Mythical Creatures of Forgotten Pasts
The Tower of Crossed Destinies: Mythical Creatures of Forgotten Pasts
A forbidden love, a trip back home and a filmmaker's quest to capture a mythical bird on film.
This programme of short films conjures mythical creatures through personal stories shaped by grief, yearning, and the desire to connect with the imperceptible, the invisible in the darkness and what has been lost.
The film will be introduced by Alicia Bergamelli (Programmers of the Future 2025)
Programme
The Gossips of the Cicadidae (Alingasngas ng mga Kuliglig) (Vahn Leinard Pascual, PH 2022, 18’)
Forced by his father to become the next folk healer of their town, a boy secretly despises his conventional, boring life, not until he falls in love with a Tikbalang, a Philippine mythical humanoid creature that has the head and hooves of a horse.
Kwaku Ananse (Akosua Adoma Owusu, GH/US 2013, 26’)
Drawing upon the rich mythology of Ghana, this short film combines semi-autobiographical elements from the filmmaker’s life with local folklore to tell the story of a young American woman who returns to West Africa for her father’s funeral, only to discover his hidden double identity. Overwhelmed by the funeral, she retreats to the spirit world in search of Kwaku Ananse.
Vampire (Sud Vikal) (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, TH 2008, 19’)
Somewhere along the border of Thailand and Burma lives a creature called Nok Phii, Ghost Bird, or at least there used to. A film crew go in search of this rare bird, which feeds on the blood of other creatures.
This is part of
Details
Production year
2025
Length
73 min.
Event language
English
Country
NL
Part of
Programmers of the Future 2025
Three new Programmers of the Future present their film programmes in Eye Filmmuseum this July. With films about the magic of a spontaneous encounter in a public space, about folklore, fairy tales and mythology, and about memory as an act of resistance.
Eye Film Player
On the Eye Film Player, you can also enjoy beautifully restored versions of early cinema trick films from the Eye collection, featuring the famous fairies — tiny cinematic gems in their own right, restored by Eye curator Elif Rongen-Kaynakçi. The films will be available from 15 July.
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