Individuals wait, silence is heard, a microscopic attention through a tired mass. If the film is almost mute, it is because it focuses on silent figures, although their struggle is deafening.
Fake left.
Run right.
Pass.
There are no messages here.
So we may breathe.
Run.
Dribble.
Jump.
We are carefully playing the game
The body has always wanted a life of its own
Most days, you’ll find me here.
Mieriën Coppens
Standing Guard is an adaptation of This House, an earlier film by Coppens and Maissin. Without an introduction, we witness a significant gathering in the corridors of the occupied building of ‘La Voix des Sans-Papiers’ in brussels.
Three men are working on a construction site. The work has been interrupted by five months of imprisonment. The rain suddenly falls like the silence that precedes an eviction.
A document made for the Pier Paolo Pasolini retrospective in CINEMATEK, Brussels.