Among Houses and the Cosmos

synopsis

In this sensual film essay, the director has assembled her experiences with rituals in various corners of the world, from Europe across Africa to Latin America. The close interaction of the camera with bodies moving in trances encourages active involvement in the frenzied moments in which people lose themselves in Dionysian intoxication. These moments serve the filmmaker to obliterate the distance between the individual and the collective, personal and foreign, internal and external. The film, however, attaches a political meaning to the rituals, or rather shows how uprooted cultures cope with their minority status through rituals, or even turn it to their favor.

“I felt the urgency to work with video footage from years of different travels. During editing, I found myself thinking about the human necessity to impose meaningful patterns on life and being.” Koštana Banović

biography

Koštana Banović (1960) is a filmmaker and visual artist of Bosnian origin. In her work, she blurs the border between documentary, video art, and visual anthropology. The central theme of her work is the rituals of indigenous cultures, which she has researched during her extensive travels throughout the world. An eloquent example of her work is May I Enter (2010), in which she follows contemporary Afro-Brazilian religious practices.

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