The Mirror That Fell to Earth
In a dystopian future, a mysterious electronic buzz lingers throughout a desolate town. Few roam the street, while a group of men in white fur wander.
The Mirror That Fell to Earth
(Mohacs, Hungary, USA - 2017) HD video (color, sound), 18:08 min.
Screenings: Transmitter Gallery (Brooklyn), Jungles in Paris (Publication)
Synopsis
Intertwining fiction and nonfiction, ‘The Mirror that Fell to Earth' transports the Hungarian Busójárás Festival into a fictionalized end of the world. The week-long fertility festival is time to act outside of moral standards, where women are chased down and humped by men in furry costume for good fortune. Its origin story is also mixed between a ceremony to scare away father winter and part legend of the Ottoman War. This setting is replaced with a fictionalized unknown disaster, the incessant buzzing suggesting technologies take over, which leaves the field and women barren, the masked men born out of panic.
Believing that by studying one culture one can shed light on humanity as a whole, the film celebrates the viral spirit of the Busójárás festival, a liberal time to act outside of moral codes. It intertwines modes of surrealism, ethnography films, and narrative cinema to open a wider discourse around the nature of humanity, questioning the borders of society and the subjectivity of reality.
Director’s Statement
Intertwining fiction and nonfiction, ‘The Mirror that Fell to Earth' transports the Hungarian Busójárás Festival into a fictionalized end of the world. A time to act outside of moral standards, the week-long fertility festival is a time when women are chased down and humped by men in furry costumes for good fortune. It's also part of a ceremony to scare away father winter and part legend of the Ottoman War. This setting is replaced with a fictionalized unknown disaster, the incessant buzzing suggesting technologies take over, which leaves the field and women barren, the masked men born out of panic. Believing that studying one culture can shed light on humanity as a whole, the film celebrates the viral spirit of the Busójárás festival, a liberal time to act outside of moral codes. It intertwines modes of surrealism, ethnography films, and narrative cinema to open a wider discourse that will investigate and question human nature and constructed social norms and taboos, such as the relationship of subjectivity and reality, the seeking for transcendence as an innate universal trait, and the ideas of normality surrounding sexuality.
I hope to guide viewers through a visceral, cathartic journey, pushing their limitations, entering their subconscious to entice a truer, primal self within, shooting the project on my own to delve myself into the experience, hoping to create an equally vivid experience for viewers. I chose to tell a dystopian tale to suggest that when faced with the end, in desperation, we would return to our primal selves, which may ultimately be our salvation. The incessant unexplained buzzing represents the means of our downfall - technology taking over, bees dying out, or something from the sky, possibly aliens, that is the cause of the world’s downfall – the furry men are then a result of mass panic. The film is inspired by The Wicker Man (1973) and dystopian tales such as A Clockwork Orange and 1984, and this idea of technology being pushed too far will eventually be our downfall.
FAQ WITH THE DIRECTOR
1. Was it weird to be a part of a prominently male festival or an outsider from the culture?
I never felt like or was treated as an outsider. I think it’s important whether you’re making narrative or documentary films to bond with those you’re filming, to be with them going through the motions together. I believe gender is a social construct and don’t see it as a limitation. In the festival itself, gender wavered, women dress up in the Busos costumes and men dress up as women. To me, the phallic symbol can be as much a representation of the male as it can female pleasure, reproduction takes two parties to tango, so I would never see that as a male thing. A lot of people spoke English, had traveled the world, or were able to communicate non-verbally through the gesture of giving or dancing, there is always a way to connect to someone. To think I’m different also feels like a way of thinking I’m better. At the end, we’re all the same, we’re all just people, which is what I hope to show in my work.
2. Why is it important to film the project yourself?
I want to to tell stories that show humanities universality, I seek an ethnographers approach, combining observation with heavy research, because I don’t want to cast a personal opinion, but would rather observe. This is why I find it important to film the project myself, to delve myself into experiences, hoping to create an equally vivid experience for viewers. I also like the rawness of interacting with people that makes me a better director in my fictional work.
3. Why did you decided against voice over?
On the last day of the festival, I was standing in the square, overwhelmed with emotion from the unbelievable experience of the last days, a Buso came toward me and I curled up in my ball waiting for him to hump me, he instantly took his mask off to reveal he was the grandfather that was in my group, he couldn’t speak English, he hugged me, and I started to cry. In that moment, it was a realization that we don’t need language to have a experience or connect with someone or something, and that perhaps, its absence can lead to something more profound. The whole experience was beautiful and overwhelming and I really felt at the end of it I had gone through an incredible ritual.
4. I find the film scary in parts, is this intentional?
I never intended the film to be scary. With my films, I hope to awake all the senses, emerging viewers into the film experience. To do this, I use both visceral sound and images that play with perception, calling on viewers’ senses to create primal original sensations that resonate within the and hopefully carry with them outside of the theatre. These are things successfully rendered in horror films, which is why it may feel that way.