With an Introduction by Halbe Kuipers (ENG)
Film and Philosophy is back! In collaboration with Filmtheater De Uitkijk, Wijsgerig Festival DRIFT presents a series of four film nights. Every Monday evening, a film will be screened that aligns with the theme "Muse, tell me." These words, which open The Odyssey, symbolize how stories mediate our experience. The Odyssey marks the beginning of a long storytelling tradition in which narratives are continuously retold, rewritten, and reinterpreted. We will explore how stories shape our perception of ourselves, the world, and society. Each of the four films tells a story of its own, and four different guest speakers will introduce the films, connecting them to the overarching theme.
On April 7, we will screen Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010) on 35mm!
Uncle Boonmee, dying of kidney failure, spends his final days in the Thai countryside. There, he is visited by the spirit of his deceased wife. His long-lost son also returns—though no longer in human form. As Boonmee seeks reconciliation with both past and present, he embarks on his final journey with his loved ones and other spirits, traveling through the jungle to a mysterious cave.
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010) is a hypnotic and enigmatic tale where reality and imagination, spirit and matter, past and present blend seamlessly. This dreamlike journey drifts between the earthly and the mystical, offering a poetic exploration of the human experience. The film was awarded the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, with a jury led by Tim Burton.
The film will be introduced in English by Halbe Kuipers (Film Studies, UvA). Kuipers will discuss how the mythical exists in Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s cinema as naturally as anything else: phantoms, monkey ghosts (li phi), and water spirits all appear with little distinction from human characters or nonhuman entities. Kuipers will explore how these myths, and the figures that embody them, offer ways to relate to supernatural forces and the pluriverse they reveal. Finally, Kuipers will reflect on our ‘modern cosmology’ and the assumptions it carries about the cinematic medium itself. Is cinema merely a machine of representations, creating a certain detachment from the world? Or is it something entirely different? Could it be, as Apichatpong suggests, a space where ‘luminous people’—whatever they may be—come alive through the cinematic encounter? What if we welcome these figures of light and learn to live with them?