
2024
LEXICON OF Invasiveness
This short film revitalises the herbarium, transforming it from a static archive into a platform for questioning our relationship with the plant world.
Inspired by research into the politicisation of nature through botanical language, the film explores the concept of ‘invasive species’ by studying the fascinating flora along the Bidasoa River and border area. It delves into the limitations of scientific language, particularly its Western bias, and exposes how naming practices can perpetuate violence in our understanding of the environment. Through this exploration, it reveals connections between these labels and broader concepts of colonialism and migration. This restructuring invites viewers to question the very notion of ‘invasive’ and consider the resilience of these plants.
The film uses the unique aesthetic of the herbarium archives: the meticulous plates, the intricate labelling, to create a visually captivating narrative. This aesthetic is interwoven with a fascinating mix of moving images, evocative sound design and the tactile textures of the herbarium itself. The film goes beyond the herbarium archive to explore issues of migration, borders and the limitations we impose on the natural world, to re-imagine boundaries. By generating discussion on these issues, the film ultimately aims to encourage a new way of looking at the non-human world, promoting a deeper understanding and appreciation for the interconnectedness of all life forms.
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KARLA CRNCEVIC (Croatia)
She is a filmmaker and artist, with an MA in dramaturgy from ADU (Zagreb) and a MA in Creative Writing from EQZE (San Sebastian). She has worked as a playwright, filmmaker and journalist in various modes of production. Her video works have been exhibited in different international galleries. The film Wild Flowers was screened at more than 50 festivals, including FidMarseille (Marseille), Dokufest (Prizren) and L'Alternativa (Barcelona). In May, the national premiere of her first feature-length documentary ‘Ground where we stand’ took place at the Subversive Film Festival in Zagreb, Croatia. She is finishing another short film, ‘The Radiant Hill’, which is currently in post-production. She is one of the founders of Kino Unseen, an itinerant cinema working on the revitalisation of cinematic spaces in the Balkan region since the 1990s. Her main topics of interest are the borders of territories, language, identity and memory as a place of speculation. He has a deep interest in documentary and experimental cinema, and is constantly searching for new languages within these genres.