Coming to NYC’s Rooftop Films this Friday, June 13: THE SEARCH FOR EMAK BAKIA
Oskar Alegria’s Man Ray-inspired journey debuted at BAFICI in 2012. It’s gone on to screen at Edinburgh, Telluride, San Sebastian, DocLisboa, Morelia, RIDM, Ambulante, San Francisco, DocAviv, DOXA, EDOC, and Sydney, among others.
Avant-garde artist Man Ray’s short film poem, EMAK-BAKIA, was shot in Biarritz in 1926. Despite the literal translation of its Basque title – “leave me alone” – the film so captivates Alegria that he instead sets out to get closer to it, attempting to pin down its origins out of rumors and legends. In a literal sense, the filmmaker seeks out the undisclosed location of the house where Man Ray shot the film, but in his research, allows curiosity to lead him to tangential asides, some generating unusual surprises, but many amounting to nothing useful in a concrete sense, which nevertheless inform his understanding of – or better yet, serve to evoke – the elusive artist and his work. The resulting project is a strangely charming realization of the timeworn adage that it’s not the destination, but the journey, that proves more edifying.
what (not) to doc 