Kavalyé o dam

Archival imagery, warped, distorted.

Matas returns to his neighborhood in Vilnius (Lithuania) after fleeing the war in Ukraine. He finds his wife and the friends he left behind when he joined the conflict.

Born on September 17, 1919, my grandfather - whom I only knew until the age of 4 - worked as a hairdresser in his salon, at 15 bis avenue Liegeard, in Livry-Gargan, in the Parisian suburbs, from 1964 to 1980. All that remains of her activity is the testimony of my grandmother and her husband's work tools, which she treasures. No doubt because in them still resides the repeated gesture of the craftsman, since that is what boy hairdressers were called until the 1980s. Just looking at them brings a vanished world to life before my eyes, and I can easily imagine these ancient times: my grandfather already well established in his salon, getting down to business, like a good artisan hairdresser of the years 1970. So, discovering these tools, I wanted to do some sort of memory work, reconstituting the past with and through them.

One Saturday in spring, Simone, 17, receives a letter that will be a source of endless anguish. The strong ties with her sick father, André, although she loves him as much as he scares her, sometimes take up too much space in her life and prevent her from imagining a life elsewhere.

Yuri is a sculptor. Since the death of his wife, 17 years ago, he has been working hard to re-fabricate her. He misses only one element, the eyes. When he falls on Andreas it is an evidence, he has his eyes. Yuri will be stroked by this meeting and what it represents: the end of his quest.

Ezra has recently been living in a village marked by war. He meets Odelia, who works in a dyery. She has to deliver a sheet outside the village. He takes her on a scooter.

A terribly lonely man tries to soothe a crying rock in the tub of his hotel room.

Lilian is Michael Jackson's impersonator. He performs in clubs borrowing Michael's gestures and face. In Sweden a teenager is selected to embody Santa Lucia in a religious parade. The destiny of Lilian and the girl intermingle freely. Their respective icons slowly invade them to literally take control of themselves.