a
b
c

Ineffable Shape: The shape of language

Available online: 22/03/2025
Play trailer
Director Emilia Tapprest & Miri Lee
Choreographer Miri Lee
Netherlands 2024
13 minutes
English
In the hum of the environment, two candidates train to become interpreters for the rhythms, patterns, and nuances of a nearby field sparrow. What begins as an exercise in empathy and attunement provokes unexpected realizations about the ‘shape’ of language.

Synopsis

In a world where translation is increasingly automated, what understanding can emerge from intuition, improvisation, and nonverbal bodily intelligence? Amid the hum of their environment, two candidates train to interpret the rhythms, patterns, and nuances of a nearby field sparrow. What starts as an exercise in empathy and attunement leads to unexpected realizations about the ‘shape’ of language.

This film is currently not available.

In a world where translation is increasingly automated, what understanding can emerge from intuition, improvisation, and nonverbal bodily intelligence? Amid the hum of their environment, two candidates train to interpret the rhythms, patterns, and nuances of a nearby field sparrow. What starts as an exercise in empathy and attunement leads to unexpected realizations about the ‘shape’ of language.

Full credits

Section
New Dutch
Director
Emilia Tapprest & Miri Lee
Choreographer
Miri Lee
Production countries
Netherlands
Production year
2024
Duration
13 minutes
Producer
Miri Lee

You might also like:

Sleepless Until I Die
Online
Sleepless Until I Die International Student Competition

Chorong Yang & Jiaqi Yu, 2024, US, 9 min

Three people tormented by relentless anxiety and prolonged sleeplessness, slowly lose their human forms. As their condition worsens, they evolve into monsters, doomed to an eternity without rest.

 ÄYEL
Online
ÄYEL International Student Competition

Valeriya Kim, 2024, KZ, 3 min

After separating heaven and earth, Tengri, the all-embracing God of heaven in the traditional Turkic, Yeniseian, and Mongolian beliefs, divided himself into man and woman to procreate. He named the woman the goddess Umai and settled her atop Mount Sumeru in the sky, near a milk lake called Sutkol. Here begins the story of Umai – the ancestor and spirit of women – on the vast steppes of the nomadic lands.

Peak Hour in the House
Online
Peak Hour in the House International Student Competition

Blue Ka Wing, 2024, GB, HK, 7 min

Alone at home, a woman is immersed in a bizarre adventure of the mind. In the intimacy of her space, her imagination knows no bounds, transcending time and space as she revisits memories and glimpses into the unknown. However, this solitary exploration is disrupted by the sudden presence of an unexpected intruder.