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Ela Kazdal is an artist and filmmaker based in London. She is a video editor at MUBI.
She has presented her films at Salt Beyoğlu in Istanbul, Æden in Berlin, Everyman Cinema, Firstsite, Fabrica Gallery, Royal College of Art in the UK and the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) in the Netherlands.
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if you seek amy2024 | Turkey & UK | 16mm & 35mm film transferred to video | 2 minutes
if you seek amy is an experimental film made on 16mm and 35mm film, using vinyl stickers, photograms and lace. Subjecting recognisable faces to poor image-making processes, the film utilises 2000s pop music videos, particularly moments in which the singers are looking directly at the camera. Drawing on Vertical Roll (1972) by Joan Jonas, the images roll out from the screen, torn and abstracted.
World Premiere as part of Short & Mid Programme at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR)
"The seductive gazes with which Fergie, Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, Beyoncé and Katy Perry once pierced the camera, reach us through a whirlwind of reproduction and deformation. Their images deconstructed so far that halftone dots become visible, their iconic Y2K pop hits collapsed into faintly recognisable reverberations. Using 16 and 35mm film, vinyl stickers, photograms and lace, Ela Kazdal dissects the pop star as media object, tracing its allure through layers of distortion and decay.”
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Loes van Keulen