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Hoe deze genodigden praten-wi die gescht reded
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| Reviews | |
| Die Wochenzeitung, January 31th, 1997 | |
| … Lets not talk about the ‘Swiss film’. Lets talk about films, about a different generation.
…The generation I mean is that of Thomas Imbach, of Sabine Mooibroek, of Philipp Ramspeck, Fränzi Madörin, Muda Mathis and Sus Zwick and others which defy our expectations. With a keen sense for experimentation they cross the genre limits and embrace a new way of imparting content. They also introduce themselves – and this is perhaps their most noticeable characteristic - as subjects into their work about the masses… Sabine Mooibroek’s “Hoe deze genodigden praten – how the guests talk”, this year’s winner of the Solothurn short film prize, could be seen as a kind of counterpart to Imbach’s study, at least with regard to the age of their subjects. With her video camera she joins five elderly Emmental men tending a garden and accompanies them on their visit to a salon, observing them while they sit shelling exotic prawns. The gentlemen chat about this and that. Should one of their native dialect words be particularly characteristic or droll then it is shown on screen, spelt out letter by letter, accompanied by a brief pause for effect. This juxtaposition of language and image has the comedy of concrete poetry and in 11 minutes conveys more about the interdependency of humor and homeland than any hour long documentary could… Written by Thorsten Stecher
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| Berner Zeitung, January 27th, 1997 Bester Film zeigt, wie Emmentaler reden Best film shows how Emmental people talk |
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| …The men, aged between 60 and 80 years, which Sabine Mooibroek was able to win over to her plan, only knew each other in part. It was all the more enticing for the filmmaker to protocol “what develops within such a context and how it develops”. The event was partly staged and partly grew spontaneously, she tells. An “exotic” meal in grandma Mosimann’s parlour sets the framework for the event. The camera focuses on the eating and chatting mouths, recording image and sound of “hoe deze genodigden praten”, how the guests talk. The Dutch title of the work “is intentionally used to create distance to the Bernese dialect, so the Swiss audience when seeing the film will hear the Emmental dialect afresh, as if it was a foreign language”, the artist explains. The jury in Solothurn, Switzerland was impressed “by the use of formal arrangement and wordplay in the video work”…
Written by Hans Herrmann
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| Züri Tipp, November 29th, 1996 Ein Engel im Sichtfeld An angel in view |
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| Young video art With the video camera in hand secrets are pursued, or: The camera creates the secrets… Bernese at table In “how the guests talk” it seems Sabine Mooibroek is pursuing a secret too. The Dutch woman with Swiss upbringing observes four elderly Bernese men eating prawns at an inn. The meal is clearly staged. Suddenly strange sounds are heard. Something between music and sirens. The four locals, joking in broadest Bernese, prick up their ears and listen intently to the sound. “Es scheint modern zu sein- It seems to be modern”, one of them comments dryly in High German. “Almost a bit above us, what Hans”, counters another in dialect. Eventually their attention returns to the prawns. What is it about? One doesn’t know. But one listens intently to the isolation of this curious “foreign” language, the Bernese dialect, and watches the coming together of the two very different worlds of the “old” Bernese fellas and the young foreign waiter/artist with his androgynous features… Written by Simon Maurer |