Screening
The Feminine Desert
Ben Rivers film cycle
Saturday 25 November 2023 • 2:30 PM
Jeu de Paume – Paris
With an introduction of author Xiaolu Guo. With Ben Rivers and Antoine Thirion.
films screened
Mohammed Mrabet
2015, 16 mm, colour, sound, 18 mins, original version, English subtitles
The Sky Trembles and the Earth Is Afraid and the Two Eyes Are Not Brothers
2015, digital, colour, sound, 96 mins, original version, English subtitles
The Sky Trembles… is an epic and labyrinthine film vacillating between documentary, fiction, and fable. While filming against the stunning backdrop of the Atlas Mountains and the surreal, austere emptiness of the Moroccan Sahara, a director embarks on a dangerous, hallucinatory adventure, marked by cruelty, madness, and malevolence. But what is reality? This feature film in the form of a feverish dream takes its inspiration from the writings of Paul Bowles, whose friend and collaborator, storyteller Mohammed Mrabet, was also filmed by Ben Rivers.