Sunday, April 24, 2005 @ 3:15 PM
Kings of the Sky
Kings of the Sky
Deborah Stratman
68 min, video, USA
An experimental documentary about resistance, balance, and fame. Kings of the Sky follows tightrope artist Adil Hoxur as he and his troupe tour China’s Taklamakan desert amongst the Uyghurs, a Turkic -Muslim people seeking to preserve religious and political autonomy. Since he first broke the Guinness World Record in 1997, Adil has become an inadvertent national icon for his people’s struggle in the face of increasingly harsh Chinese repression. By portraying the intimate details of everyday life amidst the troupe, Kings of the Sky reveals to those unfamiliar with Uyghur culture, the small truths which together form a sense of national and political identity.
The Head of a Pin
Su Friedrich
21 min, video, USA
A personal portrait of the awkward ruminations of the filmmaker and her friends as they attempt to learn about nature.