Experiencing Interruptions?

Forget Alberto For Now

A refugee known only as Alberto flies from Athens to Brussels on a fake passport. Three years later, a small crew from Berlin tries to make a film by shooting the landscape of his transit. Things fall apart. They film pigeons instead. The artifice of documentary becomes the subject itself: where do we stand between image and meaning? Forget Alberto For Now is an essay that probes our roles as authors and spectators, and interrogates the politics of narrative: to whom do stories belong, and who has the right to tell them?

  • Beina Xu
    Director
  • Beina Xu
    Writer
  • Thomas Kaske
    Producer
    Janitou
  • Alex Bakri
    Editor
  • Annegret Sachse
    DoP
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Experimental, Short
  • Runtime:
    18 minutes 20 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    January 1, 2020
  • Production Budget:
    28,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Germany
  • Country of Filming:
    Belgium, Germany, Greece
  • Language:
    Arabic, English, French
  • Shooting Format:
    4k
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • IFFR
    Rotterdam
    Netherlands
    January 23, 2020
    World Premiers
    Bright Future Shorts
Director Biography - Beina Xu

Beina Xu is a Berlin-based writer and filmmaker. Born in Beijing and raised in the US, she studied comparative literature and visual anthropology in Europe and the United States. Her work is usually situated at intersections, and wrestles with personal and collective historiography. Her debut short film, Forget Alberto For Now, premiered at International Film Festival Rotterdam 2020.

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Director Statement

1. How should we make a documentary about a refugee experience?
2. Who’s “we”?
3. What happens if we don’t want to film the protagonist?
4. Can a pigeon be a protagonist?
5. Is the pigeon a metaphor?
6. Is the pigeon getting paid?
7. By whom?
8. To whom does the story belong?
9. At what point does one become a refugee?
10. Why should we make a documentary about a refugee experience?