Hotel machine

From what viewpoint are contemporary wars seen, analysed and represented? Hotel machine answers this very concretely: the first viewpoint is from the big hotels, the Mayflower or Commodore in Beirut, the Holiday Inn in Sarajevo, the Al Deira in Gaza… These “bunkers” that shelter the international media are of strategic importance, if only because observing a war also means protecting oneself against it. The filmic dispositif, akin to an installation, replays broadcasts of war correspondents’ testimonies in the places where they had covered events – a mise en scène that also makes room for absence, such as that of the since deceased journalists evoked by two hotel employees. Army personnel, press, drivers, humanitarian workers, “fixers”… The vast hotel lobbies are thoroughfares, where the routine circulation of staff masks more disturbing comings and goings. Everyone becomes a potential source of information and the cameraman’s balcony position echoes the perches of local snipers. This dangerous but certainly electrifying confusion is what inspired the highly original editing of Hotel machine, which segues the different hotels with unsettling ease. This sheds light on the structure of a universal mechanism, before the camera’s magnificent final escape to freedom. (Charlotte Garson)