The Lack

Four variations on the theme of “privation”: Each of the female protagonists of “The Lack” lives in and through her own silent, primitive nature, with no one to share their loneliness. Eve (Lea Mornar) is coming to terms with the pain of being abandoned. Her obsession with love makes way for a kind of rebellion during which a violent act facilitates rebirth in a sublime and beautiful nature. In the second story, Xiú’s (Xin Wang) real and dreamlike journey culminates when she musters great effort and courage to bring a spotlight to a deserted island that was once the location of a disappearance infamous in cinematic history. The third story is set in moonlike scenery, an apocalyptic landscape where geothermic centres of warmth and archaic deserts alternate. Two women have to come to terms with the feelings caused by a difficult and yet necessary separation and to process the transition from a known state to an unexplored dimension. In drifting away, they find a chance for hope and rebirth. In a psychoanalytical session, Sarah (Cinzia Brugnola) tries to put together the pieces of her fragmented existence and to fill a void.

“The Lack” is the first full-length film by Italian video artists Nicolò Massazza and Jacopo Bedogni, who present their work under the name of MASBEDO. Produced by In Between Art Film in cooperation with VivoFilm and introduced at a special event at the Giornate degli Autori of the 71st Venice International Film Festival in 2014, the film has since been screened at numerous international film festivals. Screened in museums, “The Lack” steps out of the habitual dispositif of the cinema and flows into the more intimate dimensions of screening halls in museums of contemporary art. This concludes the predestined journey chosen by the two video artists to experiment with their own forms of expression within the medium of the feature film. The film is further distinguished by the sparse, weighted words spoken by performers exclusively in their own language.

The screening of “The Lack” at the Martin-Gropius-Bau will mark its German premiere and will be followed by a conversation with directors Nicolò Massazza and Jacopo Bedogni.