POROEROTUS

Country of production: Austria
Year: 1999
Language: English
Mins: 45

Directors, camera, sound, editing, production:
Andreas Horvath, Clemens Haider


In a forest in Finland reindeer are disturbed by the sudden noise of an engine. They are soon driven into a coral by a helicopter and a group of beaters. The poroerotus can begin. This Suomi tradition consists of an annual roundup of the reindeer herd to count them and select them. Part of the herd will be set free again, the rest will be culled. For three days, locked up in the coral, the animals await man’s verdict. From the beginning, it is the animal’s point of view, which dominates. Man makes an incursion into the natural surroundings, which are presented as a separate world. The three-day wait is filmed from the reindeer’s point of view. The camera wanders amid the herd, observes the men through the fences, but sometimes crosses over to the other side. The film-maker is sometimes involved in exchanges with the human protagonists, however, he remains silent. No commentary is added to the pictures. The shouts of the men, the cries of the animals, and the ringing of the reindeer bells, provide a sort of sonic measure of the tension provoked by the situation. A piece by Sibelius is heard, the spectacle takes on a tragic aspect. Presenting both the animal’s point of view and that of a distant observer, Andreas Horvath gradually presents the events as they unfold, placing the spectator in the same situation of bewilderment as the reindeer. At the end of the poroerotus, the cars and the survivors leave the scene of the tragedy. The film then becomes the trace of this cruel instant during which the animal becomes meat.

Andreas Horvath (born in 1968, in Salzburg, Austria) is a photographer and filmmaker. He makes short experimental films and documentaries. In 1993, he published a black and white photo book on the American Midwest, the so-called "Heartland." His book on Yacutia, Siberia was published in 2003.

filmography as director
THIS AIN'T NO HEARTLAND (2003)
THE SILENCE OF GREEN (2002)
POROEROTUS (1999)
CLEARANCE (1998)

Director Andreas Horvath in person!

Monday 12-Apr-2004 7:00 PM Gallery Theatre