Wonder Turner, 2025
7 min, 16mm transferred to digital

During one of my trips to Bosnia and Herzegovina, (while making a film with my father) I got interested in tepsijanj, or singing with the pan.In Ottoman times, it was considered indecent and was sometimes forbidden for women to play musical instruments. Resisting this, women started playing music utilising the kitchenware they had available. Panplaying was traditionally a skill taught from mother to daughter. Nowadays, traditional singers like Sanela Risidovic, Anela Haselji and Sajra Huskanovic, keep this tradition alive.For this short film, we tried to transform the pan into a thaumatrope (Greek for wonder turner), one of the first animation devices. By adding two slightly different symbols (inspired by local tapestry) on both sides of the pan an illusion of movement appears, thus ‘liberating the static image’

With the amazing: Sanela Risidovic, Anela Haselji and Sajra Huskanovic.Edit: Diego GuitiérrezSound: Marcus BruystensMany thanks to Selver Učanbarlić, Amer Duzic, Ben Geraerts and Onno PetersonAnd to Valentine Umansky and Hana Halilaj for their trustThis project was generously supported my Mondriaanfonds