Coming to NYC’s DCTV Presents series tonight, Monday, June 11:
ALL THAT PASSES BY THROUGH A WINDOW THAT DOESN’T OPEN
Director:
Martin DiCicco
Premiere:
Visions du Réel 2017
Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, Camden, Dokufest, RIDM, Art of the Real, Taiwan Doc, Docaviv, DOK.fest Munich, Thessaloniki Doc, Cinema Verite,
About:
A meditative look at the construction of a Central Asian railway line doubles as a consideration of the impact of a long dispute between neighboring lands.
DiCicco’s artfully constructed, leisurely-paced film is split into three sections: the first and longest one focuses on railway construction workers in Azerbaijan, a makeshift family that toils, eats, and dances together, and bemoans the fact that while well-paid, they haven’t actually received their funds in months. The second and much shorter section brings the viewer to Armenia, and specifically to a long-shuttered train station, a victim of the 1993 Turkish/Armenian border closing that has economically devastated the town. Here, the stationmaster and his small crew keep showing up to work despite the lack of anything to do. Finally, the very short final section takes the perspective of a train passenger, simply watching the landscape go by, as reflected in the project’s evocative title.
what (not) to doc 