Follow the Water - Pauline Julier

During this first evening dedicated to the work of Pauline Julier, the natural element of water becomes the guiding thread. In La Disparition des Aitus and Follow the Water, the Swiss artist’s camera explores two territories where water has profoundly reshaped both physical and imaginary geographies, revealing the extent of its power: on one side, its abundance linked to rising sea levels; on the other, its scarcity, which shapes ways of living and storytelling. Together, these two films open a reflection on the impacts of capitalist logics, extractivism and colonisation, showing how water can become a prism through which to examine power relations and contemporary forms of ecological resistance.

La Disparition des Aitus (CH, 35’, 2014) 
This poetic essay on Tuvalu, a micro‑state in the South Pacific, draws an analogy between the country’s disappearance beneath rising waters and the erosion of its inhabitants’ imaginary worlds. A metaphorical fable on the nation’s modernisation unfolds alongside a nocturnal journey through an island environment that is as paradisiacal as it is unsettling.

Follow the Water (CH, 48’, 2023) 
Winter 2021. Atacama Desert, Chile. Around one of the world’s largest lithium mines, several protagonists recount their connection to this territory. Their voices collide: the commitment of an Indigenous activist defending water rights, the doubts of scientists exploring the desert as an analogue for Mars, the convictions of industrial actors, the spectres of colonisation, and the stories of new explorers.