OBITATELI (THE INHABITANTS)

Pelešjan's work stands out formally and thematically from its time. Using archive footage, he puts together an impressive portrayal of the relations between humans and animals. In fact, the titular inhabitants in his film are animals; humans are not shown. But they are implied – through bars that confine the animals and through the sound of gunshots. Pelešjan’s method of distance montage creates a structure that resembles, in his words, a “balloon-shaped rotating configuration”. Its basic idea is to increase the effect of key images by creating a certain distance between them.