The Question in the Village

An experimental short film by Jannette Cheong

A search for identity

The Question in the Village is a reflection on a perennial question of who we are and where we come from… most especially for all those who embark on a search for their identity, especially children. It is a question for each person to resolve. For many, the search can take a lifetime, and is so often based on the everlasting memories of the attitudes of those encountered on the way…  

As such, ‘the Question in the Village’, and a sense of ‘belonging’’ (or not), is a reflection of one’s life’s journey through the ‘village of humankind’ and how this connects to who we are - rather than the place in which we, our fathers, or our mothers, happen to be born. 

The screenplay was based on a text written for Jannette in 1972 by British poet, writer and teacher, Eric Mottram (1924-95); weaving together ideas from Zen quotations and titles of paintings by Lyonel Feininger’s friend, Paul Klee.

50 years in the making

The original 16mm film footage for this 11-minute experimental short film was lost in the 1970s and rediscovered before the 2020 pandemic. The sound track (narration by actor, Hugh Quarshie, music composed and performed by Jonathan Dove) and film editing (by Jannette Cheong) were all completed during the second pandemic lockdown in early 2021. It is the serendipity of these circumstances that has unexpectedly enabled the completion of a project 50 years in the making, and in doing so has brought together the work of past and present artists, and pre-digital and digital technology.

A limited edition book of the film has also been produced.

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Featuring the work of Lyonel Feininger

The Question in the Village brings the imaginary world of German-American Lyonel Feininger (1871-1956), expressionist master and Bauhaus co-founder - closer to ours. The film features a group of 34 small wooden figures and houses that he hand-carved and painted and sent to his friends, the Hess family, in 1951 and 1953 - the latter just three years before his death.

This not-for-profit experimental short film was completed in time to mark the 150th anniversary of Lyonel Feininger’s birth.