kanonmedia, ngo for new media

Above the Skies
Zwischen Himmel und Erde

an experimental short film
00:19:29:21

concept, photos, visuals, audio sampling, editing
Alexandra Reill

audio samples out of ballades from the times of
Alfonso X El Sabio (1221-1284),
Elisabeth the Catholic (1410-1563),
Nasrid Dynasty (1410-1563)
and the Jewish Culture

produced by kanonmedia
vienna / austria // andalusia / spain, 2006

Above the Skies uses the framework of Alexandra Reill's journey through Andalusia and her impressions of the region and culture to research the character of suffering and pain experienced by any human being in life and to interpret a real visual world according to the inner perception and interpretation of the phenomenon.

sound samples of the middle ages contribute to itensify this collage of visual impressions and transform it into an oeuvre of immersion of feelings and thoughts.

the aesthetic worlds of andalusia with its dark, dramatic, tragic feel of catholicism bear at the same time the traces of the heyday of the caliphs with all their palaces and mosques. Wisdom as search - traces of a multicultural life composed of maurean, jewish and catholic impact. a europe square as a monument marking actual and former claims to imperial greatness - claims coming from a history and traditions, from dispositions, from attitudes. ponderous baroque followed gothic and arabic transparency and lightness. it was built into elder monuments as if colonialism ever managed to erase traits of roots of origin. abandoned jewish quarters carrying museal character to be looked at by tourists.

as if life could be forgotten.

Above the Skies
Zwischen Himmel und Erde

what does suffering mean? what does pain to life? views on daily life-situations in the cities and the country of andalusia. small moments of playful impressions, doubled, continuously doubled to maintain a glance through things. the pervasion of feelings of mundane phenomenae, of mundane life, a good bye from beloved ones and an hommage for love. a journey from the earth to heaven and back.