MARÍA

by DALIA AL-AKKI

DUE EX MACHINA WORKSHOP

MARÍA is a short experimental film that was made during DUE EX MACHINA workshop in Elisava University that was led by EL ÚLTIMO GRITO

The workshop’s aim was to allow individuals to create their own installation, that transforms a story’s immediate narrative outcome.

Movie Selection:

Metropolis (1927)

SCENE:

Rotwang kidnaps Maria, transfers her likeness to the robot and sends her to Fredersen. Freder finds the two embracing and, believing it is the real Maria, falls into a prolonged delirium. Intercut with his hallucinations, the false Maria unleashes chaos throughout Metropolis, driving men to murder and stirring dissent among the workers.

REWRITING THE STORY:

I wanted to rewrite the part where Maria becomes wicked, luring men to do evil; by Maria self-expressing herself through a performance and men lured by her, that they cared not to even know her name. The short film tends to look at it from a feminist point of view and will make you question the role of a woman in the lives of men. It is supposed to be a metaphor representing how a woman is still associated with lust when it comes to her freely using self-expression.

INSTALLATION PROPOSAL

The installation is an experience rather one object, where individuals also play a role in the narrative by being subjects of the act. The red eye is a representation of the lustful eyes that easily gets seduced by what is unfamiliar “being maria’s performance”.