This essay video explores speculative real estate, between an unfinished hotel perched on the ledge of the Mediterranean in Lebanon, and empty condominiums in Berlin that are still seeking affluent occupants years after completion. Textures of the architecture itself are deployed as a spatial exploration of ambient financial power and imagination. Space becomes an empty vessel for capital—but holds a desire for possible futures.
1930s Korea, in the period of Japanese occupation, a new girl, Sook-hee, is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress, Hideko, who lives a secluded life on a large countryside estate with her domineering Uncle Kouzuki.
WWII American Army Medic Desmond T. Doss, who served during the Battle of Okinawa, refuses to kill people and becomes the first Conscientious Objector in American history to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Carlos is an ex-con looking for a job where he earns a lot of money without having to work hard. After discussing it with his cellmate, they conclude that the only work to fit the description is to be politician in Puerto Rico.
Knokke, Belgium. A small mundane coastal town, home to the beau-monde. To compete with Venice and Cannes, the posh casino hosts the second ‘World Festival of Film and the Arts’ in 1949, organised in part by the Royal Cinematheque of Belgium.