to be and to sit

to be and to sit

It is an airport which manifests the arrival of five people which from there on are accompanied by the Super 8 camera. The gaze into the camera goes through different phases. First the counter look as a defense, then - as a dialogue -
a gaze united with the camera. The form of direct defense declines increasingly, until to the point where two of the protagonists are literally drifting.

The observed person becomes his own camera. Due to the mode of shooting used there is no acoustics and thus both, the gazing as well as the sitting become the "I". If the "I" usually arises out of the habit of saying "I", we have to look closer here, because without sound, the "I" is much less an object. Here it is on a journey: our own gazing (and sitting) is based on the experiences of the director. At the same time it is based on the experiences of the people on screen.
And those turning away are nevertheless still gazing somewhere else.
(Claudia Siefen)