Mircea Cantor’s film entitled Aquila Non Capit Muscas (2018), after the Latin saying, ‘the eagle doesn’t catch flies,’ fits into his assiduous practice exploring the medium of cinema. In his film Deeparture (2005), the absence of action is the cornerstone of the work where a deer and a wolf are put in an otherwise empty room together allowing us to observe prey and predator, the instincts of hunt and survival made palpably visible. In Cantor’s new work, the flight of a golden eagle is carefully recorded and deconstructed in a sequence where every detail is captured. The powerful gaze and determination of the eagle lead us to imagine a target that isn’t immediately visible. Soon we see that this king of the skies is in a confrontation with a drone, an icon of technology. Shot with high-definition slow-motion cameras, the video evokes ideas of territory, surveillance, and intrusion.
