Printed Matter (2011)

Sirah Foighel Brutmann and Eitan Efrat

16mm & HD video, colour, 4:3, mono & stereo sound, BE, 2011, 29′

Printed Matter follows twenty years of photographic news coverage in Israel/Palestine (1982-2002), through the archive of photojournalist André Brutmann. The photographer, Foighel Brutmann’s father, captured with his camera, both daily and major news events and his own family life; from the birth of his daughter and son, through the first and second Palestinian uprisings, the assassination of the Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, and more. In Printed Matter his images are shown in a selection of about 80 contact-sheets, together with the voice of his partner and colleague Hanne Foighel, who is going through the archive, reminiscing and remembering the events from her point of view – as a mother and as a journalist herself. The film, which is divided by three 16mm-reel-long chapters, tries to review two decades through multiple parallel “points of view”, portrayed simultaneously. The work questions the division between different labels such as “political” and “personal” and how images are read in favour of narratives, and visa versa.

Selected exhibitions and screenings:
Kunsthal Charlottenborg Copenhagen, (DK), 2019; MK&G, Hamburg, (DE) 2018; Portikus Frankfurt, (DE); Gallery of Musrara Jerusalem, (IL) 2016; Arts Santa Monica Barcelona, (ES) 2015; Art Cologne Cologne, (DE) 2015; Cinematek Brussel, (BE) 2014; CPH:DOX Copenhagen, (DK) 2014; Jeu de Paume Paris, (FR) 2015; Argos Brussel, (BE) 2014; The Flaherty New York, (US) 2013; Kunsthalle Basel, (CH) 2013; STUK Leuven, (BE) 2012: Images Festival Toronto, (CA) 2012 (awarded); Courtisane festival Gent, (BE) 2012; International Film Festival Rotterdam, (NL) 2012; IDFA Amsterdam, (NL) 2011; Bozar Brussel, (BE) 2011.