Stalker

In a metaphysical expedition through a perplexing post-apocalyptic landscape, Tarkovsky conceives a sombre futuristic escape from the Soviet Union in a religious and political allegory. An ascetic stalker leads a writer and a professor into the deserted and forbidden Zone to find the Room, a place rumoured to fulfill one’s innermost desires. No time lapse between the shots – ‘as if the whole film had been made in a single shot’ – Tarkovsky lets time and its passing have their existence, as he translates the mysteries of human consciousness into organically atmospheric and visually entrancing tableaux, achieving the poetic essence of cinema – to reveal every iota of the truth and humanity. And it’s through spiritual crisis that healing occurs.

Cannes Film Festival: Prize of the Ecumenical Jury

7/12 (Sat) Speaker: Long Tin (Writer, cultural curator and critic)