Turtleneck Phantasies
Turtleneck Phantasies
2023
17:36 min, Super 8 Film/HD Video
Turtleneck Phantasies tells the story of a German writer who spent over 30 years in psychiatric institutions tattooing his fellow inmates. In the 1980s he was one of only four people to survive a shipwreck. Severely traumatised, he was committed to a psychiatric clinic in England and later moved to a home in West Berlin. In the homes he began tattooing words and (mostly illegible) texts and drawings on the skin of his fellow patients. One could interpret his obsession with orientation and navigation as a constant struggle against the loss of his own compass.
The phenomenon of tattoos runs throughout Wieland’s video as a leitmotif, bringing together various biographical levels with memories and episodes from the artist’s childhood. They appear as a kind of obsession, as a protective “second skin”, anchor point, and medium of location and reorientation in the wake of traumatic experiences. The film continually deals with the theme of who is situated in society and who is excluded.
In 2023 Turtleneck Phantasies received the Main Award of the German Competition at 69th International Short Film Festival, Oberhausen, Germany; the Main Award at 25th Festival des Cinémas Différents et Expérimentaux, Paris, France; and the Aus-Blicke Award at Blicke, Filmfestival, Bochum, Germany.
Turtleneck Phantasies was shown in 2023 at 69th International Short Film Festival, Oberhausen, Germany; Trembling Time, EMAF – 36th European Media Art Festival, Osnabrück, Germany; 17th KFFK/Shortfilmfestival Köln, Cologne; Germany; Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin, France, Germany; Kasseler Dokumentar, Film und Videofest, Kassel, Germany; Festival des Cinémas Différents et Expérimentaux de Paris, France; Hidden in plain sight, Jogja Fotografis Festival, Yogyakarta, Indonesia; Festival des Cinémas Différents et Expérimentaux, Paris; Nexus of Absentias, Rapid Eye Movement, Bangkok, Thailand and in 2022 at Kindl – Centre for Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany.