To the happy few - Thomas Draschnan

The film "to the happy few" was shown to me by fellow editor and artist Antonella Sarubbi who presented it to us directly from the tube onto the screen. Using a Hindustani song, the Austrian Thomas Draschan  compiled this film using footage that seems to come from the second half of the twentieth century. When it comes to content and the juxtaposition of pornographic material with that of beans being opened, we had to question ourselves what is happening in the film and in our heads. Is juxtaposition a door opener for a third element? Is it association and if yes, what on earth does association mean? The rule of three comes to mind when looking at this kind of found-footage-film: The first image, the second one and its connection that probably only functions in our head through the axis of time. The connections that we make are on one hand aesthetically evident, due to the shapes of vaginas, penises, vegetables but also underlined by the movements that are matched by the edit. Rhythmically the film seduces us making use of the music its breaks and its accentuations. But I find the piece compelling not only because it has been masterfully compiled but because it pretends to communicate with us in fragments, as if it were a fragment of the lost Lokayata philosophers, and thus utterly open for interpretation. Of course it is far more than an edit that seeks parallelisms between daily chores and sex. But then again who am I to decide what my memory retains form this plethora of audiovisual impulses?

To the happy few: