The Hypothesis of the Stolen Painting + The Suitcase

Two surreal works by Chilean auteur Raúl Ruiz question the ways in which we perceive ourselves and the world around us.

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The Suitcase (1963)
Dirs. Raúl Ruiz & Valeria Sarmiento
20min, DCP
In Spanish with English subtitles

This early unfinished short by legendary Chilean auteur Raúl Ruiz centers on a traveler who makes a bizarre and surreal discovery inside his suitcase.

The Hypothesis of the Stolen Painting (1978)
Dir. Raúl Ruiz
66min
With Jean Rougeul, Gabriel Gascon, Raymond Pierson
In French with English subtitles

Ruiz’s brilliant 1978 enigma depicts two narrators, one seen and one unseen, discussing possible connections between a series of paintings. The on-screen narrator walks through three-dimensional reproductions of each painting, featuring real people, in an effort to explain their significance. Originally commissioned as a documentary about the artist Balthasar Klossowski de Rola, what emerged instead is a mockumentary-style exploration of cinema, image, and simulacra.