Still: The Eternal Song by Karol Plicka
The Czech Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival has announced three major retrospectives for its 25thedition, running 26-31 October. They will cover the Romanian experimental scene 1968–1989, the anthropological documentary films of Slovak-Czech ethnographer/filmmaker Karol Plicka, and the cinematic representation of ‘roots’ in experimental film.
Revelatory retrospective of the Romanian experimental scene
After many months of preparations and curatorial visits to Romanian archives and galleries we are coming up with this year’s unique retrospective of 24 experimental films created in underground conditions in Romania during the period 1968–1989. The Conference Fascinations: Romania retrospective at this year’s Ji.hlava IDFF will bring many cinematic discoveries including a poetic film set in an industrial environment, The Alert (1969), by Mircea Sauçan which will be screened outside Romania for the first time.
Cinematic Beauty of Karol Plicka
The audience at Ji.hlava can look forward to an extensive showcase of anthropological documentary films by Slovak-Czech ethnographer and filmmaker Karol Plicka. It will offer fifteen works, including the famous film The Earth Sings (1933), the winner of the 2nd Venice Film Festival in 1934. The films will be screened from classic 35mm film reel. The work he left to future generations represents the essence and enduring significance of ethnographic filmmaking. Karol Plicka’s work remains an endless source of inspiration and, through his films, a photographic documentation of the time and society in which he lived and which he loved.
‘Roots’ in experimental film
This year’s thematic section of the Conference Fascinations will focus on “roots” and will feature films from various historical periods that in some way incorporate the theme, either as a visual motif, literally or figuratively. The retrospective shows the various forms of experimental and cinematic representation of roots as explored by various filmmakers in the years 1951–2019, including John Whitney, Roderick Hietbrink, and Cecelia Condit.
The 25th Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival runs 26-31 October 2021.
