QUICKSILVER CHRONICLES
Ben Guez, Sasha Kulak | USA, Russia 2019 | 75 Min. | OmeU
Austrian Premiere
During the big gold rush in central California, the New Idria Mining Company opened the second biggest quicksilver mine in the USA. In the 1970s, when the mining company finally shut down, it left behind a contaminated region. In the following years, three locals dreamed of creating an ideal society as an alternative to the American dream. Kate, her brother Kemp and the photographer Tom are still living in the bleak landscape and chase their philosophical goals and the ideological glamour of past days in their bizarre conversations. All the while observing the world outside through their TVs.
Quicksilver Chronicles follows the residents in their quest to find out how differing life plans in neoliberal times could be shaped and introduces us to a force of friendship and visions of youthful enthusiasm, that reverberates long after the 1970s.
Director: Ben Guez, Sasha Kulak
Camera and Sound: Sasha Kulak, Jim Keaveny, Kemp Woods
Editing: Ben Guez, Sasha Kulak
Producer: Misha MacLaird
Screenings
Visions du Réel (World, International premiere) , Switzerland; Moscow International Film Festival, Russia; Guanajuato International Film Festival Expresion en Corto, Mexico; Russian Film Festival Okno Filmfest, Russia (Main Prize; Diploma of the Guild of Film Critics of Russia); Moscow Youth Film Festival Budem Fest, Russia (Diploma); International Documentary Film Festival Flahertiana, Russia; International Film Festival Listapad, Belarus; Bogota International Documentary Film Festival, Colombia; Pravo Ljudski Film Festival Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina; Russian Film Festival Sputnik, Russia (Diploma; Russian National Award Laurel Branch Award, Russia
Biography Ben Guez
Guez was born in 1983 in the Soviet Union and at the age of nine immigrated to Chicago. After graduating with a degree in history and Latin American studies from the University of Arizona in 2006, he resumed his documentation and research of large metropolises and isolated communities in the Americas. His last two short films “The Memory of Turtles” and “Valentina” participated in numerous festivals worldwide.
Biography Sasha Kulak
Kulak is from Vitebsk, Belarus. Curator and media artist whose works includes documentaries / video / fashion / music / photography. In 2015, graduated from Saint-Petersburg University Culture and Arts, then from the department of cinematography at the Moscow School of New Cinema.
