About Bibliomania Fantasies

Bibliomania Fantasies is a 2-day festival hosted by Limestone Books, celebrating alternative libraries as artistic interventions in the city. This event marks the continued development of a community library they have been building with local organizations in Maastricht. Artists, researchers, and librarians from across the Netherlands, who manage similar "little libraries," will join Limestone Books over the weekend to present their perspectives. Through talks, workshops, dinners, and screenings, the festival will highlight how these unique libraries transform spaces and foster community through art and books.

In this compilation programme, a collaboration between Lumière Cinema and Limestone Books, film curator i-hsuan presents an immersive journey into the power of libraries and cinema as communal spaces. Through a selection of short films, this gathering will delve into the concept of the library not only as a public archive but as a hub for sharing, learning, and creating. Together, we’ll reflect on how personal collections, family albums, and artistic archives connect people, share memories, and spark creativity.

The films (A – Z):

A Month of Single Frames
Lynne Sachs, Barbara Hammer, United States 2019, 14 min., English language.

In 1998, filmmaker Barbara Hammer participated in an artist residency in a shack without running water or electricity. While there, she shot film, recorded sounds, and kept a journal. In 2018, as Barbara began her own process of dying from cancer, she entrusted Lynne Sachs, gave her all the footage from the residency, and then invited her to make a film. Through her own filmmaking, Lynne explores Barbara’s experience of solitude. Her on-screen text brings us all together in multiple spaces and times.
The result is not only a personal diary film but also a unique exchange and testament to the beautiful friendship between the two filmmakers. What emerges is a poignant collaboration immortalised through this intimate cinematic gesture.

Everywhere at Once
Alan Berliner, United States 1985, 10 min., English language.

EVERYWHERE AT ONCE is a musical montage, a synchronized symphony composed from an infinity of elements at hand: piano chords and cable cars, cocktail jazz and broken glass, Looney Tunes and telephones, elephants and xylophones, violins and vultures, orchestras and roller coasters – a journey in images at the speed of sound. These collages are drawn from a vast personal library of sounds and images, steadfastly accumulated over many years. Ultimately, these films document the filmmaker’s need to put order to his universe, a place burdened by compulsion to make the puzzle fit the pieces.
In addition, we also present a special bonus video in which Alan Berliner takes us on a tour of his studio, which houses an extensive archive of audiovisual material. The video clip is taken from his film WIDE AWAKE, which is about his life-long obsession with insomnia.

Family Trips
Liu Chi-tung, Liu Chi-fan, Taiwan 2022, 25 min., Taiwanese language, English subtitles.

The filmmakers' father worked as a tour guide for years, traveling between Taiwan and Japan. With his busy schedule abroad, family trips became their rare moments of connection. In 2020, when the pandemic put his work on hold and left him restless at home, the filmmakers invited their father to plan a trip about "himself" - an opportunity to reflect on his life. Together, they embarked on a new family journey. The film combines mobile phone footage of this journey with home videos shot by their parents when the children were young. The shifting roles behind and in front of the camera reflect the different stages of life and create a poignant portrait of family dynamics.
The film is an intergenerational collaboration, a touching and heartwarming exploration of people's shared experiences. It is both a family portrait and an unconventional road movie.

Fuck Chronology as Truth Telling
Saskia Burggraaf, The Netherlands 2022, 14 min., English language.

FUCK CHRONOLOGY AS TRUTH TELLING is a video collage challenging the concept of linear time, questioning its capitalist and patriarchal underpinnings. The artist leads us through fragments of personal archives, inviting us to explore collected thoughts and experiences. Using video, VR, and text, Saskia explores how fragmented narratives can reflect individual and collective experiences of time. The work is a call to reconsider non-linear, queer ideas of temporality, rejecting rigid societal structures.

Toute la mémoire du monde
Alain Resnais, France 1956, 21 min., French language, English subtitles.

TOUTE LA MÉMOIRE DU MONDE is a captivating short documentary by renowned French filmmaker Alain Resnais. In just 20 minutes, Resnais explores the labyrinthine halls of the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, reflecting on the vast collection of human knowledge housed within its walls. The film has a distinct sci-fi tone, as if observed from a non-human perspective, examining the grand structure that humans take pride in – this monumental library that stands as a fortress of civilisation.