THIS ACTION LIES / SYMPHONY OF THE URSUS FACTORY

The films of James N. Kienitz Wilkins (Indefinite Pitch, RIDM 2016) often stand out for the sharp contrast between the calm sobriety of their images and the freewheeling thinking of the voiceover narrator. The strategy is taken to new heights in this brilliant film. Starting with a static shot of a coffee mug, the filmmaker lets his reflections run wild, a chain of thoughts as diverse as they are unpredictable. The relationship between cinema and time, the quality of a digital film transfer, the steps in making the mug, the current state of the donut chain, the industrialization of the world, the relationship with childhood, the challenges of fatherhood and the meaning of life itself are just some of the topics flowing from a careful observation of a Dunkin’ Donuts mug.

Once a symbol of the golden age of Soviet-bloc farm machinery, the Ursus factory, in Poland, cut loose tend of thousands of employees after the fall of communism. In this collaborative project, former workers were invited by artist Jasmina Wójcik and her team of choreographers and musicians to recreate the motions of a typical workday. In the abandoned buildings, labourers, secretaries and engineers create a breathtaking dance, enhanced by a soundtrack crafted from machine noises, culminating in an unforgettable tractor ballet. This participatory work revives almostforgotten values of solidarity and dignity at work, by having the workers, who once made history, relive their glory days.