A series of films which invites the public to consider transformation not only from an experimental angle, but equally as an immersive voyage. The films composing the program explore identity in a fluid manner, reminding us that to be human is to be endowed with a gift of fluidity, and that transformation can be sometimes heartbreaking, often hilarious, and generally rich in fantasy.

One of the most fascinating aspects of being human is the capacity to change. When we surrender ourselves to life, we are perpetually subject to mutation: we learn, we grow, we develop, we fluctuate as if we were subject to a kind of liquidation. Sometimes life confronts us with challenges that force us to change our perspective; on other occasions our realisations force us to make bold, courageous choices about the direction we want our lives to take; and sometimes we simply like to invent other identities for ourselves. Cinema is undoubtedly the most appropriate medium for capturing these transformations, offering us the means to bear witness to them, to report on them, and even to take part in the infinitely beautiful possibilities of what it is to be human.

One of the highlights of the program, the recently restored Kummatty, is considered a masterpiece of Indian cinema. Funeral Parade of Roses is a rarity of Japanese cinema, hailed as much for its innovation as for the influence it exerted on numerous films, including Stanley Kubrick's Clockwork Orange, while Vera is now considered a landmark film of Brazilian LGBTQ+ cinema. Rounding off this journey into the mysteries of transformation are two films straight out of the rabbit warren: Alice in Wonderland, directed by W. W. Young in 1915, and the hilarious and recently restored Scarecrow in a Garden of Cucumbers, which follows the legendary Holly Woodlawn in a different kind of wonderland, the New York of the 1970s.

Anouk De Clercq

With thanks to Pieter-Paul Mortier, Marie Logie, Herman Asselberghs and Erika Balsom