Month: November 2022

Interactive Narratives and Essay Film Studio at 39. Kasseler Dokfest

During Kasseler DokFest, we will present the activities of our two Studios.

The Interactive Narratives, Digital Scientific Publications and UX Studio is dedicated to the study and development of new forms of narratives arising from the use of digital interactive technologies in documentary film and related forms such as film essay. The Studio was founded on observation of transformations in the area of in 21st century documentary which became a field of experimentation with audiovisual language and creating new models of narration as well as a place where film meets with other media: photography, literature, animated film or computer games. In the result of diverse experimentation within the documentary, media and digital technology, interactive documentary forms evolved. These constantly question and shift traditional roles of the author and the viewer. According to the Studio, composing viewer’s emotional engagement in the interactive form demands not only good storytelling but also creating the whole new world to explore. This requires working in a brand-new environment which include interface and user experience designers as well as coders and creative technologists. The Studio will present excerpts from its productions and a fragment of the i-doc The School, a World by Iga Łapińska and Ewa Jarosz – the largest production of the Studio so far.

The aim of the Essay Film Studio is to radically expand the research workshop, to develop new methods and new forms of thinking – thinking with images, sound and editing. It is an attempt to reinvent the form of the film essay by drawing on contemporary forms of audiovisual communication, the genres, languages and conventions of contemporary cinema and the internet. As part of the Essay Film Studio, this year a first series of workshops was organized, led by the world’s foremost experts in the field of essay film, including Laura Mulvey, Mike Bal, Cathrine Grant, Kevin B. Lee, Chloé Galibert-Laîné, Assaf Gruber, Eyal Sivan and in which selected participants from all over the world could work on their projects. As a result, the Essay Film Studio now serves as the production home for several essay film projects, including the award-winning film Subtotals by Mohammadreza Farzad, Mike Bal’s It’s About Time! Reflections of Urgency and, yet to premiere, Solaris Mon Amour by Kuba Mikurda. The participants of the seminar were also asked to contribute an anthology about the method, in which the gestures of many essayists are analyzed. During the session representatives of the Essay Film Studio will present excerpts of the film projects and take part in a panel discussion about making and producing essay film as an epistemic practice. The films produced by Essay Film Studio are subsequently presented at festivals.

November 19

39th Kasseler Dokfest

1:30 pm

For more information follow the link.

In Side – stereoscopic 3D puppet animation

In Side is a short puppet film made using stereoscopic technology. It tells the story of Jan, trapped in a world of his own limitations. Only the abstract world of the labyrinth, which he enters as a result of enigmatic events, forces him to truly confront himself, which becomes the seed of a new, real life.

The S3D Studio explores S3D technology and the incredible potential of stereoscopy, finding new artistic standards in the medium. In addition to its unique precision in recording 3D shots, the film also explores issues not previously addressed in 3D films, including the use of shift-tilt lenses, shooting through distorting objects, the possibilities of maximizing editing speed while maintaining viewer perception, and many others.

Piotr Matysiak – head of the S3D Studio. A graduate of geography. He began his adventure with film in 2006 as the director of the film 53:15 Berek. In 2014, he graduated in cinematography from the Polish National Film School in Łódź. During his studies, he made several short films. He is currently completing his doctoral studies at the same university. Director and cinematographer of feature films, documentaries, animations, and producer of dozens of commercials and television programs. He is a licensed scuba diver and underwater photographer. His passion is stop-motion animation. He is a co-founder of the Visual Narratives Laboratory, where he runs the S3D Studio. He is the cinematographer for the film In Side and the cinematographer for the S3D Studio project.

Anita Kwiatkowska-Naqvi – born in 1896 in Cracow. A graduate of psychology at the University of Warsaw and animation at the Film School in Łódź, a doctoral student at the Film School in Łódź; in her short films, she takes an innovative approach to traditional animation techniques, creating mesmerizing, poetic worlds. Her films have won numerous awards at international film festivals, including the prestigious Annecy Festival. Co-founder of LeLe Production.

meet In Side team

In Side premiered in 2023 at the 13th STOPTRIK International Film Festival in Maribor.

check more news related to the project and its screenings

Subtotals – a meditation on the uncertainties of life by Mohammadreza Farzad

Do you keep a record of your gray hair?
The number of crushes you had on women?
The number of houses, you have owned or rented?
The number of kisses, you have exchanged?
The number of times, you’ve flown in your dreams?
Maybe you have counted, maybe not.
Anyway, does counting make a difference
in a life lived beyond numbers?

Subtotals (Majmouan) is a film about the aftermath that can never be applied to one’s life as a product. Inspired by a short story of the same title by Gregory Burnham and Autoportrait by Edouard Leve, composed fully of 8mm home movies of Iranian society, Subtotals is a meditation on the uncertainties of life that doesn’t hand out any bills.

Subtotals is the first project developed within the Essay Film Studio of the vnLab in Łódź Film School. The world premiere of the essay took place at the IFF Berlinale 2022 as part of the prestigious Forum Expanded section, and the Polish premiere at the Millenium Docs Against Gravity festival. The film essay won the Golden Apricot award at the Yerevan International Film Festival.

Mohammadreza Farzad – born in 1978 in Teheran, Iran. He started his career as a poet and literary translator. Dozens of books have been published with his translations. His career as a documentary filmmaker started with Into Thin Air and Blames and Flames which premiered at Berlinale, Forum Expanded section. Farzad has been a PhD student at the Film Factory headed by the legendary Hungarian auteur Bela Tarr. His subsequent works premiered at dozens of national and international film festivals and gained numerous awards. Forget-Me-Not Egg (2013) was first shown at Thessaloniki Film Festival, Wedding: A Film (2015) premiered in the Next Masters section of the Leipzig Documentary film festival. He has been invited as a jury member to film festivals such as CPH: DOX, Jihlava, Pilsen, DokuBaku, Cinema Verite. He is currently working on his first feature film produced by Radovan Sibert of Pink Production. Majmaouan (Subtotals) is his third-time participation in Berlinale Forum Expanded.