PROGRAMME STRUCTURE
MAJOR PROGRAMME CYCLES
The programme is based on decades of experience – most RIVER FILM FESTIVAL dramaturges have worked on Czech festivals such a Karlový Vary, Summer Film School, Febiofest, Tourfilm, Ekofilm etc. The programme will be divided into two major categories: Major and Lesser. Each year a central theme such as THE WORLD OF JOSEF K. will determine the tone of the festival. Two sections will be devoted to national cinemas. A section will discover the cinema of an unknown region.
The festival´s main aim and the inspiration behind its programme´s dramaturgical concept is the quest for context: a search for interconnections between individual programme cycles, visiting guests, films and accompanying events. Some contexts will be readily recognisable at first sight, others will manifest themselves during the festival itself – in the course of screenings, introductions or panel discussions with festival guests.
THE WORLD OF JOSEPH K.
A world of ordinary individuals entangled in an insidious web of decision-making by a bureaucracy of invisible powers-that-be, erasing our will and defying our sense of logics. This absurd struggle was portrayed with perfection by Franz Kafka and by later admirers of his work (Bruno Schulz, Jorge Luis Borges, Samuel Beckett, Eugène Ionesco, Václav Havel, Ladislav Smoček, Alfred Jarry, Tom Stoppard etc.). Our selection of films will comprise adaptations of Kafka´s works as well as films inspired by Kafka´s vision, including films by Jan Nemec, the Brothers Quay, Steven Soderbergh, Zbigniew Rybczynski, Piotr Dumala, Terry Gilliam, Pavel Jurácek, Jan Svankmajer, Juraj Herz, Evald Schorm, Jan Schmidt and others. The cycle connects to The Golden 60´s and, through Borges, to Argentine Cinema.
THE GOLDEN SIXTIES
An homage to the Czechoslovak New Wave of the 1960´s, based on Čestmír Kopecký´s TV project of the same name. 40 years have passed since the brutal suppression of the most successful period in the history of Czech and Slovak cinema. For the first time 40 of the most significant films by 40 individual directors from this period will be selected to illustrate the incredible variety of genre and talent which flourished in Czechoslovakia during this decade. Screenings will be accompanied by selected shorts (documentaries, animated films, student films). 25 surviving directors will be invited to panel discussions on the relationship between these films and other art forms of the period. RIVER FILM FEST 2009 will offer the greatest profile of Czech and Sslovak films from the 1960´s ever screened in this country.
ARGENTINE CINEMA
Argentinean cinema has during the past decade become one of the most dynamically developing national cinemas. Its history is very rich: the first Argentinean features were made more than 100 years ago (1909). In 1917 Argentinean cinema created history when Quirino Cristiani produced the first full-length animation feature EL APOSTOL. It was not till the 1960´s that a new generation of Argentinean filmmakers made their mark and over the next 30 years began to achieve international recognition. RFF will present films from the 1960´s as well as other significant personalities of Argentinean culture – the writer Jorge Borges (and his relationship to the work of Franz Kafka) will provide the most visible connection between the two main cycles.
TERRA INCOGNITA: QUINGHAI (Tibet)
RIVER FILM FEST 2009 will introduce a new major programme cycle, TERRA INCOGNITA, which each year will present the national cinema culture of a relatively unknown region and will examine the role film plays in preserving a nation´s cultural identity. 2009 will be devoted to the cinema of Quinghai, the cinema of Tibet, including films from Quinghai province and the Himalaya studios in Beijing etc. 1950´s films by Czech filmmaker V. Sís inspired his son Peter Sís to become a world-renowned children´s book author and illustrator.
LESSER CYCLES
These programme sections will be repeated each year but will be linked with the current main thematic cycles. Such blocks play an important role by providing participants and general public alike with highly attractive screenings and events.
PERSONALITIES AND ANNIVERSARIES
This programme cycle will focus on retrospectives of significant personalities who will be personally present at RFF. In 2009 many of the Czech directors will be celebrating major birthday jubilees. Apart from classical introductions and discussions we plan to take advantage of the presence of these outstanding artists and hold panel discussions led by experts or meetings with the general public at afternoon or early evening matinees on various locations in Písek. We will also celebrate those no longer among us whose work will be in some way connected to the a.m. themes: e.g. E. A. Poe (200th Anniversary), Ionesco (100th Anniversary), F. Bacon (100th Anniversary), J. Losey (100th Anniversary), etc. Total number of such events: max. 20.
TEN FILMS WHICH SHOOK THE WORLD
This programme cycle will annually offer a collection of ten of the world’s most significant domestic and international films. The selection will be influenced by the contents of the Main Cycles and some of the films will be chosen by our invited guests. The films will be introduced via detailed cinema lectures – a special guest will discuss significant features in the film, often with brief illustrations or quotes from other films. All ten films will take part in a competition with a lay jury (comprising 9 accredited participants) selecting their favourite. The award will be presented to the person who nominated that particular film into the collection.
NEWS FROM VISEGRAD
This programme cycle will present the most significant and successful contemporary films from the Visegrad countries. Each “best” national film will be screened as part of celebratory days: Polish, Hungarian, Czech and Slovak. Panel discussions will focus on the current condition of each national cinematography. Most of the films will accompanied by the artists responsible. Total number of films: 25 full-length features.
FESTIVAL ECHOES
The RFF programme will be dominated by older films. Nevertheless, FESTIVAL ECHOES will offer participants the opportunity of comparing the best films from the past with the best films from the present – i.e. with films which have won awards at prestigious festivals such as Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Sundance, Rotterdam, Karlovy Vary, Munich, Toronto, San Sebastian, Mar del Plata, etc.). In selecting these films we will co-operate with partner festivals of the VISEGRAD countries.
ACCOMPANYING EVENTS
These events enhance the Major and Lesser Cycles and will comprise concerts, theatre performances, exhibitions etc. Such events provide more than “relaxation”, linked as they are to the the themes and contents of all the cycles. Most of these events are open to the general public.
CONCERTS AND DANCE
Our aim is to offer an attractive, unique and dramaturgically interlinked programme. Apart from classical concerts we will organise musical events as part of screenings (silent or experimental films). Concerts will be held at various venues such as Palacký Orchard, museum courtyards, the local summer outdoor cinema, the island, the main city square, etc. Most of the music events will illustrate national cinemas: Argentina, Tibet, and the 1960´s Czech New Wave.
EXHIBITIONS
Písek´s outstanding infrastructure (the historical reconstructed malt silo, Práchenské Museum, cinema foyers etc.) offer untold opportunities for exhibiting visual arts. Such exhibitions will be closely tied to the Major Cycles – above all, to the World of Josef K and the Golden Sixties.
THEATRES AND LITERARY READINGS
Although Písek currently lacks a theatre hall (under reconstruction) the city does have various other cultural structures ideally suited for theatrical art. Again, such performances will be linked to the Major Cycles. Most of these performances will reflect THE GOLDEN SIXTIES and THE WORLD OF JOSEF K.
WORKSHOPS
An integral part of the programme will be a collection of workshops where participants and general public alike will be able to “try out” various elementary aspects of artistic creativity. Traditional film and photography workshops will be augmented by activities inspired by the Major Cycles: above all, Argentinean culture (the Tango!) and Tibetan culture.
EVENTS FOR THE GENERAL PUBLIC
Although many of the cultural activities will be available for accredited participants only, RFF will ensure that the general public (particularly the local people of Písek) will be able to visit significant films, collections of art and artefacts, meet famous personalities, attend concerts and theatre performances. Screenings on the main city square and activities organised for families with children will, of course, be designed mainly for the benefit of the general public.
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