Real Events, Real Fantasy

Director:Ruxin Liu

Screenwriter:Ruxin Liu

Cast:Mark Morris, Moritz Walker, Agnes Eeg-Olofsson, Shi, Gihong “Kiki” Park, Max Critchlow, Hyunjin Choi, Catalina Gonzalez Gonzalez, Jakob Karpus, Leshan Shi, Hansil Heo, Asma Ben Slama, Leander Vettiger, Benyamin Bakhshi

Producer:Ruxin Liu

Cinematographer:Anqi Li

Running Time:9min9s

Region:Germany

Year:2023

Language:English, Malay, Swedish, Korean, Spanish, Chinese, French, Persian

Production Company:—

Watch the Trailer

SYNOPSIS

By breaking down a chit-chat with a sexist undertone, RealEvents, Real Fantasy re-stages and highlights different modes of speaking. The performers learn and teach how to say simple things in different languages. They rehearse the pronunciation of the phrases, words and sounds. While between men flow beauty and desire, between women flow alliance and protection. Being normative, instability of this pattern also lurks around the corner.

Director Biography

Grew up in China, Ruxin Liu studies in Hamburg, and lives in Berlin, Germany—currently a graduate student with Professor Rajkamal Kahlon at HFBK. Starting with drawing as a child, they got fascinated by the video art of Joan Jonas in its ability to take apart the seeing and hearing, and they started working with moving images ever since. Using the strategy of substituting the familiar, their works deal with the performativity of identity, particularly on constructing desires and pleasure in our neoliberal patriarchal world.

Director's Statement

Heteronormativity permeates every small moment in life. It imparts meaning to countless moments and drives our social interactions with others.As a foreigner, teaching others simple phrases in your native language is a quick way to establish common ground. In most cases, the starting point of this teaching is how to pick up on others. However, during this teaching process, it seems like we are merely practicing for the real events; the meanings of the words themselves are set aside.As a director, I got the chance to intervene the performance through making this film. For male actors, such practice for potential future conversations was supposed to feel naturally; but with my intervention, they began to feel awkward and uncomfortable. Female performers, on the other hand, exchanged reassuring smiles. Under this conscious influence, the inherently meaningless dialogue practice generates more possibilities.

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