On the Threshold of Liberty
My film examines the breakdown of one's own language. It is a record of a personal struggle in trying to construct meaning as an outsider in a foreign culture. However, it could also be seen as an effort to understand the nature of paradoxical expectations a female filmmaker is likely to encounter. How can she create an authentic representation of a woman from a female point of view in a world where images and language, as well as technology, are products of a patriarchal society. What will be left when these layers of representation are peeled off?
In the story 'Alice in Wonderland' Lewis Carroll describes a 'Forest with No Names' in which a fawn feels no fear for Alice because it knows no name for fear. In the painting titled 'On the Threshold of Liberty' by Réné Magritte, a cannon is set up ready to fire towards the images on the wall. What would be left if the cannon shot tore down this wall of signs? What would be left when the emptiness of the sky is just another image among the others? How would we perceive the world without the familiarity of language? Would we become free to feel no fear like the fawn in the 'Forest with No Names' or are we condemned to stand on the threshold of liberty in a perpetual state of anicipation.
– Heidi Tikka
Description source: Cinenova paper archive
