Dreams and nightmares

11:00–12:30
Cinema and Resistance
Talk

Historical events in a world dominated by violence of those in power, racism, neo-colonialism, and genocide serve as a wake-up call for film to reflect on its stance towards humanity. How should we think about the representation of humanism and activism in these harsh conditions, either through artistic creativity or event organisation? Why persist despite feelings of impotence, exhaustion, and the burden of constant information overload? Our guests, Mathilde Guitton-Marcon, a representative of the Paris Ciné-Palestine Festival (Marseille & Paris), which opens up space for Palestinian cinema and filmmakers, and Tara Najd Ahmadi, an Iranian filmmaker and academic, who infuses her films with the maxim ‘personal is political’, will be talking to the film critic and journalist Vanja Gajić about the fight for dreams, which might still burn from behind these nightmares.

 After studies in literature, arts and information sciences, and initial experiences in the music industry, Mathilde Guitton-Marcon trained in film production, then in programming at the FIFIB – Bordeaux International Independent Film Festival. Since 2022, she has been working for Cinemed – Montpellier Mediterranean Film Festival as a short film programmer. Mainly based in Marseille, she is involved in the organisation and programming of Festival Ciné-Palestine, a non-profit event and association that aims to promote the diversity of Palestinian cinema and create spaces of discussion for Palestinian filmmakers to meet their audiences.

Born in Tehran, Tara Najd Ahmadi is a scholar, artist, and non-fiction filmmaker. Her recent body of work focuses on creating a panorama of untold, marginalised stories that can be gleaned through unofficial oral histories. In that space, she is interested in the ways in which thinking and resisting subjects withstand their times and deal with disagreeable results. Her essay films have been shown in various venues, including the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, the Institute of Contemporary Arts London, and the Burchfield Penney Art Centre. In 2019, she received her Ph.D. in Visual and Cultural Studies from the University of Rochester (NY), where she was awarded the George Eastman Museum graduate fellowship. Her film collection is preserved at the Slovenian Cinematheque.

Vanja Gajić is a translator and film critic. She writes for Radio Študent, where she also co-edits the film radio show Temna zvezda, as well as Ekran, KINO! and Ars. She works with the festivals Liffe and FDF as a moderator, is part of the selection committee for the Young Talents programme at Animateka, and edits FeKK’s festival catalogue.

 12:45–14:15
Surrealism in Film – from David Lynch to Momoko Seto
Talk

Two directors who, in their own unique ways, walk the realms of nightmares and dreams and capture them via the prism of cinema. How did David Lynch approach surrealism through his radical cinematic experiment, and how does Momoko Seto employ it in her films through interaction with science? Where do the dreaminess of content and image intersect? All of this and more to be covered in the talk, which will also consider the contemporary meaning of surrealism and its conveying ability. The discussion between Momoko Seto, whose short film programme will be screened at FeKK, and Robert Kuret, a film critic and Seto’s programme curator, will be led by the Bulgarian film critic Savina Petkova.

 Born in Tokyo, Momoko Seto studied at Le Fresnoy before working as a director at CNRS. In 2021, she was awarded the Cristal du CNRS, the highest distinction for a scientific director. At the same time, she directed the Planet series, consisting of four short films, including Planet Σ, which won an award at the Berlinale in 2015. She is the 2022 winner of the Fondation Gan pour le Cinéma with “Dandelion’s Odyssey”, her first feature film, an ecological and poetic odyssey that mixes 3D animation, macro live action and time lapses.

Robert Kuret is a film and literary critic and essayist. He is a regular contributor and editorial member of Ekran and KINO! magazines, while also working as a literary critic for Književni listi, a Delo newspaper supplement, and Literatura. At the FeKK Festival, he is a co-selector of the competition sections FeKK SLO and FeKK BAL. At SCCA-Ljubljana, he helps prepare film and video programme and manages the online DIVA Archive. In 2021, he received the Stritar Award for literary criticism.

Savina Petkova is a Bulgarian film critic, programmer, and academic based in London, UK. She holds a PhD in Film Studies from King’s College London, and her writing bylines include Sight and Sound, MUBI Notebook, Little White Lies, Reverse Shot, and Variety. She is a co-editor at Talking Shorts.