Preceded by Diana's Looking Glass

Artists in Person

(Inventario balcanico). Comprised of images shot by amateur photographers and German soldiers in the Balkans from the twenties through the forties, Balkan Inventory was begun by Gianikian and Ricci Lucchi in response to the tragedy unfolding in the former Yugoslavia. They looked for images, as they note, "for a film that celebrates life over conflict and division. History perceived from a private, intimate point of view, history with a small h, starting from the 'bottom,' from details.... A work of analysis, based on formats no longer used, that are no longer even projectable, to make indestructible the memories preserved in the images we have found..." Deborah Young wrote in Variety: "Grotesque carnival masks, the imploring eyes of children, farmers and carpet dealers, churches, mosques, and fortresses speak powerfully of a region tragically destroyed by foreign powers, its people uprooted. The effect is greatly heightened by the ominous swell of Djivan Gasparyan's music."

Music by Djivan Gasparyan. (62 mins, Tinted, 35mm, From the artists)

Diana's Looking Glass (Lo Specchio di Diana), (Yervant Gianikian, Angela Ricci Lucchi, Italy, 1996). In a Mussolini-initiated project spanning 1926 to 1940, Lake Nemi is drained to recover two of Caligula's boats. Gianikian and Ricci Lucchi use this footage to mark the imperial origins of fascism. (31 mins, Video, From MoMA Circulating Film Library)