Shutdown Program #9

Radu Ciorniciuc, Acasa, My Home
STREAMING
December 7–10, 2020
ONLINE CONVERSATION
Monday, December 2020, 7 pm
with Radu Ciorniciuc, Lina Vdovil, Ümit Uludag, Ülkü Süngün
Registration and vimeolink at
ruehl(at)wkv-stuttgart.de

From December 7 to 10, 2020, the Württembergischer Kunstverein will stream Radu Ciorniciucs' highly acclaimed film Acasa, My Home from 2020, as part of its Shutdown Program. On Monday, December 7, 2020, there will also be an opportunity to watch the film together and take part in a subsequent discussion between the director, Ciorniciuc, the co-author, Lina Vdovîi, the producer of the film, Ümit Uludag, and the artist Ülkü Süngün.

Süngün has curated a series of events that will address the questions of the current–unfortunately closed–exhibition of the Kunstverein, Actually, the Dead Are Not Dead: Una forma de ser. The aim is to discuss current forms and practices of discrimination against as well as emancipation of the Roma*nja and Sinti*zze. Further information on the serief of events will follow soon.

Those interested in the film's streaming and / or the online discussion are required to register at ruehl(at)wkv-stuttgart.de.

Acasa, My Home, 2020, 86'
For two decades, the Enache family lived in harmony with nature in a disused water reservoir just five kilometers from Bucharest. With the skyscrapers of the big city in sight, the nine children and their parents follow the rhythm of nature: they sleep in a hut on the lakeside and catch fish with their bare hands. When the area is suddenly declared a nature reserve, the Rom*nja are forced to leave their unconventional life behind and move to the city. While the nine children and their parents try to adapt to modern civilization, each family member begins to question his place in the world and his future.
Acasa, My Home is the debut feature documentary film by director and investigative reporter Radu Ciorniciuc. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2020 and won Best Cinematography. Acasa, My Home received twenty other international awards and is now nominated for the European Film Award.

Director's statement
"The harmonious bond with nature and the difficulties of the Enache’s wild lifestyle dictated the social dynamics inside the family. The bond between the members was not only forged by love, but also by their will to stay alive. Only by working and being together could the family survive in that harsh environment. This was their shield against the dangers coming from inside and outside the Delta.
But independence is a core value of how our society sees the social integration process. Very soon after moving to the city, the family members learned that the opportunities of having a comfortable life can only be reached by becoming independent. Living or working together was not an option anymore especially for the family’s youngsters. They had lesser difficulties than their parents to adapt to the new reality and were more willing to succeed as integrated citizens.
The film is built around one family’s drama and, keeping the proportions, around one of modern man’s biggest dilemmas: to go back to nature, where life is free but harsh without the benefits of civilization? Or to be part of a society that offers opportunities of a comfortable life, but only to those who are willing to embrace the pressures that come with comfort?

Visual approach
The most important aspect of my approach for shooting this film was to build trust with the Enache’s. The last three years I’ve spent with them gave me intimate access to the family. This was crucial for creating, inside the film, the feeling of being a close family member - something that I want the audience to experience as well: the experience of an assimilated witness to an initiating journey - without making the family look vulnerable, but equal human beings passing through a complicated period of their lives.
In order to create this feeling of familiarity and home, the camera is always shooting at the eye level of the characters and at close distances, especially when highly emotional events are taking place.
In the first two parts of the film, where most of the action is taking place in the wilderness, the shootings are done hand held, but the camera movements are slow and steady, creating a feeling of being grounded in the natural environment.
When the family moves into the city, the key scenes are shot on a tripod, and the compositions become more linear, in order to illustrate the rigors and formalities of life in civilization." Radu Ciorniciuc

Radu Ciorniciuc
Radu Ciorniciuc is a Romanian film director, cameraman and investigative reporter. He focuses on human rights, environment and animal welfare. In 2012 he co-founded Casa Jurnalistului, the first independent media organization in Romania.

Lina Vdovîi
Lina Vdovîi is an award-winning independent reporter from Moldova, based in Romania, with experience in investigative and narrative journalism and new media. She is co-writer of Acasa, My Home.

Ümit Uludag
Ümit Uludag is co-producer of Acasa, My Home. Since 2017 Uludag has been managing the Stuttgart office of the production company CORSO Film.

Ülkü Süngün
Ülkü Süngün is an artist from Stuttgart. In her work, she critically examines identity and migration politics through various media such as sculpture, installation or lecture performances, and conducts artistic research with her process-open and collaborative approach.

All dates of the series of conversations About Local and Global Structures of Antiziganism

Radu Ciorniciuc, Filmemacher
Acasa, My Home
STREAMING
December 7–10, 2020
ONLINE LECTURE + TALK
Monday, December 7, 2020, 7 pm
With Radu Ciorniciuc, Lina Vdovil, Ümit Uludag and Ülkü Süngün
Language English

Verena Lehman, co-founder of the Sinti-Roma-Pride initiative
#dasdenkmalbleibt (The Monument Remains)Program #11
ONLINE LECTURE + TALK
Friday, January 29, 2021, 7 pm
With Verena Lehmann and Ülkü Süngün
Language: German

Frank Reuter, Research Center Antiziganism, University Heidelberg
Der selektive Blick (The Selective Gaze)Program #12
ONLINE LECTURE + TALK
Wednesday, February 10, 2021, 7 pm
With Frank Reuter, Robert Gabris and Ülkü Süngün
Language: German

Mehmet Daimagüler, lawyer (among others NSU victim advocate), Chana Dischereit, State Association of German Sinti and Roma Baden-Württemberg
Program #13Neue Radikalität, alte Ressentiments im Ländle (New Radicalism, Old Resentments in Ländle)
ONLINE LECTURE + TALK
Wednesday, March 17, 2021, 7 pm
With Mehmet Daimagüler, Chana Dischereit and Ülkü Süngün
Language: German