A sparsely-inhabited, half-constructed settlement located deep in the Mojave desert, California City was intended to be a major urban centre rivalling Los Angeles had it been completed. Lashay T. Warren has left his turbulent life in L.A. to live there, looking to make a fresh start amongst its crumbling buildings. As they work to rebuild the city, Lashay and his conservation corp companions roam the vacant streets, finding fragments of beauty and poetry amongst the ruins. His collected images and journal entries come together in Benoot, De Ceulaer, and Tollenaere’s charming film to form a lyrical, sometimes surreal filmic diary of life on a forgotten frontier.

UK Premiere

Screens with: Dadli
Shabier Kirchner | 2018 | Antigua and Barbuda | 14’

Screening includes a Q&A with directors Sofie Benoot and Liesbeth De Ceulaer, hosted by Jordan Rowe.

Read an essay on Victoria by Jordan Rowe.

In Partnership with Urban Lab Films.

Available: Block 1 (Wed 9th Sept midday – Sat 12th Sept midnight BST)

Please note: this film is only available to view in the UK.

Nominated for the Open City Award

Sofie Benoot’s films are patchworks of different stories, which are carefully puzzled together to reveal hidden connections. Blue Meridian (2010) and Desert Haze (2014) played at Visions du Réel, Camden IFF, Torino FF, Doclisboa and BAFICI. She teaches at LUCA School of Arts in Brussels.

Liesbeth De Ceulaer’s films explore the tense and complex relationship between man and his environment. The Best Act on the Isle (2008) and Behind the Redwood Curtain (2013) have been shown at festivals including Docville (Best Belgian Doc) and Hot Springs DFF.

Isabelle Tollenaere’s films playfully move between the codes and conventions of documentary and fiction, film and contemporary art. Viva Paradis (2011), Battles (2015) and The Remembered Film (2018) have been presented at IFFR (Fipresci award 2015), Centre Pompidou, Viennale, Visions Du Réel, FID Marseille, IDFA, CPH:DOX, 25FPS (Grand Jury Prize 2018).