heartbeats

curate:

Performing Naturalness. c 2008. (by Dada Docot)

3min, Experimental Documentary
Director/Editor: Dada Docot
Cameraworks: Jong Pairez
Effects: Mike Garcia
Music: Fabien Claudel, Zikweb

Statement:

Living for about four years in Japan, one Filipina has grown quite tired of the “random” questioning of the immigration police who inquire about her visa status. One day, she gets off at Shinagawa train station (the stop closest to the city’s busiest immigration office) to conduct a small social experiment. This one-time performance/experiment was constrained by the use of a single roll of 8mm film which runs for only three minutes.

A part of a series of work on space vis-à-vis mobility, the short film documents an instance of surveillance of foreigners in nothing but an ordinary day in Japan. It emphasizes that the everyday life of a migrant IS a performance. The foreign space accommodates or rejects, and as the “visitor,” you “perform” roles so that the space receives you (well).