Հայերեն
May I Enter
May I Enter is a documentary essay filmed in an island off the coast of Bahia (Brazil) in which the Afro-Brazilian religion Candomblé is as much researched as experientially evoked in a rather poetic and personal way. Experiences with this religion and the personal quest of the artist and filmmaker Koštana Banović are central themes throughout the film. In May I Enter Banović takes her exploration of the relation between Self and Other a step further than in her previous works. Banović interviews persons involved in Candomblé, films ceremonies, undergoes rituals in which she assumed the identity of her ‘gods’, and joins it to an inciting documentary.
Awards
Award for the Category Photography, Festival de Cine de Granada, Los Angeles, USA, 2010
Koštana Banović
Koštana Banović is visual artist and filmmaker. She was born in Sarajevo in former Yugoslavia. She studied at the Utrecht School of the Arts (HKU), Faculty of Fine Arts and Design in Utrecht in the Netherlands, where she currently teaches. Throughout her oeuvre – drawings, performances, movies – Koštana Banović never hesitated to engage in rituals as a means to reduce the distance between Self and the Other, represented by the cultures encountered during her many travels. The travels have shown that the Other was to be found within, as a disturbing yet inextricable part of Self. She has regularly worked in countries like Cuba, Senegal, Angola, Brazil and Caribbean where she has developed video-art projects with local communities. Taking part in and researching ritual as a means of getting in touch with oneself and others is a recurring element in her work. Her work researches the boundaries of modern visual anthropology, documentary and fine art.
Filmography
2016 – Among Houses and the Cosmos
2012 – Mijn God (14 channel-installation)
2011 – For Dead or Alive
2011 – Roos
2011 – Exu
2010 – May I Enter
2009 – Oxum
2008 – Ploha
2007 – Sey, the Economy of Love
2001 – NaTragu
2000 – Dream Hunters