DÉPLOIEMENTS
A film by Stéphanie Lagarde
2018 | French | 16 min | Digital Video | Color | Stereo | 25fps
Déploiements zooms in on the state’s practice of control by drawing a parallel between two types of simulation: a team of fighter pilots fully immersed in a mental simulation of an air show, and a piece of software that predicts the behaviour of a crowd of protesters. The Patrouille de France is the precision aerobatic demonstration unit of the French Air Force. It represents their engagement in domestic security and military operations abroad. We see its best fighter pilots engaged in subtle hand gestures and coded words, mentally preparing for the big show. Juxtaposed are images of police software used to study crowd control strategies in urban environments.The fictional protest space appears as a reduced version of the nation’s territory, as the patriotic airshow appears as a mirror of (potential) ground operations. Issues of identity and identification of citizens arise in the perimeters of the demonstration, the city and the country. Flag-coloured smoke demarcates the state's airspace, imprinting its military agility into the minds of citizens whose movement is strategically restricted by police formations. Both the State forces and the protesters adopt a strategy oscillating between visibility and invisibility. Power, it seems, is a game of being seen and being invisible: being present and being absent at the right moment.
Awards:
2019 First Prize in the International Competition at Short Waves Film Festival, Polzan (PL)
2019 First Prize in the International Competition at BIEFF, Bucharest (RO)
Screenings:
2018 The State is not a Work of Art - Tallinn Art Hall, Tallinn, Estonia.
2018 Unfair18 - Westergasfabriek, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2018 Under Pressure: On Forms of Authority and Decision-Making Power, Q21 exhibition space/MuseumsQuartier Wien, Vienna (AT)
2018 Talent Competition - Documentary and Animated Film, DokLeipzig, Leipzig (DE)
2018 Kassel Documentary Film and Video Festival, Kassel (DE)
2018 November Film Festival, London (UK)
2018 Festival Internacional de Cine de Gijón, Gijón (SP)
2018 International Short Film Festival Zubroffka, Bialystok (PL)
2019 Videonale, Bonn (DE)
2018 Lumière curated by Video Power: Influx - Lumière, Maastricht (NL)
2019 Transmediale, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (DE)
2019 Group Show at Galerie im Körnerpark, Berlin (DE)
2019 International Competition at Short Waves Film Festival, Polzan (PL)
2019 Dortmund | Cologne International Women's Film Festival, Dortmund/Cologne (DE)
2019 European Media Art Fair (EMAF), Osnabrück (DE)
2019 Full Moon #3: dance dance revolution - FC Hyena, Amsterdam (NL)
2019 Filmnight #4: Working Systems - Kunsthaus Basel - Basel (CH)
2019 Limited Access 8 Festival for Moving Images, Sound & Performance - Bidar School for Art and Literature, Tehran (IR)
2019 Berlin Atonal Festival 2019, Berlin (DE)
2019 Nominated to Discovery Award - LOOP Barcelona (SP)
2019 Front Row Festival, Amsterdam (NL)
2019 WNDX Festival of Moving Image, Winnipeg (CA)
2019 International Competition - Bucharest International Experimental Film Festival (BIEFF), Bucharest (RO)
2019 New Aesthetics - KFFK, Köln (DE)
2019 Mirage competition for International Experimental Short Films, Bejing International Short Film Festival, Bejing (CN)
