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A Walk at Roşia

A Walk at Roşia
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    • A Walk at Roşia
    • Plimbare la Roşia
  • 1972
  • 8mm film transferred to 16mm, b&w, no sound
  • 3min, 33sec
Ion Grigorescu’s film "Walk" shows a group of people walking through the fields and meadows in the village Roşia near Bucharest. Two women wearing headscarves as customary garb for a Sunday walk accompany the artist on this stroll through the landscape. One woman holds a tissue to the left side of her chin as if to alleviate misery or pain. What begins here as ordinary goings-on gets literally turned upside down in the second part of the film: not only does the camera turn 180 degrees, but the people also walk backwards—this time through the center. For a brief moment, one of the women wanders through the streets without a headscarf, thus contrasting the rural atmosphere from the beginning of the film. In this way, Grigorescu differentiates between two worlds not only in terms of people’s behavioral patterns but also by using the techniques made available by the medium at hand. W.S.