The newborns, and two furnaces for udarnik Josip Trojko

In the context of the exhibition ten thousand wiles and a hundred thousand tricks, the curators what, how & for whom/who are presenting the following screening program:

The newborns by Kianoush Ayari 1979, Farsi with English subtitles, 45’

Kianoush Ayari is a film director, producing both documentaries and feature films. The newborns captures the vibrancy of the every day on the streets of Teheran immediately after the Iranian revolution of 1979. Shots of impassioned street discussions, revolutionary theater, and distribution of political pamphlets, are interspersed with everyday scenes of leisure, showing the optimism and commitment permeating the public sphere. Ending with the announcement of the new constitution that will lead to the foundation of the Islamic Republic of Iran the film documents a political limbo in which public space becomes an arena in which short-lasting promises of social transformation and revolutionary potential just before they are violently interrupted.

Two furnaces for udarnik Josip Trojko by Goran Dević 2012, Croatian with English subtitles, 32’

Two furnaces for udarnik (shock worker) Josip Trojko portrays the remains of the Sisak ironworks. during the socialist era, it employed fourteen thousand people and was a role model of industrialization whose workers repeatedly broke steel production world records. the film is dedicated to Josip Trojko, a ‘shock worker’ who during the glorious days of the ironworks regularly exceeded his production quota. Nowadays, the former ironworks represents a sort of “Croatia in a nutshell” marked by the ugly side effects of ‘transition’, such as pauperization and deindustrialization. Contrasting archival audio and film recordings (speeches by Yugoslav president Josip Broz Tito, television and radio programs, etc.) the film centers on the destruction process of the once-famous siemens-martin furnace, now being dismantled by the workers’ sons.