Julian Quentin &

Territory

»I ALWAYS FELT HOMESICK, FOR A PLACE I’VE NEVER BEEN TO.«

With TERRITORY, Julian Quentin takes us on a metaphysical journey — carried by the desire for a fluid body.

The discarded remains of artificial skin hang from the wires of an exoske- leton, while a warm yet gloomy voice begins to speak. Surrounded by an endless black vacuum drifts the abandoned ›Territory‹. It represents one’s own frozen form, an alien feeling body in the form of the abandoned exoskeleton. A body that feels too tight; a body that has to bow down to labels eventually forms a skin through which one believes to be protected. The characters of the film have left the ›Territory‹ and are bravely moving into the vacuum that surrounds them, a place without gravity and matter, where differentiations are not necessary.

The premise of the filmic collage is the ideal of a fluid body that is allowed to reshape itself. Different states of matter are reflected in macro shots of a rocket fuel. The fluid that is manipulated via magnets conveys the diversity of different experiences and emotions and materializes it — sometimes in form of a horned ball, sometimes in form of a gloomy and romantic landscape, or as the misty surface of the ocean. In close-up shots of skin and touch, of feeling unwell and of experiencing physicality, we experience closeness to the performers, who not only let us be part of their journey, but also accompany us in the process of dealing with our own ›Territory‹ and the vacuum surrounding us.

The narrative that accompanies us throughout the movie is reminiscent of a poem and was inspired by biographical interviews with trans* and gender non-conforming people. It explicitly as well as metaphorically describes the point of questioning one’s own ›Territory‹, whereupon the transition to a state of fluidity may occur.

TERRITORY is a sensual approach to the issue of alienation and manages to explore the individual’s utopian potential, thereby reshaping the initially threatening vacuum into a space of possibilities. (Lea Oreyzi)

Performed by Mel Juanna Bialas, Christi Knak Tschaikowskaja, Anbid Zaman
Cinematography by Borislav Salatino