War memorial

A metaphorical weather forecast portrays human emotions and sentiments in confrontation with contemporary social debates. The lightly satirical tone of the tv moderator’s presentation accompanies a video collage featuring a central motif of the Earth in which Africa is shrouded by clouds of existential questions and a spiritual crisis front threatens Europe.

Recent history dies out in the overgrown landscape of a former German military base where children are playing. Through performances by young protagonists and disturbing commentary that suggests that the innocence of the images isn’t what it appears to be, the film reflects on the phenomenon of violence and encourages us to learn from the past.

Analogue film as an analogy for the physical world; the digital image as an analogy for the immaterial world. An experimental film that combines two substances to become an audiovisual imprint of our life within a space defined by material boundaries but that nonetheless possess the potential to “rise up” to the level of dimensionless.Fascinations: Exprmntl.cz - Out of competition

The filmmaker explores the principles of movement while dreaming, and constructs them outside of the world of dreams by inserting graphic elements into images from the real world and simulating the space of a computer game in the virtual world. As she passes through these fictional worlds, the main character takes on a real as well as animated form.

Potentia dei is a notion difficult to translate, but possible to explain. The same goes for a film essay by Ondřej Vavrečka, with signs and information, their interpretation and secrets as its main theme. The collage-like film uses sharp audiovisual contrasts to make people think.

Fascinations: Exprmntl.cz - Out of competitionThe common denominator of the videos is the theme of therapeutic or relaxation exercise, the goal of which is to release mental and physical tension. In each of these works, however, a critical sting can be observed, honed by the frustrations of man in today’s world – whether they’re related to politics, interpersonal relations, or pressures at work. The transfer of these videos from a gallery context into a cinema changes the viewers’ experiences: the viewer is confronted with the images more urgently, they feel the tension building and releasing, and hence empathy with those observed.The series of videos was developed in cooperation with the Jindřich Chalupecký Society. Curated by Tereza Jindrová (Jindřich Chalupecký Society) as part of her research while organizing the exhibition Healing, dedicated to the topic of health in contemporary art.Prezentovaná díla:Migra jóga / Migra YogaCzech Republic, 2012, 10 min.Director: Markéta MagidováPrvotní promluva / Primal SpeechUnited States, 2016, 12min.Director: Liz Magic LaserNěkdy se cítí skoro šťastně / Sometimes They Almost Feel HappyCzech Republic, 2015, 9 min.Director: Barbora KleinhamplováSpolečně 2017 / Together 2017United Kingdom, 2017, 10 min.Directors: Lucy Beech & Edward ThomassonDvě minuty / Two MinutesCzech Republic, 2016, 6 min.Director: Jakub Jansa

By combining animated real objects, abstract illustrations, and computer graphics, a collage emerges of seemingly incompatible elements through which the filmmakers show the four basic elements – earth, air, water, and fire – and one place – they search for inspiration and passion in structures, shapes, surfaces, and materials of Švihov Castle.

Inspired by the concept of retromania, the filmmaker calls attention to the current trend of recycling older visual styles and artifacts from the last decades of the 20th century. The numerous defects in image quality and the psychedelic soundtrack from homemade cassette recordings were created on purpose when digitalizing the original analogue material.

Domlátil’s short animated film shows the daily rhythms of life at a speed of twelve frames per second. He works with real objects that we use in our regular lives or that we pass by without noticing them. Working with the textures, patterns and symbols he finds on them, he creates a visual continuity.

Fascinations: Exprmntl.cz - Out of competitionThe little-known Super 8mm films of Stanislav Hora (1959) from the 1980s are a little studied area of artistic film in our country. With his background in sculpture, Hora approaches film more as an artistic material – he uses it to animate the creation of sculptures, he draws on it, scratches and attacks its surface or uses it as a medium for art happenings. For Hora, film is a tool for expanding his artistic practice into other forms, a means for capturing visual processes or a kind of sculptural object. The Ji.hlava screenings are the premiere of newly digitized versions.Curator and author of the texts: Martin Blažíček (CAS FAMU)Digital reconstruction of the films: Lukáš Janičík, Emiliya VereshchaginaAudio mastering: Sara PinheiroThe films of Stanislav Hora were reconstructed at FAMU’s Centre for Audiovisual Studies thanks to the Academy of Performing Art’s institutional support for long-term conceptual development.Screening:BabraeCzechoslovakia, 1980, 6 min.Černý hadice / Black HoseCzechoslovakia, 1982, 3 min.Dobře posazená figura / Well-Positioned ModelCzechoslovakia, 1987, 3 min.Oko / EyeCzechoslovakia, 1987, 1 min.Pavouk / SpiderCzechoslovakia, 1987, 4 min.Kameny / StonesCzechoslovakia, 1987, 4 min.Fragment II – West BerlinCzechoslovakia, 1989, 6 min.FILCzech Republic, 2016, 5 min.

A dialogue between audio and video reinterprets a scene from the movie The Stranger (1967, dir. Luchino Visconti), in which the condemned debates with a priest about the absurdity of life, death, and the non-existence of God. The debate is abstracted by the skewed image as seen through cut glass and the meanings of their words take on a certain timelessness.

The slow movement of various species of insect in an abstract, brightly lit setting creates suggestive allusions to incontrollable chaos, apathy, and the decay of social structures. The minimalist visual imagery is accompanied by ambient music that works with realistic sound and static.