Pera Film’s Not In this Life: Metaphysics and Cinema program, presented in the context of Pera Museum’s Giorgio de Chirico: The Enigma of the World explores the relationship between the cinematic and the philosophical, the fundamental nature of being and the world that encompasses it. The selected films bring together unusual stories exploring the nature of dreams, consciousness, existentialism, free will, our relations with others, and mainly the meaning of life. Though the program mostly underlines more recent independent productions, it also includes Richard Linklater’s 2001 made Waking Life, a film that embraces an idealistic search for the philosophical. Famed actor Ryan Gosling’s directorial debut work Lost River is a surreal tale about the housing market crash in the United States. Often mentioned alongside Ingmar Bergman, master director Roy Andersson’s A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence provides an insight into a chaotic world of the present, past and future. The One I Love on the other hand in Roger Ebert’s words is a romance and a mystery and a drama, with really only two characters in it, characters who are sketches approximating human beings, but played with sadness and humor by the two lead actors. Why Can't I Be Tarkovsky? embraces the main character as he stands between his dreams and the real, under tragicomic conditions. Inspired by Twilight Zone, Coherence is an engaging low-budget sci-fi without a script, that employs improvisation. A Norwegian film Blind entails a surreal atmosphere, sparse dialogue and humour, not just on seeing and blindness, but also on solitude and writing. A coming-of-age werewolf tale, When Animals Dream tells the story of a teenage girl whose sexual awakening unleashes something primal within, revealing a dark family secret. Both gripping and boundary pushing, Upstream Color is a hallucinatory cinematic experience that goes in search of truths that lie just beyond our reach. Piercing Brightness by visual artist Shezad Dawood, uses the popular genre of science fiction, as well as the dynamic hybrid of the narrative feature and the experimental. Artist Marcos Lutyens’s short film Time Lapsus visually demonstrated a set of mirrored narratives. Complementing this fiction selection, the documentary Lightning explores the nature of lightning through four seasons from all over the world.
Carlo Rovelli, a theoretical physicist elegantly points out that there is one issue in particular regarding ourselves which often leaves us perplexed: “what does it mean, our being free to make decisions, if our behavior does nothing but follow the predetermined laws of nature? Is there not perhaps a contradiction between our feeling of freedom and the rigor, as we now understand it, with which things operate in the world?” Not In this Life: Metaphysics and Cinema attests these queries through a broad scope of visually captivating stories.
April 2
19:00 Lost River
April 3
14:00 The One I Love
16:00 Blind
18:00 A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence
April 6
19:00 The One I Love
April 20
16:30 Lightning 1st Part
19:00 Lightning 2nd Part
April 21
19:00 Coherence
April 22
19:00 Upstream Color
21:00 Piercing Brightness
Time Lapsus
April 23
18:00 Waking Life
April 27
17:00 When Animals Dream
19:00 A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence
21:00 Piercing Brightness
April 29
16:30 Lightning 1st Part
19:00 Lightning 2nd Part
21:00 Why Can't I Be Tarkovsky?
April 30
17:00 Upstream Color
19:00 Piercing Brightness
Time Lapsus
May 4
19:00 Lost River
May 6
16:00 When Animals Dream
May 7
19:00 Blind
May 8
14:00 Why Can't I Be Tarkovsky?
16:00 When Animals Dream
18:00 Coherence
May 11
19:00 Waking Life
April 2
19:00 Lost River
April 3
14:00 The One I Love
16:00 Blind
18:00 A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence
April 6
19:00 The One I Love
April 20
16:30 Lightning 1st Part
19:00 Lightning 2nd Part
April 21
19:00 Coherence
April 22
19:00 Upstream Color
21:00 Piercing Brightness
Time Lapsus
April 23
18:00 Waking Life
April 27
17:00 When Animals Dream
19:00 A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence
April 29
16:30 Lightning 1st Part
19:00 Lightning 2nd Part
21:00 Why Can't I Be Tarkovsky?
April 30
17:00 Upstream Color
19:00 Piercing Brightness
Time Lapsus
May 4
19:00 Lost River
May 7
19:00 Blind
May 8
14:00 Why Can't I Be Tarkovsky?
16:00 When Animals Dream
18:00 Coherence
May 11
19:00 Waking Life
José Sancho does not conceal the voluptuousness of his female torsos; he highlights it. These torsos are symmetrical from front, but on the other hand, from the side, the juxtaposition of concave and convex forms creates dynamism.
While Paula Rego belatedly was recognised as one of the leading feminist pioneers of her age, little has been written about her exploration of fluid sexuality. Indeed the current of sado-masochism in her drawings and paintings, has tended to encourage an understanding as a classic clash between the patriarchy and exploited women.
The Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation’s Orientalist Painting Collection includes two children’s portraits that are often featured in exhibitions on the second floor of the Pera Museum. These portraits both date back to the early 20th century, and were made four years apart. One depicts Prince Abdürrahim Efendi, son of Sultan Abdulhamid II, while the figure portrayed on the other is Nazlı, the daughter of Osman Hamdi Bey.
Tuesday - Saturday 10:00 - 19:00
Friday 10:00 - 22:00
Sunday 12:00 - 18:00
The museum is closed on Mondays.
On Wednesdays, the students can
visit the museum free of admission.
Full ticket: 200 TL
Discounted: 100 TL
Groups: 150 TL (minimum 10 people)
