SWATCH ART PEACE HOTEL partner of “WELCOME TO SOCOTRA” – FELTRINELLI FOUNDATION
In the year of its 10th anniversary, the Swatch Art Peace Hotel came all the way from Shanghai to Milan (Italy) to take part in the first edition of “Welcome to Socotra”, the festival of performing arts organized by the Feltrinelli Foundation.
By curating a film section within the festival, from June 11th to July 24th the Swatch Art Peace Hotel investigated the themes of diversity and inclusion – focus of the initiative – and presented the works of 5 filmmakers and video artists, all of them former artists-in-residents in Shanghai:
Pedro Collantes (Spain), Kitty Von-Sometime (Iceland), Michael Maurissens (Danmark), Elinor Nechemya (Israel) and Liu Bohao (China) as well as an installation created by former artist-in-residence Cecilia Jansson installed at the Fondazione Feltrinelli.
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Find out more about 'Welcome to Socotra' on the festival's website.
Pedro Collantes: Ato San Nen (Spain / France 2018, o. v. with English subtitles)
Synopsis
Marisa is a widow who lives alone with her dog Tico. One day, she receives the unexpected visit of Hiroshi, a Japanese gentleman who claims to be friends with her son. Despite the absence of a common language, Hiroshi and Marisa try to communicate with each other. Official selection for César Award for best short film 2019. Pedro’s latest film L’Arte de volver has been presented at the 2020 Venice Film Festival.
Discover the trailer of Ato San Nen.
Pedro Collantes was artist-in-residence at the Swatch Art Peace Hotel from 01.03.2013 to 04.06.2013
Kitty Von-Sometime: Selection from the project “The Weird Girls” (Iceland, ongoing)
Synopsis
An art film series focused on women’s figure and female body diversity. The project uses voluntary individuals: women are varying in ages, backgrounds and experience, and are unaware of any part of the plan until they turn up. The project consists in different episodes underlining the variety of shapes and sizes in female bodies and focuses on how women react and improvise, learning about their power of self combined with the strength of coming together as a group.
Discover the complete project on the artist's website.
Kitty Von-Sometime was artist-in-residence at the Swatch Art Peace Hotel from 24.09.2012 to 14.12.2012
Michael Maurissens: Prayana (Belgium, o. v. with English subtitles)
Synopsis
«Sex is what you are born with, gender is what you recognize and sexuality is what you discover.»
Words of a Hijra
For generations, our limited understanding of sexual orientation and gender fluidity has tampered with our idea of equality and freedom. ‘Prayana’ portrays, in an intimate and evocative way, the arduous journeys of members of the Indian transgender community and addresses the struggles of gender dysphoria and conventional mindsets.
Michael Maurissens was artist-in-residence at the Swatch Art Peace Hotel from 10.01.2015 to 12.04.2015
Elinor Nechemya: Our hearts beat like war (Israel, o. v. with English subtitles)
Synopsis
With his eyes in a fantasy book and his ears to the horrific testimony of an Eritrean refugee, 9-year-old Sinai falls asleep at his mother's workplace, and his mind drifts away. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2020.
Watch the trailer here.
Elinor Nechemya was artist-in-residence at the Swatch Art Peace Hotel from 06.08.2017 to 29.10.2017
Liu Bohao: Eagles rest in Liangshan (China, o.v. with English subtitles)
Synopsis
Inspired by his icon Kobe Bryant’s Mamba Mentality, a young Yi man “Black Eagle” returns to his city halfway up a mountain in Liangshan (China) to coach kids basketball.
Liu Bohao is an artist-in-residence at the Swatch Art Peace Hotel from April 6 to July21. 2021.
Cecilia Jansson (Sweden): Jinmai series
In addition to filmmakers shown above, the Swatch Art Peace Hotel also presented the installation by the Swedish artist Cecilia Jansson, realized during the artist’s residency in Shanghai.
Jinmai series, this the title of the installation, wants to represent the identity of some workers at a traditional printing house in Jinmai-Suzhou using a typical material of Chinese tradition: silk.
Cecilia Jansson was artist-in-residence from 8.03.2014 to 31.08.2014
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