Matters Of Time

This ironic found-footage collage created from raw footage originally shot for the Közért (“For the Public”) retail chain, a state-run network of shops in Hungary during communism, shows the problems of eating and nutrition in state-run economies, lives and images. "35 mm reels of socialist food advertisements were put in the soil to rot and decay." P. Lichter  

Working with the principle of concrete music, the filmmaker layers and meticulously overlays images into such a mightiness that it creates abstract compositions of memories, thus exploring how they progressively change thanks to the selective nature of memory and the possible resolution of the digital medium. The work of Japanese filmmaker and programmer Makino Takashi (1978) is influenced by London’s Brothers Quay, and is marked by an eclectic approach that makes use of video art and a diverse range of cinematic techniques. Takashi sees the image and musical soundtrack as equal components in his work. His film Generator (2012) won the Tiger Award at the Rotterdam International Film Festival.“The challenge was to start from the concrete, go to the abstract, and then use the abstract to create a concrete abstractness.”

The personal insecurities and pent-up emotions of a Filipino immigrant to the USA give way to political ruminations and critical commentaries on the colonization of the mind by the American Dream. A montage of family movies from the title’s years presents an anatomy of family ties and a reliving of one’s own identity. “With every project I think I learn filmmaking from scratch, all over again in a new way, and I say ‘fuck that’ to whatever process I did before.” M. Reverza

The simple combination of movements by the camera and the observer creates a hypnotic ride in which, despite a voiceover emphasizing calm and relaxation, rotating objects and lights create an unsettling physical experience and dig the viewer´s imagination deep into grogginess of unsettled look. “Hypnodrome is motion-induced delirium. A cinematographic look through the ‘egocentric camera’ and an homage to cinema as a site of contemplation and trance.” R. Wilhelmer

As the film comes undone from the projector, the perforated edges become visible and reveal the illuminated image as an imprint of light. Splotches of colour with vague meanings enter into the picture frame. “In the early 19th century, watches had a rack and pinion lever escapement. No longer used, I still find it endearing and try to create a similar beauty in my own way.” H. Kawaguchi

Genre conventions cleverly broken down with animations, breaking through the scenery of rural Mexico, where in the area surrounding the director’s family farm, symbols of stories of physical desire conceal a layer of idyllic childhood memories and come into conflict with the traditional concept of masculinity and identity expression.   "By centering queer desire within the story of my Mexican-American family, I validate my own lived experience as well as challenge popular representation of masculinity, power and vulnerability." A. G. Gomez  

A meditative evocation of the South Korean “Candlelight Revolution” in the winter of 2016/17. The hybrid mosaic, in which archival and contemporary footage is altered by visual manipulation and performative moments, shows artifacts, situations, and gestures reflecting the desire for political change.  "The sense of vulnerability facing the unimaginable change made it only possible to borrow the quotations from the past and the future." S. Kim, J. Cho  

A performative film that compiles close-up shots of concentrated faces with abstract images converging towards a distinct point of light and geometric shots of dancing figures to create an associative image of fireflies, which in Cuban mythology represent ghosts, echoes of fires, or souls passing in the night. “Through collaborative processes and experimentation, I make films that allow a sensory experience, expanding the spectator’s perception of the social/political/cultural/personal phenomenon portrayed.” C. Claremi 

The filmmaker’s father walks wordlessly around his home. He sits in a chair, reading the newspaper. The image, veiled in dust that reflects the afternoon sun, shows only parts of the reader before eventually revealing the entire person, while the director is a silent observer of events. “Suzuki: In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few.” M. Hoolboom

This view of a city, its houses, the seashore, and orange groves – all of it transformed into colors and shapes – was created by digitally enlarging 35mm footage of Madrid in order to create abstract graphic patterns that were printed, like photograms, onto transparent strips and pasted directly onto 16mm film. Spanish filmmaker and photographer Klara Ravat (1986), lives and works in Berlin. Her films explore the interrelationship between memories and the present day, address the way in which archetypal patterns affect human behavior, and work with the concept of landscape as a painted canvas. Her installations (such as Connected Smells) explore the ability of smell to mediate hidden experiences and memories.“The grain of one image originates airy particles that impregnate our vision. The images become the smell of night at the coastal town...”

Out of the forests of north-eastern Brazil, an essay on the relationships with nature, location and soil grows out, developing into musings on the configuration of space, proprietary demands and care about landscape. Against the background of biological diversity, which stands for a commentary from the perspective of history and culture, it introduces the issue of ownership of forests, conceivably by those who inhabit them. "Kaleidoscopic and impressionistic views from a site in the in Brasilian 's sertão in which anthe Atikum artist Edson Barrus has preserved a tree: the Imburana which is a specy in danger. " Y. Beauvais

A meditation on surveillance, dramatized by a person having panic and anxiety attacks in a white room with no doors or windows. The filmmaker reflects on the omnipresence of seemingly inconspicuous observation. The impossibility of a hidden camera’s objectivity is emphasized by reactive changes in its angle of view when the person attacks it. Austrian filmmaker and curator Norbert Pfaffenbichler (1967) is a pioneer of video art and a founding member of the VIDOK art group. His works often combine electronic music and abstract projections. Pfaffenbichler was the curator of the important group exhibition Abstraction Now at the Künstlerhaus in Vienna (2003), which worked with computergenerated sounds. Previously at Jihlava IDFF, he showed his film Intermezzo (Notes on Film 4) (2012).„Camera is a short étude on the topic of the invisible camera. it is part of my ‘notes on film-series ’ which deals with different topics from the history and theory of film.”