Watch Shorts 2: The Trial, American Carnage, Lasting Marks, Scenes from a Dry City, The Hour of Lynching, Best of Luck with the Wall – Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art

The Trial

• The biggest criminal trial in US history will have little to do with the ideals and guarantees of the American Constitution, which the authorities say doesn’t extend to the base at Guantanamo. Johanna Hamilton portrays the three defenders of one of those accused of the 9/11 attacks. Although he is facing the death penalty, even the filmmakers behind Zero Dark Thirty had better access to case files than they did. The lawyers have already grown accustomed to wiretaps and have even exposed an agent on their team.
•  

American Carnage

directed by Farihah Zaman, Jeff Reichert, USA 2017, 9'

• Abrief political biopic of Steve Bannon, the guru of the American alt-right and chief adviser to Donald Trump at the beginning of his presidency. Farihah Zaman and Jeff Reichert reveal an unknown side of Bannon, who, drawing on the work of Leni Riefenstahl and Michael Moore, made nine documentary films by 2016. American Carnage consists mainly of fragments of these films.

•  

Lasting Marks

directed by Charlie Lyne, United Kingdom 2018, 14'

• In 1987, at the height of Margaret Thatcher’s rule, the British police obtained a recording that documented an S&M sex party. Although everyone there took part in this completely private event of their own free will and they were all of legal age, an investigation was launched that culminated two years later in a humiliating trial that was widely reported by tabloids.

•  

Scenes from a Dry City

directed by Simon Wood, François Verster, South Africa/USA 2018, 13’

• What does life look like in a big city when the water runs out? Like in Cape Town, South Africa, where the police go after poor people whose only source of income are illegal car washes, and the elderly who consume the last drops of the precious liquid to water their gardens. And yet there are luxury hotels operating without a hitch right next door whose giant golf courses don’t seem to be lacking for water.

•  

The Hour of Lynching

directed by Shirley Abraham, Amit Madheshiya, United Kingdom 2019,19'

• The makers of The Hour of Lynching managed to capture the mechanism of escalating violence fueled by extreme-right religious fundamentalism. Over the past five years, Hindu nationalists have murdered nearly fifty Muslims in India accused of “cow smuggling.” An inappropriate attitude toward this animal, which is sacred to Hindus, has served as an excuse for a brutal witch hunt that is casting an ever-widening net. Emboldened by impunity, the leaders of these radicals have been openly calling for ethnic cleansing.

•  

Best of Luck with the Wall

directed by Josh Begley, USA 2016, 7'

• The ironic wish expressed in the title is just about the only comment made by the artist during the seven-minute journey over the Mexican–American border that was made possible thanks to 200,000 satellite images. This memorable film was made by Josh Begley, a digital artist who uses various data visualization techniques in his work.

•