Siren Test

A spectacular pop culture story from 20th-century Central Europe. Hildegard Knef: global movie star, fashion icon, respected chanson singer, last German diva, feminist. Outspoken, controversial, archetype and antitype of her time. As an actress, singer, and writer, she enjoyed international success, experienced crushing defeats, and was creative for more than five decades. She became famous in Germany at the age of 20 and could never return to anonymity. Her favourite themes of success, failure, self-discovery, and the ability to overcome harsh blows made her an expert in survival. The film portrays a highly talented, ambitious, laconic, and astute woman who showed the world how to cope with both fame and failure.

For several decades, Jaroslav Kořán has been associated with his own percussive instrument, the dreamers' astronomical clock, and other projects between experimentation and ambient music. The film Magical Movements is 100% cinematic-ambient, but it also represents the purity and courage of a personal perspective. The viewer's feeling of being surrounded is enhanced by multi-channel sound. “Each fragment is a micro-story that composes our life perceptions and together forms the essence of the observer's memory. The film acts as a painting with living photography and evokes wonder at the everyday magical side of reality,” says the author.Magical Movements are presented together with Jan Šípek's film Solstice in the block Czech Ambient Film. Both films, which we are premiering, are the surprising results of acoustic experimentation on the Czech music scene. At the same time, they significantly transfer the specific features of ambient music to the film medium: hypnotism, a different speed of time, contemplation of the details of the world and its perceived unity.

“She is the most talented person in our entire society,” says renowned minimalist composer Philip Glass in a film about composer and performer Meredith Monk. This energetic portrait of the New York composer, performer, and visionary is an inspiring testimony to the advancement of female artists, urban rituals, and creativity that requires nothing more than the human body and voice. Packed with unknown archives from the 1960s to the present day, the film is an encouraging message that it is possible to achieve amazing imagination, life, community, female roles, open spirituality, and connection with the present. Björk and David Byrne are among the witnesses and supporters who speak out. The mosaic form seeks a cinematic expression of Meredith's new vocabulary of means for voice and movement. “A highly engaging documentary portrait of Meredith Monk, trailblazing icon of New York City’s experimental arts and music scene… An engaging, relatable, very human story about an uncompromising female artist battling to keep her unique vision alive.” — Stephen Dalton, The Film Verdict

How should Björk's 60th birthday in November be celebrated? Pavel Klusák's lecture looks back at the development of the multi-talented Icelandic artist's creation from the 1980s to the present day, focusing primarily on the visual aspect of her work. Björk's world of surprising syntheses of man, nature, and technology is expressed through collaborations with filmmakers such as Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze, Chris Cunningham, radical artist Matthew Barney, fashion designer Alexander McQueen, musician Jesse Kanda, photographer Carlota Guerrero, and creators of virtual reality and AI.

Jan Šípek documented the unmistakable singer-songwriter and spiritual seeker Oldřich Janota (1949–2024) during the last period of Janota's life. This meant accepting the challenge and approaching Oldřich's song koans with a wholly original film style. The film was made on the day of the winter solstice during one of the very last performances of this great figure of Czech independent culture.Solstice is presented together with Jaroslav Kořán's Magical Movements in the block Czech Ambient Film. Both films, which we are premiering, are the surprising results of acoustic experimentation on the Czech music scene. At the same time, they significantly transfer the specific features of ambient music to the film medium: hypnotism, a different speed of time, contemplation of the details of the world and its perceived unity.