We often get stuck in a rhythm, a pattern of movement that keep us in one place, tending to one situation, sometimes far longer than we intend. Whether (im)mobilized by convention or war or occupation, creatures desire movement and change: a push beyond the status quo, a changing of the guard, a revolutionary burst of energy to incite something different and new. In this series of short films, each film uses sound an image to explore the place between life and death, memory and forgetting, war and peace, and stagnation and movement.
Some time after a mysterious weather event caused a cloud of sand from a faraway desert to settle over an unnamed city, this miasma of dust shows no sign of lifting. Clogging up the eyes and choking the horizon, it has become a fact of everyday life. In a nondescript apartment somewhere in the city, a woman convenes a gathering at which a group of young people are present. Like every young generation, they are a repository of hope for the future––albeit a future that seems equally murky and obscured. In Reman Sadani’s film Walkout 1, the assembled young people are also the involuntary subjects of a prophecy, passed down from an elder who was seized by an apparition of a youthful cohort walking ever-upwards towards the clearing sky. To pave the way for the realization of that vision, the protagonists, following the lead of their female instructor, move large quantities of sand into mounds and slopes – each repeated ritual action steadily re-affirming the instructor’s indefatigable faith; each exhortation for greater effort after the latest attempt comes to nothing slowly spreading doubt amongst the group.
Festivals and Awards
Jerwood/FVU Awards 2020: Hindsight, UK, 2020
24HR Artist Livestream for Beirut, Lebanon, 2020
About the filmmaker
Reman Sadani (b. 1995, Yemen) is a London-based Iraqi artist and a graduate of the Slade School of Fine Art. She is a multidisciplinary artist with a focus on film and moving image. Her narratives are often driven by a search for an exit. The physical toll of this constant search manifests in space and performance as the negotiation between the individual and the collective plays out. Recent screenings and group exhibitions include: Independent Iraqi Film Festival, London (2020), Whole Nine Yards (2020), Soundings, Raven Row, London (2019), A Night of Shorts, SET, London (2018), No Screening, IMT Gallery, London (2015).
- Year2020
- Runtime22 minutes
- LanguageEnglish
- CountryIraq, United Kingdom
- DirectorReman Sadani
- ScreenwriterReman Sadani
- ProducerElizabeth Benjamin
- CastMaryam Hashemi, Natasha Patel, Samy Elkhatib, Ahmed Ghozy, Sara Masry
- CinematographerJamie Quantrill
- EditorSergio Vega Borrego, Reman Sadani
- Sound DesignSavanh Phaophanit
- MusicSavanh Phaophanit
We often get stuck in a rhythm, a pattern of movement that keep us in one place, tending to one situation, sometimes far longer than we intend. Whether (im)mobilized by convention or war or occupation, creatures desire movement and change: a push beyond the status quo, a changing of the guard, a revolutionary burst of energy to incite something different and new. In this series of short films, each film uses sound an image to explore the place between life and death, memory and forgetting, war and peace, and stagnation and movement.
Some time after a mysterious weather event caused a cloud of sand from a faraway desert to settle over an unnamed city, this miasma of dust shows no sign of lifting. Clogging up the eyes and choking the horizon, it has become a fact of everyday life. In a nondescript apartment somewhere in the city, a woman convenes a gathering at which a group of young people are present. Like every young generation, they are a repository of hope for the future––albeit a future that seems equally murky and obscured. In Reman Sadani’s film Walkout 1, the assembled young people are also the involuntary subjects of a prophecy, passed down from an elder who was seized by an apparition of a youthful cohort walking ever-upwards towards the clearing sky. To pave the way for the realization of that vision, the protagonists, following the lead of their female instructor, move large quantities of sand into mounds and slopes – each repeated ritual action steadily re-affirming the instructor’s indefatigable faith; each exhortation for greater effort after the latest attempt comes to nothing slowly spreading doubt amongst the group.
Festivals and Awards
Jerwood/FVU Awards 2020: Hindsight, UK, 2020
24HR Artist Livestream for Beirut, Lebanon, 2020
About the filmmaker
Reman Sadani (b. 1995, Yemen) is a London-based Iraqi artist and a graduate of the Slade School of Fine Art. She is a multidisciplinary artist with a focus on film and moving image. Her narratives are often driven by a search for an exit. The physical toll of this constant search manifests in space and performance as the negotiation between the individual and the collective plays out. Recent screenings and group exhibitions include: Independent Iraqi Film Festival, London (2020), Whole Nine Yards (2020), Soundings, Raven Row, London (2019), A Night of Shorts, SET, London (2018), No Screening, IMT Gallery, London (2015).
- Year2020
- Runtime22 minutes
- LanguageEnglish
- CountryIraq, United Kingdom
- DirectorReman Sadani
- ScreenwriterReman Sadani
- ProducerElizabeth Benjamin
- CastMaryam Hashemi, Natasha Patel, Samy Elkhatib, Ahmed Ghozy, Sara Masry
- CinematographerJamie Quantrill
- EditorSergio Vega Borrego, Reman Sadani
- Sound DesignSavanh Phaophanit
- MusicSavanh Phaophanit