25th Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival
Transit
director: Mandy Krebs
original title: Transit
country: Germany, Luxembourg
year: 2016
running time: 11 min.
synopsis
This silent portrait of a multipurpose compound that serves as a storage site, maximum security space, and luxury showroom slowly turns into a bizarre black-and-white science-fiction movie with the building as the main character. Despite its abstract nature, the meticulously composed rhythmic combination of austere, carefully framed shots lacking any other context is a fitting architectural commentary on the spirit of our era.biography
Mandy Krebs (1987) studied fine arts in Braunschweig. Her site-specific works focus on analyzing the architecture’s relationship to social, economic, and physical forces in general.more about film
director: | Mandy Krebs |
producer: | Mandy Krebs |
photography: | Mandy Krebs |
editing: | Mandy Krebs, Marko Schiefelbein |
other films in the section

This studio experiment is a fictional excursion to Kijong-Dong, the city of spirits in the North Korean demilitarized zone, to which the director was refused entry. The town, built in 1950, is a Potemkin village, an empty film set. Here it is also depicted using white models with transparent models of empty houses.
DETAIL: It gleams in the dark like the white tip of an iceberg in the dark mass of the ocean: a model composed of the perfect lines of the contours of the hills rising above the city. Birds sing, the loudspeakers broadcast voices. Not a sign of life anywhere.
Model Village
Hayoun Kwon
France / 2014 / 10 min.
section: Short Joy
Czech Premiere

The camera enters an office. The receptionist answers the telephone, her co-workers drink coffee during their break and talk about their plans. Later, there is a meeting. The stiffness of the situation reveals a hidden story. What exactly took place from June 2015 to September 2016 in the government building in Amsterdam?
Stand-by Office
Randa Maroufi
Lebanon, France, Netherlands, Romania / 2017 / 13 min.
section: Short Joy
East European Premiere

A documentary study of the eye and its functions. A compilation of images from various places gives the function of the eye new meanings. It is a tool for instilling fear, the soldier uses it to find his target, and looking into the eye of your executioner can cause him to doubt his actions. What happens when the eye stops looking?
An Absence of Reciprocity in Vulnerability, Losses and Risks
Adéla Komrzý
Czech Republic / 2017 / 9 min.
section: Short Joy
World Premiere

A film about how a person remains within a person. A portrait of a father and daughter and their relationship. About the imprint our parents leave on us, and how to come to terms with their influence. About how much they influence our lives and the extent to which we are like them. Parental love is love for a child and a continuation of oneself. How much can we change this and what must we sacrifice in order to break free from this mutual dependency and to live and define our own lives? "What am I? Defined in opposition to you? Isn't this film another provocation? An incessant struggle?"
Portrait of a Dead Father
Pavla Sobotová
Czech Republic / 2013 / 9 min.
section: Short Joy

The reform of the Austrian postal service opened up the burning issue of employees who cannot be fired before retirement. The presented data forces us to think about the dangerous but socially acceptable measures taken by large companies that result in employees with nothing to do, apathy, surfing the web, and contempt for human dignity.
The working rhythm is determined by the rapid movement of the sorting equipment. Package after package. In the office on the table is an abandoned computer mouse wrapped in an electrical cord. A man takes off a postal uniform; he has one artificial leg.
We are Mutants
Konrad Wakolbinger
Austria / 2013 / 14 min.
section: Short Joy
International Premiere

A fog-shrouded journey to the other shore. An epilogue to the life of an anonymous man setting out for his last journey down the river of life. The commentary consists of silence and of shots of oars in the water. This atmospheric spectacle of the preparations for an Indian funeral attempts to create a final portrait of one person and his family during their final farewell.
Last Portrait
David Varela
Spain / 2011 / 10 min.
section: Short Joy
Central European Premiere

Two professors settle personal accounts at the Department of Philosophy of Brno's Masaryk University. In 2008 professor Jaroslav Hroch received a total of 17 anonymous abusive emails. His colleague Břetislav Horyna was eventually indicted (and convicted) of sending these emails. Interviews with both participants in this bizarre case. "As for Hölderlin, shut the fuck up!"Ich und ich im wirklichen leben.Ich und ich in der Wirklichkeit. Ich und ich in der echten Welt.Ich und ich. Ich fühle mich so seltsam. DieWirklichkeit kommt. die Wirklichkeit kommt.
May You Rot Alive
Pavel Lukáš
Czech Republic / 2013 / 14 min.
section: Short Joy
World Premiere

A Zen-like story wrapped in atmospheric music results in an unusual artistic project. Saskia Olde Wolbers specializes in a specific genre of video. This fantastical underwater documentary takes the audience down into a world of abstract forms and unusual models. An impersonal voiceover, interlaced with the wealth of images, describes the origins of the famous book Zen in the Art of Archery.
Pareidolia
Saskia Olde Wolbers
United Kingdom / 2011 / 13 min.
section: Short Joy
Czech Premiere

The story of a young girl looks into the issues surrounding the self-harm phenomenon. It seems that physical pain relieves inner anxiety and loneliness. Teenagers perceive their own bodies as the only thing they can influence and control; pain and blood can induce a sense of independence and true existence. Despite the scars all over her body, our heroine finally manages to find a way to come to terms with herself and her life.
The Enemy Within Me
Milja Viita
Finland / 2019 / 6 min.
section: Short Joy
World Premiere

A political visual poem about the current situation on the island of Lampedusa. The sharp contrast between the wrecks of refugee boats and the “most beautiful beach in the world according to Tripadvisor.com” disappears in a foggy mist of associations, melancholy ironic narration, grainy lyrical images, and ambient music.
Waste no. 2 Wreck
Jan Ijäs
Finland, Italy / 2016 / 9 min.
section: Short Joy
Czech Premiere

A film that shows the importance of having the full picture. Through unusual camera framing, we see only certain parts of various objects, and are thus forced to complete the picture using our fantasy. Slices of everyday Palestinian life offer the viewer a diff erent point of view.
Missing Parts
Alfredo Covelli
Palestinian Territories / 2012 / 5 min.
section: Short Joy
World Premiere

FilmRELATIONSHIP depicts an unusual living arrangement between two women. On 5 May 2005, Beverly vowed obedience to the older Catherine, thus relinquishing her freedom for the rest of her life. A film about material, mental, and physical dependence. Although Beverly was never attracted to women and is a mother herself, Catherine represents her ideal of unattainable love.
The Contract
Lina Mannheimer
Sweden / 2010 / 13 min.
section: Short Joy
East European Premiere