Sabina Jacobsson/Malika Makouf Rasmussen

The Red City DV, 4'31'', 2008 Music video made for Malika Makouf Rasmussens cd "ON CLUB". Norway

Tell me something about you and artistic background.
Sabina Jacobsson, born in Sweden in 1967,  is a video, photo, performance and installation artist. She graduated from The Academy of Fine Arts in Trondheim Norway 2000 . Jacobsson have had several exhibitions/screenings in Norway and abroad.She work with scenography for dance and theatre performances and she is a lecturer at NISS (Nordic Art for Stage and Studio) in Oslo. Jacobsson  also work as an editor for other artists engaged in video. She is a member of the artist group "The G.U.N. Ladies ", a group that since 2000 realized several performance- and video exhibitions around the world. Their latest project was Gallery TWT (the white tube) situated in a subway station in Oslo. www.sabina.no

Malika Makouf Rasmussen, born in Alger (Algeria) in 1965, is a composer, musician and music producer. She released her first solo album Exit Cairo in February 2006. Incorporating a variety of African and Western instruments blended with electronic sounds forms the sole foundation for her music. On Club is her second solo released in May 2008: While Exit Cairo moved along a north-south axis, this album takes us around the world and into the “club universe”. Her music has been described as contemporary music with a mature sensibility, the latest pulse to come out of the the emerging crossover scene in Europe. From 1986-91 Malika lived in Paris as the creative friction that arises between people of different backgrounds in this city felt natural to experience and to be a part of. Her professional music career started in France and by the time she made Oslo her homebase in 1991, she had alreday been touring across Europe and North Africa, had several CDs, radio- and TV shows on her résumé. In Oslo she began developing her own music projects and her works have been received very positively by the international music scene. Malika is also the founder of the label New Music, Global Oslo Music and Women's Voice International Music Network. The companies employs artists, people in music productions, art-direction, management and booking, and utilizes a network of distributors of music world wide. www.malikamakoufrasmussen.com

Tell me about this film, initial idea and work process.
The Red City is from Malika Makouf Rasmussen's album On Club. The music is an invitation into an atmosphere of rhythm and tones where traditional instruments and voices are painted onto an electronic canvas –an experimental dive into the musical skills of the club universe which intend to bring out through the music. The video images are inspired by the music and the pulse of the city. We discussed the outcome of the images and found out that we wanted black and white images with strong contrasts and fast cutting to really get the club universe vibe.

Are you working on new projects at the moment?
Sabina is for the moment having a soloshow at Brandts Museum of Photography in Odense, Denmark. Malika is currently working on her third studio album, to be released early 2010.

Do you have specific influences in your film/video making?
Sabina started with videoart in 1996 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Trondheim. Her interest has gone back an forth between experimental videoart to documentary videoart. Jacobsson is influenced by several film/videoartists around the world and the list is long. The latest best must be a film by the swedish young director Ruben Östlund "De ofrivilliga".

Why is it important for you to show your film/video in a festival?
It is a different arena for showing videoart.

What role do you think Oslo Screen Festival should have to promote your work?
To make the artists and their work visible to a wide range of audience.