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»Darkstar« | Banu Birecikligil & Tim Ra
A nymph plays marbles with eyeballs in a nocturnal clearing. When one rolls away, she follows it—and loses herself in surreal soulscapes where she encounters alienated versions of herself.
She encounters desperate women: Struwwelpetra, sinking in black liquid. A headless mermaid. Cassandra without arms. She sees the world through their eyes, sees everything yet cannot change anything. Only when she gives space to her tears does growth begin.
»Darkstar is a film about powerlessness and compassion — and about the fact that change sometimes begins where the struggle ends.
All characters, creatures, and locations in the film originate from the paintings of Banu Birecikligil: the nymph, the girl in the black water, Cassandra, the mermaid, the lizards with eye-heads, the flying eyes, the luminous house. For three decades, she has been painting dreamscapes in which human, animal, and myth overlap — forests and sea creatures, nymphs and satyrs, eyes with wings. Her landscapes are not real places, but states of consciousness.
The music is from the album »Kosmische Kuriere« by Tim Ra and Jens Strüver: the tracks »Darkstar« and »Nebula,« a cosmic journey between electronica, ambient, and psychedelic soundscapes.
If you want to experience the world of film beyond just the screen, you can find the original paintings that inspired it: from October 3 to January 23, 2027, at the Lovelab Dreamspace, Pappelallee 25.
Art film | 6:07 | 2026 | Banu Birecikligil & Tim Ra
Paintings, figures and imagery: Banu Birecikligil · Storyboard, animation and realization: Tim Ra · Music: Tim Ra & Jens Strüver