Las máquinas tristes
Paola Michaels
Argentina, Colombia | 2021 | 9 min
International Premiere
Language : Spanish
Subtitles : English, French
What is the relationship between the thought of Jacques Lacan, Samuel Beckett and robotic machines? Paola Michaels proposes a possible cinematic response: using archival footage, she creates with grace and intelligence an a priori unimaginable dialogue which holds up a mirror in which we can reflect about our own existence.
What is the connection between the thought of psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan, playwright Samuel Beckett and robotic machines? Colombian filmmaker Paola Michels proposes a possible cinematic response: with grace and intelligence, and through the use of found YouTube footage, she creates an a priori unimaginable dialogue which reflects on human existential conflicts.
In this film, the machines are given voices and speak for themselves, in the first person, about different issues like absence, imperfection, unsatisfaction, the passing of time, pain and sorrow, repetition and change. These scenes are articulated with the archive of two famous phrases by Jacques Lacan and one by Samuel Beckett, from his canonical play Waiting for Godot.
This playful piece, awarded at the last Mar del Plata International Film Festival, invites us to reflect on the validity of the ideas of these great thinkers of the 20th century, and holds up a mirror for us to think about our own existence in the 21st century.
Violeta Bava
Teoría social numérica, 2020
Los propios recuerdos, 2015
Snails and Diamonds, 2014
La Casa, 2012
