Overview
Re|sound is Sharjah Art Foundation’s biannual event for musical experimentation in dialogue with the medium of film. Locally and regionally based musicians are invited to prepare and perform live original sets in conversation with a projected film.
The sixth edition of Re|sound features Jaśmina Wójcik’s film Symphony of the Ursus Factory (2018), which will be screened in tandem with live music from experimental jazz fusion trio NOON, consisting of drummer Ratish Chadha, oud player Mohamed Hosny and bassist Steve Bedford.
This event is free and open to the public.
About the film:
Symphony of the Ursus Factory (2018)
Director: Jaśmina Wójcik
Poland
Experimental | 60 min
No dialogue
One of the largest producers of agricultural machinery in Europe, the Ursus factory was spread over 170 hectares and employed 20,000 workers. It was the pride of the Polish industry for nearly the entire 20th century, but the collapse of communism was the beginning of the factory’s end and now, its buildings stand derelict and empty. When the factory shut its doors, the working lives of tens of thousands of employees were consigned to the dustbin of history.
The symphony of mechanical sounds and gestures that is gradually built up throughout the film is produced by former workers who were invited by the filmmaker to re-enact one day at the plant. Proud of the Ursus factory, the workers reminisce about their past lives when they were a community, passionate about supporting agriculture through their work. Jaśmina Wójcik collaborated with the former employees of Ursus for nine months to present a glimpse of a bygone era.
Symphony of the Ursus Factory won the Best Mid-length Documentary Award at Hot Docs (2019).
About the artists:
NOON
NOON is an experimental jazz fusion band that draws on a varied range of cultural influences to create a distinctive and familiar sound that truly represents the diversity of the Emirates.
Formed by drummer Ratish Chadha, oud player Mohamed Hosny and bassist Steve Bedford, the band explores old and new traditional themes and melodic frameworks with modern and progressive rhythms tied in with a large selection of ethereal sounds. The resulting music is forged from the constant flux of exchange between the diverse cultures and musical backgrounds of the players themselves.
NOON has performed at the venues such as Barzakh Festival, NYUAD Arts Center, Abu Dhabi (2020); Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Washington DC (2020); DXB4BEY Festival, Dubai Opera (2020); Jesuit Cultural Center, Alexandria, Egypt (2019); MDL Beast Festival, Riyadh (2019); and Magnetic Fields Festival, Rajasthan, India (2018).