How the Room Felt

  • June 25, 2022 / 15:00
  • July 6, 2022 / 19:00

Director: Ketevani Kapanadze
Georgia, 2021, 74', DCP, color
Georgian with Turkish subtitles

In the Georgian city of Kutaisi, a local women’s football club constitutes the heart of a group of female and non-binary queer people, who get together regularly to hang out, to party, to hug each other, and to discuss existential issues. Their gatherings provide a cozy, safe space for these young people in a society that’s not known for embracing its LGBTI+ community. Discrimination, exclusion, and violence are part of the daily reality for these sports enthusiasts and their friends, whether on the streets or, in some cases, within the family. When they’re together, they find the love, warmth, and safety they need to fully be themselves. 

Ketevan Kapanadze doesn’t engage in cheap sentiment in this, her debut film. Neither does she put any particular emphasis on the hostile outside world—although it’s never far away. Her shots focusing on individuals are interspersed with observational scenes of the group as a whole. The director’s camera skims the outer walls of this protective bubble, making palpable the extraordinary atmosphere between the friends—as the mood shifts from celebratory and elated, to intimate and lethargic, to lively with debate.

Young and Wild

Young and Wild

How the Room Felt

How the Room Felt

Swing Ride

Swing Ride

Three Tidy Tigers Tied a Tie Tighter

Three Tidy Tigers Tied a Tie Tighter

The Ottoman Way of Serving Coffee

The Ottoman Way of Serving Coffee

Coffee was served with much splendor at the harems of the Ottoman palace and mansions. First, sweets (usually jam) was served on silverware, followed by coffee serving. The coffee jug would be placed in a sitil (brazier), which had three chains on its sides for carrying, had cinders in the middle, and was made of tombac, silver or brass. The sitil had a satin or silk cover embroidered with silver thread, tinsel, sequin or even pearls and diamonds.

Marcel Duchamp’s Bicycle Wheel

Marcel Duchamp’s Bicycle Wheel

In 1998 Ben Jakober and Yannick Vu collaborated on an obvious remake of Marcel Duchamp’s Roue de Bicyclette, his first “readymade” object. Duchamp combined a bicycle wheel, a fork and a stool to create a machine which served no purpose, subverting accepted norms of art. 

Symbols

Symbols

Pera Museum’s Cold Front from the Balkans exhibition curated by Ali Akay and Alenka Gregorič brings together contemporary artists from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia.