“OVID-20” is a call for action, a cinepamphlet poem of the ID(s) and id of contemporary society struck by COVID-19 but also of the broader struggle against the state and capital and their apparatuses. Language as positive virus, memory and weapon for emancipation and autonomy.
Music composed and performed by Mayakov+sky Platform. All videos and photos were taken by Mayakov+sky Platform, in Greece, New York and the Bay Area, in a span of 15 years. The film is dedicated to Ibrahim Gökçek and Helin Bölek of revolutionary band Grup Yorum and in solidarity with the rest of the members and their uncompromising continuous fight against the repression of the Turkish State. Both Ibrahim Gökçek and Helin Bölek died recently after a hunger strike that lasted almost a year.
Poem written/recited in Japanese, by Kohei Masuda. To be read before watching the film.
“A middle-aged man, trying to regain his lost youth, is buying young women drinks in Roppongi, Tokyo, and telling them preachy stories
That middle-aged man contracted the novel coronavirus
Communication between humans and the coronavirus!
COVID-19 took a lot of lives, but it also taught us what’s really important
Unnecessary information
Unnecessary things
Unwanted middle-aged man
Relationships are stripped to the limit
People are thinking of the world after COVID-19
In a warm surveillance society they turn over their own information
Gentle Dystopia
After COVID-19 and beyond will come the after-internet
I didn’t dive into the sea of information
OFF THE GRID
Longing for blood warmth
The preciousness of mass
Being tangible
You taught me blood warmth
You taught me the preciousness of mass
And you were tangible
I can’t touch you
My hands can’t reach you anymore
Running in the dark
Cancel out any noise
In that darkness
I always come across murdered Mozart
Murdered Mozart!
My youth is never dead
It’s not even past
The sign of peace is already showing
It’s like a dark night that’s coming
It’s also the beginning of oblivion.”