Movies
Samira Elagoz
Craigslist Allstars
2016 The Netherlands, Finland
65min •
English
K16
Theme: (freak)
16.11.2017 | Time: 18.30 |
Venue: Tapio 3
| BUY TICKET
24 yo female looking for afternoon delight. Hope cam is alright ;)
The classified advertisements website Craigslist is an international phenomenon, used for selling items and searching for company alike. Director Samira Elagoz, an Amsterdam University of the Arts graduate originally from a small town in Southern Finland, decided to see how Craigslist can be harnessed for the art of filmmaking. Turns out the answer is “very well”.
Craigslist Allstars portrays a series of Elagoz's rendezvous with unknown men in three cities in different parts of the world. Her idea is straightforward: with a simple ad, she looked for contacts from people who wouldn't mind her filming the meeting. It's no surprise that the young woman's ad was primarily answered by men who weren't really looking to build new friendships. Elagoz films her Craigslist hookups starting from the very first moments, without a script or retakes. We get to meet a sadist pianist, an English plumber, and a magician, among others. While one reveals his innermost feelings to the camera, the other explicates how to adjust the consistency of one's sperm.
In the film Elagoz throws herself into the situation to study the power relations and gender roles with an open mind: she does not judge anyone and lets the men of the documentary fully be themselves. Underneath the freaky exterior the viewer catches glimpses of melancholy, sadness and loneliness. The meetings are strange, sometimes even ominous, but also beautiful - and romance cannot be completely averted either. How does the presence of a camera affect the encounter between two people? Elagoz's revolutionary documentary forces you to think.
