts in ethnographic filmmaking – sensory ethnography (MacDougall, Pink, Taylor).

The film is inspired by the phenomenology of architecture developed by Finnish architect Juhani Pallasmaa who perceives the environment and human consciousness as inseparable spaces.

Technical Specifications

• Original Title: Solaris
• Country of production: Estonia
• Runtime: 25 min.
• Format: 1.78:1 Full HD / DCP
• Sound: stereo / 5.1 surround sound
• Subs: none

Film Crew

• Camera, directing and editing: Pavel Borecký
• Location sound and sound design: Kevin Molloy
• Editing consultant: Martin Männik
• Academic supervisors: Carlo Cubero, Kersti Uibo, Riho Västrik

Production

School of Humanities of Tallinn University, Baltic Film and Media School of Tallinn University

Festival selections:

• Apricot Tree Ethnographic Film Festival – Competition – Armenia
• Ethnocineca – Competition – Austria
• Freiburg Student Film Forum – Germany
• Festival do Filme Etnográfico do Recife – Brasil
• Athens Ethnographic Film Festival – Greece
• Moscow Festival of Visual Anthropology – Russia
• Days of Ethnographic Cinema – Russia
• Days of Ethnographic Film – Slovenia
• World Film Festival – Estonia
• Etnofilm – Croatia
• Etnoff – Macedonia

Conferences:

• SIEF Congress: Ways of Dwelling, Crisis – Craft – Creativity (Germany)
• Post-future? Rethinking Postsocialism in Central Eastern Europe (Poland)
• IUAES World Congress (Brasil)

Full film and Trailer

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