Premiering at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (aka PÖFF), which kicks off November 8 in Estonia, Signe Birkova’s Lotus is among the lineup’s most intriguing titles. Shot on a mix of 8mm, 16mm, and 35mm, including silent-film portions shot with a Debrie Parvo camera from 1921, the film is a dreamlike musical carousel following Lithuanian actress Severija Janušauskaitė as Alice von Trotta, an underdog silent-cinema director. Ahead of its premiere, we’re pleased to exclusively debut the first trailer.
Here’s the synopsis: “Baltic German Alice von Trotta returns to her late father’s manor in Latvia in 1919. She intends to sell it and start a new life. During her stay, she meets some local laborers who demonstrate hostility and show resistance. Moreover, Alice discovers that she has been lured into a carefully tailored trap, organized by the demonic lawyer Emil Keyserling, a decadent underground organization VIVA LA MORT, and its necrophile leader Sieba Falstaff. Together, they plan to manipulate Alice, who has received a good education in France but has also suffered severe physical trauma and has had her leg amputated. Keyserling and Sieba have decided to use Alice’s intelligence and artistic nature for their own manipulative purposes, such as gaining control over the country by means of art – specifically, silent movies. While trying to escape the clutches of her decadent ‘friends,’ Alice meets Latvian cinema enthusiasts who have been working on their own silent film about the ancient Latvians. Spending time in their company, she learns to edit films and starts to work on her own experimental film. She uses filmmaking as a tool for self-discovery and a weapon for confronting her enemies, accidentally creating a pioneering masterpiece of avant-garde cinema in the process.”
Watch the exclusive trailer below.
The post Ride a Dreamlike Musical Carousel in Exclusive Trailer for Signe Birkova’s Lotus, Partly Shot on a 1920s Camera first appeared on The Film Stage.
