Wael Shawky’s Cabaret Crusades surprised me when I walked into the small theatre. I knew very little about the crusades at the top of my head and the film being in a different language led me to scramble to understand the context of what I walked into. Despite the initial language barrier (there were subtitles) and little background knowledge, the film drew me in and kept me in my seat for longer than I expted. The glass marionettes, handmade by glassblowers from Venice were mesmerizing and incredibly detailed. The marionettes were controlled humorously and were meticulously animated to the narration. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the marionettes were much larger in person than I initially imagined. Each marionette’s mouth and eyes were controlled individually – I laughed every time I could hear the clinking of the eyes and mouth. With the number of attachments on each of the marionettes, it looked like controlling them was not an easy task. If we had had more time in PS1, I would have sat through the entire film.
marionette photo via momaps1.org