Retrospective: Johan Grimonprez | IDFA Festival

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Retrospective: Johan Grimonprez

Retrospective: Johan Grimonprez

In homage to our Guest of Honor, IDFA presents seven films by critically acclaimed artist and filmmaker Johan Grimonprez. With his singular exploration into present-day media, his work examines how our collective imagination shapes our understanding of historical events.

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Blue Orchids

Blue Orchids

Johan Grimonprez

This double portrait of a former New York Times war correspondent and an arms dealer exposes the opposite ends of an ideological spectrum, and provides shocking disclosures about the industry of war—symptom of a profound illness: greed.

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dial H-I-S-T-O-R-Y

dial H-I-S-T-O-R-Y

Johan Grimonprez

Four years prior to 9/11, Grimonprez made this film essay rewriting the history of plane hijackings in parallel with the rise of a catastrophe culture. The emerging television era turned terrorism into a spectacle while hiding the bigger picture.

Double Take

Double Take

Johan Grimonprez

The Cold War, Hitchcock, and the rise of television are ingeniously interconnected in this witty collage of news, advertising and film footage. In a story of intimate paranoia, Hitchcock and his elusive double obsess over the perfect murder.

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every day words disappear | Michael Hardt on the Politics of Love

every day words disappear | Michael Hardt on the Politics of Love

Johan Grimonprez

While in Jean Luc Godard’s dystopian film classic Alphaville, love is a forbidden word subject to the penalty of death, political philosopher Michael Hardt ponders how it would be if societies were based on love instead of fear.

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Hitchcock Didn’t Have a Belly Button: Karen Black Interview by Johan Grimonprez

Hitchcock Didn’t Have a Belly Button: Karen Black Interview by Johan Grimonprez

Johan Grimonprez

Actress Karen Black confirms an online rumor: Alfred Hitchcock didn't have a belly button. In this interview clip, recorded during the research for Double Take, Black turns out to be a gifted storyteller and provides a convincing Hitchcock impersonation.

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Raymond Tallis | on tickling

Raymond Tallis | on tickling

Johan Grimonprez

Neuroscientist turned philosopher Raymond Tallis marvels at the fact that it is impossible to tickle yourself. You really need another person—just as with love and fights.

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Shadow World

Shadow World

Johan Grimonprez

A shocking analysis of the international arms trade. Shedding light on how our everyday reality is being constructed, the film argues that we have privatized the function of war.

Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat

Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat

Johan Grimonprez

Master essayist Grimonprez unravels the colonial and capitalist motives behind the involvement of Belgium and the US in the murder of Congo’s first prime minister, Patrice Lumumba. Jazz features as both a smokescreen and a means of protest.

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Two Travellers to a River

Two Travellers to a River

Johan Grimonprez

Fragments from two poems by Mahmoud Darwish (1941-2008), regarded as the national poet of Palestine, reflect on how things could have been, juxtaposed by two opposing images: one of scorched earth and one of a home.

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What I Will

What I Will

Johan Grimonprez

In this excerpt from Grimonprez’s Shadow World, poet and activist Suheir Hammad recites her poem “What I Will,” accompanied by footage of military parades and anti-aircraft guns. “I will not dance to your war drum.”