French film historian, scholar and curator Nicole Brenez presents her State of Cinema, titled ‘Projections. Provisoires. Provisions’. Brenez has entrusted filmmaker Othello Vilgard with the task of reading her text and putting the recording into form. The text is available on Sabzian in French as well as in Dutch and English translation.

Every year, Sabzian asks a guest to write a State of Cinema, and to choose a film that connects to it. This way, once a year, the art of film is held against the light, an invitation to reflect on what cinema means, could or should mean today. Nicole Brenez chose the film A.I. at War (2021), in which filmmaker Florent Marcie confronts Sota, an AI robot, with the tragedy of mankind in the war zones of Mosul and Raqqa, then in Paris during the Yellow Vests uprising.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the State of Cinema’s fourth edition took place online, followed by a single online screening of A.I. at War. The State of Cinema was introduced by Gerard-Jan Claes, and followed by a Q&A with Florent Marcie, Nicole Brenez and Gerard-Jan Claes.