Matevž Jerman, Peter Cerovšek
Rage, Rage When You Know the Light Is Dying
It seems that, with every year, the image of the world as we know it sinks and collapses deeper and deeper into itself. The global pandemic has been followed not only by a series of absurd tragedies of global proportions, but also the outbreaks of new wars, further destruction due to political calculations and greed and an increasing systematic reduction of the areas of freedom, while the cataclysmic responses of nature have been dealing tremendous blows. It is difficult to say anything truly original about the numerous reasons for anxiety, give unequivocal answers or suggest solutions. In the desire for reflection, we thus turned to the renowned Welsh poet Dylan Thomas and his “Do not go gentle into that good night”, which in the times of the dying light emphasises the fundamental inevitability of constitutive resistance and constant struggle.
At this edition, FeKK will endeavour to open a space for proactive and original explorations of the capability of film expression as a means of resistance, especially the activist stances that lay bare the social dynamics and provide the broadest audience with alternatives or food for thought. The curated part of the festival thus brings diverse film programmes focused on the potentials and variations of protests, feminist and queer perspectives and insights into the modes of oppression and the lives of the oppressed, while offering both classics and cults from the film cannon and the latest productions and classics and cults in the making.
In this light, it is worth mentioning an important emphasis of this year’s edition, which will devote even more attention to the reflection on film than the previous ones. The festival will host as many as three different film criticism workshops. We would especially like to draw your attention to the international workshop with the telling title The END (European Network for Film Discourse), which we have organised in cooperation with a network of film festivals and Talking Shorts, an online magazine dedicated to writing about short films. We understand film thought as the essential driving force intertwined with filmmaking, which makes the message of artistic works reverberate.
Let us end on an anecdotal note with an inspiring story that, until recently, had filled the home pages of online media and social networks and also served as the inspiration for the image of this year’s festival. Urban legend has it that, in 2019, the killer whale named Gladis experienced a trauma – a collision with a boat, an attack by fishermen or an entrapment in illegal fishing nets. Not long after, between 2020 and 2023, at least five hundred unusual orca attacks on the ships and yachts off the coasts of Spain and Portugal were recorded. Some marine biologists have attributed this untypical behaviour to a group of killer whales that learned the behavioural pattern from the original Gladis and triggered a trend of attacks, which also spread to other female representatives of the orca population. Researchers believe that the attacks are Gladis’s revenge for the trauma she has suffered and that her knowledge is thus passed on. In this context, Gladis can be understood in a multi-layered way; at least one legitimate reading sees her response as a reaction of nature, which forcefully strikes back at blind human arrogance, while, on the other hand, it is also a case of a conscious raging and an organised action of the oppressed. It is especially the latter that we can model ourselves on. Or if we conclude with a witticism of (a shout out to) one of FeKK’s friends: “Orca-nise!”
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At the time of writing this editorial, Slovenia is dealing with the worst natural catastrophe in its recent history. The moving power of instant solidarity is inspiring.