V-F-X Ljubljana
4th International Festival of Experimental AV Practices
15 – 18 May 2024
Venues:
Slovenian Cinematheque, Miklošičeva 28, Ljubljana
Kino Šiška Centre for Urban Culture, Trg prekomorskih brigad 3, Ljubljana
The Nodes of Image and Sound, from the Edge into the Centre of the Gaze
We will open the fourth edition of the International Festival of Experimental Audiovisual Practices V-F-X Ljubljana with the Slovenian feature-length film Don’t Think It Will Ever Pass: 25. 4.–26. 1. by Tomaž Grom, which won the Vesna Award for Best Film at last year’s Festival of Slovenian Film. The decision of the expert jury, which, in some media, was characterised as “radical”, fills us with optimism, for it seems it indicates a more informed view inclined to understanding film practices in all their potentiality. The film, which premiered last year at the Slovenian Cinematheque, will again be accompanied live by its director.
In the spirit of the performance uniqueness of every film show, various programme segments of the festival will examine the relation between film image and sound and the potentiality of performance practices in relation to audiovisual art expressions. We have thus joined forces with Kino-uho, the Slovenian Cinematheque’s traditional cycle of silent films with live musical accompaniment, and present a darkly intoxicating universe of Vasko Pregelj, a Slovenian pioneer of experimental cinema. The programme of his short films, which had been considered lost until recently, will be accompanied live by Tine Vrabič – Nitz, an established name on the Slovenian electronic and club music scene.
Performative gestures on the intersection of film, video, gaming and engaged technophilosophy are involved in the work of the Vienna collective Total Refusal, which will be presented with a retrospective and a lecture performance in cooperation with art historian Valentina Tanni.
This year, the already established programme section Vistas, which brings an eclectic selection of the most resounding titles of the international scene, is accompanied by two survey sections: House of Reasoned Truths, an overview of recent African video art curated by Kisito Assangni, a Togolese-French curator, and Natural Causes?, a retrospective of Romanian experimental cinema, prepared by Călin Boto, the associate curator of the Bucharest International Experimental Film Festival. V-F-X Ljubljana has already screened the film productions of students from UN ALUO, UN AGRFT and AVA – Academy of Visual Arts in Ljubljana, as well as the Academy of Arts in Nova Gorica, within the framework of the Slovenian Film Database (BSF). This year, the student programme What’s Cooking?, a curated selection of recent student productions, will be screened in the Slovenian Cinematheque Hall for the first time. Student programme proves that good experimental student films are made in Slovenia too and the festival provides them with the required platform enabling them to be shown to the public.
The film programme will be accompanied by the VR point Immortelle at the Cinematheque’s café, the workshop The Magical World of Analogue Film under the mentorship of visual artist Neža Knez and in cooperation with Klubvizija from Zagreb and the round table The Dark Side of Analogue Film: Independent Labs, which will address the question of creating with the analogue in the environment of the digital present. The festival will conclude at Kino Šiška, where we will immerse in an intermedial performance by French musician Amélie Nilles. The hybrid multichannel sound experience has been conceived as an experience of a total immersion into a “garden of sounds”, a slightly eccentric experimental sound universe.
The Festival team
PROGRAMME
@ Slovenian Cinematheque
WEDNESDAY, 15 May
4 – 9 pm — VR Point / Line Katcho: Immortelle*
5 pm — The Magical World of Analogue Film, presentation of the results of the workshop*
7 pm — The Dark Side of Analogue Film: Independent Labs, panel discussion*
9 pm — Tomaž Grom: Don’t Think It Will Ever Pass: 25. 4.–26. 1., screening with live music (festival opening)
THURSDAY, 16 May
4 – 9 pm — VR Point / Line Katcho: Immortelle*
5 pm — What’s Cooking? (a curated selection of student films, participating: AVA, AU UNG, UL AGRFT, UL ALUO)
7 pm — Total Refusal & Valentina Tanni: Let’s Play: Brexit Reality, performative lecture*
9 pm — Total Refusal: Retrospective
FRIDAY, 17 May
4 – 9 pm — VR Point / Line Katcho: Immortelle*
5 pm — Vistas I, curated by the festival team
7.30 pm — House of Reasoned Truths. Recent Video Art from Africa (curator Kisito Assangni)
9 pm — Kino-uho / Vasko Pregelj: The Constants of Vanishing, screening with live music by Tine Vrabič – Nitz
SATURDAY, 18 May
4 – 9 pm — VR Point / Line Katcho: Immortelle*
5 pm — Natural Causes? A Retrospective of Romanian Experimental Cinema (curator Călin Boto)
7 pm — Vistas II, curated by the festival team
@ Kino Šiška
SATURDAY, 18 May
9 pm — Amélie Nilles, Out of the Techno-Cocoon, immersive live performance
Admission according to the Slovenian Cinematheque price list: 4,80 € / free for unemployed people and persons with disability.
Event at Kino Šiška: 5 €
*Free admission
More info at the festival website vfx-ljubljana.si.
Festival Programme Team: Anja Banko, Vesna Bukovec, Peter Cerovšek, Matevž Jerman, Robert Kuret, Igor Prassel
Guest Curators: Kisito Assangni, Călin Boto
Slovenian Cinematheque Team: Anja Banko, Kaja Bohorč, Matevž Jerman, Gašper Milkovič Biloslav, Igor Prassel, Kristina Ravnikar, Nadja Šičarov, Marko Turkuš, Tine Vrabič
Visual Identity and Design: Vesna Bukovec
Catalogue Editor: Robert Kuret
Text Translation: Maja Lovrenov
Film Translation and Subtitling: Maja Lovrenov, Janina Kos, Diana Jenko,Tanja Bulajić
Photos: participating authors
Festival photographer: Asiana Jurca Avci
VR Point: Roman Rus, Vito Scagnetti
Website Design: Brina Vidic
Social media: Robert Kuret, Lara Plavčak
Production: SCCA-Ljubljana / DIVA Station
Co-production: Slovenian Cinematheque
Festival is supported by: Slovenian Film Centre, City of Ljubljana – Department of Culture.
VR Point is part of the Open Videosphere project, which is supported by: Ministry of Culture RS, City of Ljubljana – Department of Culture.
Partners of the festival: Aksioma, AU UNG, AVA, Austrian Cultural Forum Ljubljana, Kino Šiška Centre for Urban Culture, French Institute in Slovenia, Klubvizija (Zagreb), UL AGRFT, UL ALUO
Media partners: Mladina, Radio Študent
Thanks: Rok Govednik, Matjaž Ivanišin, Andrej Kamnik, Boj Nuvak, Simon Tanšek, Marko Turkuš, Sanja Vatič
