Director of the play “Diatriba de la empecinada”: Francisco Albornoz
Video installation created by: Niles Atallah
Video installation created for the play “Diatriba de la Empecinada” from the text “El Desaparecido” by Juan Radrigán. The installation was projected behind the actress on stage during the entire length of the play at the San Inés Theater in Santiago, Chile.
Niles Atallah: Camera, Sound, Concept, Narration, Text, Editing
Nathan Groth: Camera, Sound, Concept, Assistant Editor on “Ferry Sequence”, Piano, Screen Appearance as “Man Throwing Rocks”
Anthony Fontes: Acting, Sound, Concept, General Production
Devin Atallah: Sound, Concept, General Production, Screen Appearance as “Leopard”
Synopsis
Walking in Circles is a semi-fictitious video diary full of contorted truths and half-lies based on a young man’s voyage through South America. A travelogue inspired from the Divine Comedy by Dante, it is far from documentary and too full of real events to be fiction. Here is an attempt to concretely describe this strange anomaly of digital peregrination:
The video follows director Niles Atallah’s search for family roots through South America. Retracing generations of family migrations- from Palestine, to Chile, to the U.S.- he embarks on a creative expedition from Peru to Tierra Del Fuego with a small group of filmmakers.
With spy cameras sewed to their clothing and small digital video equipment,
the crew travel by hitchhiking, walking, bus, and ferry experimenting
with improvised scenarios and documentary-style shooting.
Rather than appear himself, Niles Atallah and the crew film this search by focusing on Anthony Fontes; a young man who is made to enact ritually the experiences of the lead filmmaker. Representing a mythic character or mask, Anthony is not filmed as an actor. Instead he is stripped of any psychological and human qualities and reflects literally the changes the director undergoes.
Walking in Circles is narrated by Niles Atallah who uses the digital medium as a means of revealing an intimate process of self discovery. The result is an eccentric mix of travel documentary or personal diary interlaced with dreams, alchemy, parallels with Dante’s Inferno, and a quest for cultural identity. This highly personal digital nonfiction ultimately evolves into the story of Niles Atallah’s personal transformation, love story, and eventual immigration to Chile.
Director of the play “Llueve en Barcelona”: Francisco Albornoz
Video installation created by: Niles Atallah
Video installation performed at Centro Cultural de España in Santiago, Chile for the event “Lugares Como Poemas: Creación Catalana en Chile.” Two actors and an actress sit in chairs on stage and read text from the play “Llueve en Barcelona” by Pau Miró. As the actors read the text and switch chairs, above their heads three video projections show repeated loops of images in stop motion related to the play.