Close Encounter September 20–30, 2018

Istanbul Modern Cinema presents a program inspired by the bodies of sculptures in Anthony Cragg’s “Human Nature” exhibition. Close Encounter consists of films that highlight the human and non-human body, films that are almost corporeal with the way they employ sound, color and camera to touch the viewers almost physically. The films in the program emphasize the screen as a communication device; much like a living, tactile and multisensory organ, rather than a mere object to be looked at.

Released during the time when videocassettes were in high demand, David Cronenberg’s Videodrome is a warning against the contagiousness of the technology sickness and the deterioration of the body. It’s not enough to look at the screen with the influence of the Videodrome signal anymore; we want to tuck our heads inside the screen as the screen morphs into a lip and a gun to transform our organic system. Although there were 150 wild animals during the production of the cult, exploitation action film Roar, only humans were injured. During the five-year process, 70 people from the film crew were hurt, including Tippi Hedren who was the leading actor in Hitchcock’s Birds. Tetsuo: The Iron Man, another cult film from the 1980s cinema, follows the transformation of a metal fetishist man mutating into some sort of a metal creature following an accident he suffers. Filmed in 16mm black and white, the visual world and the atmosphere in this film touch the viewer in a distinct manner. Denis Côté’s documentary titled A Skin So Soft (Ta Peau Si Lisse) investigates the muscles, diets and fitness workouts of six body builders who seek to transcend physical boundaries. As Côté moves his camera over the characters’ bodies like a painter moving his brush, their skins transform into completely different surfaces. In some films, color turns into a body to become the metaphor of transformation. In Peter Greenaway’s The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Loverwhat defines the characters is the use of color. Colors determine the metamorphosis of the film’s protagonist Georgina while themes like eating and sex in the story are also addressed through the color that is ingrained in the film’s structure.