Watch BZV

Named for the three-letter airport code of Brazzaville (where it was filmed), Kevin Jerome Everson's BZV takes a cubist approach to documentary realism. In three sections, the film layers lyrical footage of water-skiers on the Congo River; a neorealist "slice of life" trailing a young couple shopping for a bed; and an observational long take of a fisherman collecting his net. Perhaps each of these scenes of leisure can be seen as a daydream of a place simultaneously faraway and familiar. Initially commissioned for the International Film Festival Rotterdam's "Where is Africa?" program, BZV leaves it an open question. - Max Goldberg