Of Utopias and Fireworks

The films and expanded cinema of Ana Vaz speculate on the relationship with ‘the other’, the planet and history through what she calls ‘quasi anthropological fictions’. Based on material found and filmed, it combines ethnography and speculation, exploring the frictions and fictions printed on the cultivated and wild environments and their multiple inhabitants. From the already past future of Brasilia to representative places of the Anthropocene such as Brazil’s huge plantations or Fukushima. Vaz will screen four of his recent films: Atomic Garden (2018), Há Terra! (2016), Occidente (2014) and A Idade da Pedra (2013); followed by a talk between her and the curator of the project Rosa Lleó.

Ana Vaz (Brasilia, 1986) has recently shown her films at Tate Modern (London), Tabakalera (San Sebastián), New York Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and Cinéma du Réel (Paris) – where she was awarded the Grand Prix for Ha Terra! –. Her work has been shown in group exhibitions such as the Moscow Biennial of Young Art, Videobrasil and Dhaka Art Summit. She won the Kazuko Trust Award presented by the Lincoln Center Film Society in recognition of artistic excellence and innovation for her work on the moving image, and has recently been included in the collection of the CNAP (Centre National des Arts Plastiques).