catastrophe

A blind date between an American epidemiologist and a Norwegian woman takes place on a transatlantic Skype call. In trying to impress his potential paramour, the American steers the conversation terribly wrong, toward a discussion of the Plague and all the devastating historical memories it entails.  Rats and Cats :: Katter Og Rotter is a film by Roderick Coover and Scott Rettberg. The film is designed both installation (loop) and single channel screening. It is the second in a series of works about memory, desire, catastrophe, and translation. Rats and Cats :: Katter Og Rotter features the voices of Jill Walker and Rob Wittig. The sound technician was Joseph Kramer. The work was made possible in part with funding from the Philadelphia Independent Film and Video Association.

Katastrofetrilogien is a trilogy centered on themes of how stories of historic disasters impact contemporary conversations and relationships. Collaboratively and organically constructed, these three films call upon histories of deadly volcanic ash, great floods, and the plague to tell stories of present day longing, anxiety, and environmental change.

"The Last Volcano / Det siste utbruddet"A story of a catastrophic volcanic eruption and its aftermath is retold by a woman to a man before the slowly turning image of contemporary urban landscape. Though the story seems to reference events of the distant past, its setting and telling raise anxieties related to cycles of memory and forgetting.

Direction: Roderick CooverWriting: Scott Rettberg Translation by: Daniel Apollon, Gro Jørstad Nilsen, and Jill Walker RettbergVoices: Gro Jørstad Nilsen and Jan Arild Breistein

"Cats and Rats / Rotter og katter"A blind date between an American epidemiologist and a Norwegian woman takes place on a transatlantic Skype call. In trying to impress his potential paramour, the American steers the conversation terribly wrong, toward a discussion of the Plague and all the devastating historical memories it entails.

Direction: Roderick CooverWriting: Scott Rettberg Translation by: Jill Walker Rettberg,Voices: Jill Walker Rettberg and Rob Wittig

"Norwegian Tsunami/ Norsk flodbølge"During a cigarette break on an oil platform in the North sea, a Scottish geologist and a Norwegian chef consider a certain strangeness in the waves, their changing spirits, and the last time a tsunami devastated the nearby shores.

Direction: Roderick CooverWriting: Scott Rettberg Translation by: Scott Rettberg and Jill Walker Rettberg,Voices: Gillian Carson and Kristian A. Bjørkelo