Dystopian Patterns
Details
Artist: Isabelle Nouzha
Title: Dystopian Patterns
Year: 2019
Duration: 6 : 43 minutes
Medium: shot in RAW, single channel video with stereo sound
Credit: Isabelle Nouzha, Dystopian Patterns, 2019. © the artist. Produced by Fragments asbl and courtesy argos centre for audiovisual arts. Selected for AFI'25 by argos centre for audiovisual arts, Brussels, Belgium.
Dystopian Patterns (2019)
Isabelle Nouzha
Selected by argos centre for audiovisual arts, Brussels, Belgium
Made in 2019, the city symphony Dystopian Patterns reorders the rubble of a city left in ruins. It could be Beirut after one of its many disasters, tried and tested by external forces, but it could be any other city, void of human presence. By uncovering the disquieting mysteries that seem to have escaped our weary senses, the black-and-white time-lapse video of Isabelle Nouzha depicts a ‘waking nightmare’ rather than a dream.
Film Still Credit: Isabelle Nouzha, Dystopian Patterns, 2019. Film still. © the artist. Courtesy the artist and argos centre for audiovisual arts. Selected for AFI'25 by argos centre for audiovisual arts, Brussels, Belgium.
Film Still Credit: Isabelle Nouzha, Dystopian Patterns, 2019. Film still. © the artist. Courtesy the artist and argos centre for audiovisual arts. Selected for AFI'25 by argos centre for audiovisual arts, Brussels, Belgium.
Artist Q&A
What does a democratic, international film programme such as Artists' Film International, mean to you as an artist?
Being part of a democratic, international lm program like Artists' Film International is a fantastic opportunity, and a rewarding experience. It’s amazing how these kinds of platforms allow you to not only showcase your work on a global stage but also foster a sense of connection with other creatives from dierent cultures and backgrounds. This can really expand my own artistic perspective and open up new possibilities.
What compels you to work with moving image, and when did you first become interested in the medium?
My journey into moving images was both fascinating and organic. I started with analog photography in my teenager years. There’s something deeply magical about the process of analog photography, especially when you witness an image emerge in front of your eyes. The gift of a S8 Braun Nizo camera was a pivotal moment, and for that I have to thank one of my teachers in lm school. Timelapse and frame-by-frame techniques opened up an entirely dierent realm for storytelling. With animation, I could bend time, space, and reality in ways that feel almost limitless. The shift from pixilation to broader animation techniques gave me an even richer vocabulary for expression. When I was very young I saw the short lms of Jan Švankmajer and his work was truly unforgettable—it had such a distinctive, surreal quality that resonated deeply with me. His lms blurred the boundaries between the inanimate and the living, often using stop-motion animation, puppetry, and surrealist imagery to explore themes pertaining to human nature, dreams, and the subconscious. His inuence pushed me to work with pixilation and frame-byframe animation. His use of tactile materials and eerie transformations was very much in line with the tactile, hands-on approach in my own work.
Can you speak about the potential that dreaming and altered states of reality offer individuals and societies? How do you feel this is reflected in filmmaking and in your artwork specifically?
In uncertain political times, imagination itself becomes an act of defiance. Fictional or speculative storytelling, can help us "see" futures that are worth fighting for. Just as Alice encounters surreal characters who question her assumptions, I use the same mirror to question dominant ideas about power, success, and progress. Could a future world prioritize collective care over endless growth? Mutual aid over competitive individualism? I believe that stepping through the mirror of reality—embracing curiosity, imagination, and even the absurd—might be the very thing that helps us tackle these deeply rooted global crises. By removing the setting from familiar contexts you strip away preconceptions and invite audiences to see the underlying patterns of oppression or resilience anew. Dreams and fantasies have always been pathways in my work.
Please share a list of books, music, films, artworks, thinkers, spaces and places that inspire your practice, and in particular have fed into your thinking around this film.
I tried to harness the surreal elements of Beirut’s identity—its constant reconstruction, its haunting past, its vibrant present- while trying to make sure that my feelings align with the city's spirit. The books I read for the making of Dystopian Patterns are a tapestry of intellectual and creative infuences, each of which resonates with the themes of history, memory, distortion, and the interplay between reality and the fantastical. Georges Henein, Oeuvres, Aloïs Riegl, Le culte des monuments (The Modern Cult of Monuments), Fadia Nassif Tar Kovacs, Les rumeurs dans la guerre du Liban, Frankenstein à Bagdad, Ahmed Saadawi. These influences intertwine to create a rich backdrop for the film, enabling me to engage with history, memory, and the fantastical on multiple levels enhanced by the beautiful soundtrack made by Todor Todoro. I also had the help of dierent great artists like Fadi Baki (filmmaker) and Dana Mikhail (actress). Her involvement added layers of intimacy and specicity to my visual storytelling and helped me with places I could film, while Fadi Baki was my “scientic eye” advising me on the film and lending a critical perspective that grounded the work in authenticity.
What new projects or lines of research are currently preoccupying you?
My ongoing focus on themes of history, memory, distortion, and the fantastical are part of my new projects. Exploring the complexities of animal and human relations and adapting a literary work offers exciting opportunities to further my approaches in storytelling.
Details
Artist: Isabelle Nouzha
Title: Dystopian Patterns
Year: 2019
Duration: 6 : 43 minutes
Medium: shot in RAW, single channel video with stereo sound
Credit: Isabelle Nouzha, Dystopian Patterns, 2019. © the artist. Produced by Fragments asbl and courtesy argos centre for audiovisual arts. Selected for AFI'25 by argos centre for audiovisual arts, Brussels, Belgium.