76 •Metro Magazine 195 | © ATOM
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works have been exhibited in museums and galleries, and
are all of a similar spirit: static compositions displaying vivid
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character standing atop the quarry – shirtless, skin leathery,
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hair – guiding the excavators with hand signals like a maestro
conducting a symphony./H@SS@ENQL@ +TM@(2011) dwells with
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pearing, for all the (out of this) world, as if on a space shuttle.
#@ 5HMBH(2012) takes us to an unexpected alien landscape:
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gadgets employed in surgeries.2@M 2HQN(2014) is a portrait
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architecture unmoored from sporting narrative. And2Ĕ@MBD
(2014) is literally titled, Ancarani’s stilled camera communing
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The camera in Ancarani’s practice is,
indeed, his. There’s no billed cinematog
rapher in3GD "G@KKDMFD’s credits (though
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visual wonder, but especially this one,
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has earned comparisons to the documen
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,Q3GD "G@KKDMFD, the director says, ‘view
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ĺOPp^6 told with no enforced narrative, no exposition or explana
tion, and even little incidental dialogue. Instead, it makes its
case with glorious photography and evocative sound design.
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circuits with the intent of having the viewer actively partici
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credits – emblazoned in striking midnight blue, and listed in
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summons a mood of wonder and movement. This shot is ‘the
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wonder at avian majesty – and the grandeur and ambition of
the architecture built to house them – but, ultimately, lament
ing wild creatures kept in a cage.
From there, we move to the freedom of the open road,
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the desert like a rocket through space, and a motorcycle gang- in the familiar leather jackets, jeans and sunglasses of clas
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except for when they pull over to the side, lay out mats pointing
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cles are undertaking a pilgrimage to the same place: the land
beyond the dunes. It’s the traditional land of the Bedouin,
who’ve been practising falconry for millennia. For most of that
time, it’s been a practical skill: falcons trained to hunt birds
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wealthy elite.^9 7KLV PLUURUV 4DWDUpV RZQ JURZWK WKLV WLQ\ EDU
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from poverty and obscurity to prosperity and power, becom
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where. They set up camp in the dunes, where there’s coffee to
be taken, conversations to be had (‘I prefer falconry to camel
racing’), a cheetah to be admired, birds to be compared,
feasts to be shared (the heart of a lamb the reserved deli
cacy), FIFA videogames to be played
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phone videos to be made, engines to
be revved. Ancarani captures these
scenes with meticulous framing, and
with composition that seems at once
painterly and architectural (a tableau
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an ornately patterned carpet, in front
of a blank white wall dotted only by
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The presence of such technologi
cal blessings foregrounds the theme
of tradition meeting modernity, the
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the dunes. In3GD "G@KKDMFD, we are situated at the seemingly
contradictory nexus between stern religious devotion, ancient
Bedouin custom and fecund, decadent capitalism. One sheikh
takes a phone call to participate in an auction for a peregrine
falcon, which he watches via a TV feed. The bird is a beautiful
specimen, ‘worth the money’ that it’s going for (‘good wings,
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The result of the auction is attributed, by the men on screen,
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seven minutes, in situations ranging from the banal to the
dramatic. The falconry tournament plays out, entirely, as
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Ancarani’s approach does, however, hint at the divine, as
the documentary draws away from the material and towards
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WKLVZRUOGRIGXQHGULYLQJtFKURQLFOLQJWKHPDFKRSRVWXULQJThe presence of
suchtechnological
blessings foregrounds
thetheme oftradition
meeting modernity
...InThe Challenge,
we are situated atthe
seeminglycontradictory
nexus between stern
religious devotion,
ancientBedouin
custom and fecund,
decadent capitalism.