0116643225059 / La Cienaga (M+2016)

0116643225059 (1994)
5 min, Thai, DCP, Thailand, Category: I
Two images flicker back and forth—a photograph of director Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s mother and his own apartment in Chicago—to the rhythm of a phone conversation between the two. The photographs and the telephone are the only ways in which he can connect with his mum, whom he misses.
Director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
La Ciénaga (2001)
105 min, Spanish with English subtitles, Digital, Argentina
Every February, Mecha and her cousin Tali bring their large families to a vacation home on the edge of a swamp. The adults pass the days with alcohol and sunshine, seemingly unaware of the family’s declining fortunes. Relationships become fraught as they seek to protect the illusions of their middle-class lives, and the children seem to live in a state of anarchic lawlessness in which unlicensed driving and random bullet wounds are nothing unusual. Their indigenous servants are faithful in their duties, but they nonetheless face groundless accusations from their employers. This strange and lifeless family comes to resemble the swamp they live beside, shrouded in haze and hot gases. Director: Lucrecia Martel