Filmforum 50, program 4: three sparks, by Naomi Uman
Los Angeles Filmforum presents
Filmforum 50, program 4: Naomi Uman’s three sparks
Sunday December 7, 2025, 7:30 pm
At 2220 Arts + Archives, 2220 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles CA 90057
Los Angeles premiere!
In person: Naomi Uman
Tickets: $15 general, $10 students/seniors, free for Filmforum members
https://link.dice.fm/k7f8fd4df3dd
Filmmaker Naomi Uman has mentioned that “three sparks is a nightmare, a dream and an awakening”. It is a triptych.
The film plays with our senses, toggling, with our consciousness as text itself communicates visually what is simultaneously heard, between linguistic languages we know and linguistic languages we do not speak. The rural and mountaineer landscapes activate various cultural phenomena that spur us into exploring landscapes and non-linearity, merging the lines between known and unknown future(s), past(s), and present(s). three sparks heightens the way our perception thinks about old laws, traditional gender relations, and various ways our presence as filmmakers and human beings is felt while making, and viewing, bodies full of worlds.– Diego Robles
three sparks
three sparks
A non-fiction film/video by Naomi Uman
Mexico, Albania • 2023, color & b&w, 16mm/video, 93 min.
Trailer: https://vimeo.com/780344866
This film in three parts explores traditions in rural Albania and the role of women in society. The project begins by describing the filmmaker’s relationship to the country and an unwanted personal sacrifice which solidifies this connection. The film moves into a poetic portrayal of village life and the roles of women in society and concludes with a video piece, revealing the villagers active participation in their own depiction.
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT / NOTAS DE LA DIRECTORA
I am a visual artist, working in a variety of media including 16mm film and video. This trilogy grew naturally out of my work in rural Ukraine and Mexico. My films are personal and ethnographic and they attempt to examine the influence and presence of the filmmaker while portraying “the other” in sympathetic and subjective ways, always emphasizing women and community.
Some years ago, I was invited to be a member of the jury at the Tirana International Film Festival. This included a screening of my films portraying village life in Ukraine. Afterwards, many people approached me and asked me to make a portrait of rural life in the mountains of Albania. After much research, including an investigation of the writing and drawings of Edith Durham, I went to Albania. I planned to make a film about the relationship between rural people and their dogs. Accidentally, I killed my own dog while scouting for a location.
In Albania, before embarking on a major project, a sacrifice is made. A goat or a sheep is killed and its blood is dripped around the foundation in order to make the building project successful. Old traditions, handed down in song, recount that often a woman was sacrificed or placed into the wall of the building in order to guarantee the prosperity of the project. Later, I learned that Shkoder, the city where my dog died and was buried, had a foundation myth involving the sacrifice of a beloved being. This cemented my relationship with Albania and the need to successfully complete my film project.