Gray 1993

Directed by Eija-Liisa Ahtila

The films are situated, both formally and narratively, in the terrain between short fiction and advertisements. They examine the differences and interactions between the two: the effects of the moving-image tradition and the language of film on advertising; and the use of narrative strategies and means of expression from adverts in drama. The subject of GRAY is the change in reality caused by a catastrophe, and the blurring of the boundary between self and other. It deals with a situation in which the other cannot be excluded, because it is in the very air that is breathed. Three women talk about a nuclear disaster that has occurred beyond the national borders. Their speech is allusive, including both facts about nuclear accidents and private thoughts. The women descend in a freight elevator to a dark, underwater place. The change, whether caused by fallout from a nuclear accident or the invasion of a foreign language and customs is permanent.