Slovenian Avantgarde Now: Of Glitches and Prophecies

This program of contemporary Slovenian experimental cinema brings together works by filmmakers who channel a piercing sensitivity to the dystopian realities of late capitalism. From breathtaking collages stitched from fragments of popular culture and internet memes, assembled into doomscrolling monuments in the spirit of Hieronymus Bosch, to visions of post-apocalyptic dreaming, these films refuse to look away. Each work is inherently political. Through impressions of the present – echoing the refugee crisis, the genocide in Gaza, or the relentless logic of capitalist colonization – they open windows onto dark scenarios of possible endings. The result are prophetic slices of cinema that does not soothe, but rather unsettles: a cinema of glitches and prophecies, where the fractures of today foretell the futures we fear most.

Slovenian experimental film has a long history, even though until recently it seemed that this aspect of filmmaking was almost entirely forgotten. The reason is that most avant-garde films in the 60s and 70s were produced under the umbrella of the all-Yugoslav network of “kino-clubs”, which provided citizens with access to equipment and film stock. Consequently, this entire body of work was long dismissed as amateur, and no official institution took responsibility for it. Everything changed over a decade ago, when the Slovenian Cinematheque established avant-garde collections, began restoring these films, and started presenting them in an international context. It soon became clear that a rich and vibrant history had been hiding beneath the surface, parallel to contemporary experimental filmmaking which is now gaining momentum year by year.

This programme is presented in collaboration with Slovenian Cinematheque and FeKK – Ljubljana Short Film Festival.

Curator: Matevž Jerman

Screened:
SUN 26/10, 13:00 SLOTTS

Köp biljett

THE FUTURE … IS JUST LIKE YOU IMAGINED

The film explores two distinct dystopian futures through the lens of our internet and pop culture imaginarium.

Slovenia 2024 / 13:00 / Director: Sara Bezovšek

2045

May 1, 2045. I decided to return home.

Slovenia 2016 / 9:00 / Director: Blaž Murn, Maja Doroteja Prelog

I, DECONSTRUCTED

An exploration into the nature of man.

Slovenia 2024 / 8:00 / Director: Nika Tomažič

REVERSED AIR

A girl lives in a pink house. When her pink house blows up, she sets off to find a new one.

Slovenia 2020 / 8:00 / Director: Ester Ivakič

NEWSREEL 670 - RED FORESTS

The film reflects on the barbed wire set across the fields and forests along the EU borders. It further conceives the forest as a political space, one inscribed by the history of secret shelters and concealed solidarity acts across different contexts and times.

Slovenia 2022 / 16:00 / Director: Nika Autor

CLOUDS OVER

In the short video work titled ‘Clouds Over’ Anne Tassel continues to explore landscapes viewed from satellites, focusing more on exploited crops in Ivory Coast, worlds’ largest container ports, the more and more popular ice-breaker cargo ship paths and lithium-rich desserts in Bolivia, finding clouds in the process as a natural censorship from facing direct exploitation of land and especially local people.

Slovenia 2024 / 5:00 / Director: Anne Elisabeth Tassel

MEMORY MACHINE

The video is a collage of black-and-white images shot on 35mm analog film. The images alternate in a rapid rhythm and, using a stop-motion principle, create the illusion of hectic movement and pulsation.

Slovenia 2018 / 4:00 / Director: Kristina Kokalj

WWW.S-N-D.SI

Drawn to various apocalyptic scenarios that could lead to the end of the world as we know it, Sara Bezovšek collaged visual material found online in the form of short videos, memes, photographs, gifs, emoticons, and various external links, with her own works, thereby creating a complex and visually saturated narrative.

Slovenia 2021 / 14:00 / Director: Sara Bezovšek