52nd THESSALONIKI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
November 4 - 13, 2011
PRESS RELEASE
EXPERIMENTAL FORUM
For the 52nd edition of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival (TIFF), the Experimental Forum, now in its fourth year and placing emphasis on experimental and avant-garde film, presents a variety of film programs.
Totaling 38 films (mostly shorts and medium-length) this year’s total program is entitled The Myth of Disappearance / The Disappearance of Myth, showcasing directors and works that explore and play with the concept and boundaries of myth, old and new.
THE SECTIONS:
COLLECTIF JEUNE CINEMA
The Collectif Jeune Cinema, celebrating its 40th birthday in 2011, is an example of how to effectively stimulate people’s interest in a different type of cinema. Marcel Maze, who will attend the 52nd TIFF, is the founder of the Festival d’ Hyeres; in Paris, he created a space of collection and distribution of novel films that took a different stance than the then-existing experimental cinema. The Collectif Jeune Cinema, with more than 900 films in its roster, showcased works from the whole spectrum of experimental filmmaking. A special place in this year’s section is occupied by Les mains negatives, a 1979 film by Marguerite Duras where dolly shots trace a languid advance through Paris.
19, Espiritu Santo (Andalucia), Philippe Cote, France, 2010, 18’
Magia, Gerard Cairaschi, France, 2010, 6’
Rester mince grace a bebe, Fabien Rennet, France, 2009, 4’
Face of an Angel, Anthea Kennedy & Ian Wiblin, UK, 2008, 5’
Pandrogeny Manifesto, Dionysos Andronis, France/Greece, 2005, 12’
Visite chez grand-mere, Dominik Lange, France, 2004, 10’
Rue des petites Maries, Laurence Rebouillon, France, 2003, 12’
Spring Roll, Zapruder Filmmakers’ Group, Italy, 2001, 20’
Tiger me Bollix, Moira Tierney, Ireland, 2000, 3’
Focalises, Marcel Maze, France, 1980, 8’
Les Mains negatives, Marguerite Duras, France, 1979, 13’
There? Where?, Babette Mangolte, USA, 1979, 8’
Un film commercial et militant, Maurice Lemaitre, France, 1979, 6’
Scopolamine, Robert Withers, USA, 1975, 13’
Le cerveau gratine de Pupilija Ferevek, Karpo Godina, Slovenia, 1970, 10’
J.X. WILLIAMS
J.X. Williams is a cinematic enigma: an artist who has been missing for decades and whose existence even has been questioned; this is the first time that his films have been presented in Greece. Noel Lawrence, curator of Williams’ archive and one of the few people who have ever been in contact with him, will attend the 52nd TIFF to present some of the films that have recently been discovered.
The Showdown, USA, 1975, 8’
Satan Claus, USA, 1975, 3’
The Virgin Sacrifice, USA, 1969, 9’ (excerpt)
Psych-Burn, USA, 1968, 3’
Credit Sequence from Hollywood Play-Girls, USA, 1966, 4’
Peep Show, Denmark, 1965, 46’
ΟΜ PRODUCTION
Another mystery of the experimental filmmaking scene, OM Production is a Slovenian collective of visual artists and filmmakers, whose members all vanished almost simultaneously in the beginning of the 1980s. The journalist Slobodan Valentincic, the mythic collective’s archivist, will attend the Thessaloniki Festival to present and discuss the group’s work and disappearance. The films screened are:
Tetraplan, Amanda Fior Daliso, 1981/85
Dislocated Third Eye Series – Bismillah, Sulejman Ferencak, 1984
Dislocated Third Eye Series – Next Movie – High Noon (Hommage to Fred Zinnemann’s High Noon), Franciska Knoblehar, 1983/84
805 Hommage, Liberio Abrahamsberg, 1980
Mangiafuoco, Veronique Gartenzwergel, 1979
The Bastards: Bread and Games, Janez Laibacher, 1977/80
The Great Path Has No Gates, Zend Kommandoh, 1977/78
All Is One, Frankie Lee 1977/78
Yin-Yang, Ismailhaci Cankar, 1977/78
Galactic Supermarket Presents Cosmic Rainbows, Marta Znidarsic, 1977
Aura, Emannuel Gott-Art, 1978
ERIC BAUDELAIRE
Baudelaire’s The Anabasis of May and Fusako Shigenobu, Masao Adachi and 27 Years Without Images (France, 2011, 66’) is the story of Japanese activist filmmaker Masao Adachi, who joined the Japanese Red Army and then moved to Lebanon for 28 years, where he supported the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. After being imprisoned both in Lebanon and in his home country, Adachi started making films again after three decades. Fusako Shigenobu, leader of the Japanese Red Army and May, her daughter, who lived in Lebanon alongside Adachi, are included in the film; both were also featured in the renowned documentary Children of the Revolution (2010), where Fusako Shigenobu is presented along Ulrike Mainhoff as one of the most famous female freedom fighters of the 20th century and the stories are recounted by their daughters.
DROR HELLER
The Experimental Forum presents Israeli filmmaker Dror Heller, who is only eighteen years old. His film Foundation of Mind (Israel 2011, 85’), examines the disappearance of ideas, as well as their desecration by acts of blind violence. Heller states that “the script…was written during a year of obsessive consumption, at least three movies a night, as my private, individual and subjective reaction to the great world of cinema…Foundation is a product of passion and a huge love for cinema”.
LAST YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS - DISAPPEARANCE OF THE AVAILABLE
This section presents a small, choice selection of experimental films from all over the world, made in the past year and defined by the general subject of Disappearance. These films are not considered rare in the experimental scene, so they are essentially “disappearing” because of their availability; the Forum aims to correct that and give them the attention that they deserve.
The Sea of Tranquillity, Antoon Cox, Belgium 2011, 13’
Journey of No Return - Last Stop Frankfurt Airport, Guclu Yaman, Germany/Turkey 2010, 25’,
Sivan, Zohar Elefant, Israel, 2010, 14’
