The Muscles Are Tense
At a demonstration in Berlin against the genocide in Gaza and the German arms supplies contributing to it, protestors are violently arrested, wrestled to the ground, sprayed with pepper spray and captured on camera. This essay pauses those overwhelming moments and isolates what is happening in order to examine it. Drawing from Fanon and Butler, among others, it offers a pointed interrogation of double standards, the state’s monopoly on violence and protesting under constant surveillance.
– Loes van Keulen
Also in this combined programme
-
VITA
Mox Mäkelä’s cryptic triptych follows time-crossing trains, gathering armies and Karelian women singing humanity’s doom. -
Imagine Me Like a Country of Love
A gentle and personal reflection on grief, absence and memory in the wake of conflict.
Trailer
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Film details
- Countries of production
- Germany, Iran
- Year
- 2026
- Festival edition
- IFFR 2026
- Length
- 16'
- Medium/Format
- DCP
Shows of "The Muscles Are Tense"
-
AvailableVideo on demandEnglish subtitledPress & Industry
-
KINO 4
This screening consists of the following films:
- VITA
- Imagine Me Like a Country of Love
- The Muscles Are Tense
In-personwith Q&AEnglish subtitled -
KINO 4
This screening consists of the following films:
- VITA
- Imagine Me Like a Country of Love
- The Muscles Are Tense
In-personwith Q&AEnglish subtitled