“What Not to Miss at the Experimental Film Festival ‘Process’ – Recommendations from the Organizing Team”

On Wednesday, May 17, the fifth experimental film festival “Process” will begin with a specially curated program and opening performance event by representatives of Latvian cultural space, which this year pays special attention to the concept, practice and works of expanded cinema. In the year of the anniversary, the festival offers the audience to visit all the screenings of the film programs free of charge, as well as to view the installations created for the festival, participate in the discussion and meet internationally renowned filmmakers in the field of experimental cinema.

In order to help the audience navigate the broad offer of the festival, we asked for advice from the team of creators of the “Procesa” program – curator Ulrich Zímons, as well as filmmakers and festival creators Ieva Balode and Lāsma Bērtulei.

Ulrich Seemons (Germany, Berlin International Film Festival):

I am very happy about the focus on the opportunity to experience extended cinema performance in live performance and I am very much looking forward to the works of international filmmakers that go beyond the boundaries of classical cinema presentation. We are also interested in the works in the program “Experimental cinema in the Baltics” / “Baltic Experimental”, hoping to gain an insight into the actual creation of experimental cinematography in this region.

Another highlight for me will definitely be the retrospective of the works of the legendary German collective “Shmelzdahin” – the influence and importance of these filmmakers cannot be underestimated, and I am glad that we will have the opportunity to see several of their important works together.

Lāsma Bērtule, curator of the film program of the “Process” festival:

“I’m really looking forward to the performances, because it’s always very impressive, a special experience, which this year will be especially wide and diverse, allowing us to further expand our assumptions about what cinema is. But since my work in preparing the festival is related to film programs , my thoughts are mostly focused on them – mostly I just can’t wait to see on the big screen the exciting films that have been seen during the selection process. Moreover, many of them are projected from 16mm film, which, however, is an incomparable beauty.

From the “Face in the Cloud” program, I am especially looking forward to the truly hypnotizing whirlwind film “vs” by the Austrian artist Lidija Nsias. In the “State of Vigilance” program, I would like to highlight the enigmatic film “Che” by Argentinian filmmaker Ignacio Tamarita, which is exactly 17 seconds long and will have its premiere at the festival from a brand new 16mm copy. Also, in the program “Secret Links” curated by me, the premiere is expected – Ukrainian / American artist Anna Kipervazer’s loving portrait of grandparents “Grandma Galya and Grandpa Arkadys”https://www.delfi.lv/kultura/news/screen/.”

Ieva Balode, manager and curator of the “Process” festival:

“This year’s festival is more special than other years, as it offers an unprecedented wide and diverse program of extended cinema performances and also installations. As a practicing representative of this genre of cinema art, it is a great thrill for me to welcome such a legendary artist as Guy Sherwin to us in Riga. from Great Britain, whose works have already been included in the experimental cinema chrosmatic editions.Sherwin, together with his wife Lynn Loo, will present a special Retrospective program of his works, in which works from the seventies and today will be shown.

As two more exciting works by authors in the “Process Expanded” performance program, I would like to mention the performance “Raksti/Patterns” by the Czech artist Jan Kulka and the performance “Isentropic” by the Austrian artist Bernhard Rezinger, aka BR Laser. Jan Kulka’s work will be shown on the author’s self-built device, which is capable of projecting a 60mm film through four projector lenses at the same time, which have built-in external shutters, allowing you to experience a whole stroboscopic cinema experience. On the other hand, the performance of BR Laser will be something completely unprecedented at our festival – a laser show controlled by a modular sitzator, which allows the viewer to experience an absolutely synchronous live impulse of sound and light, which, due to purely physical reasons, is never possible to see in real time in a projected image.”

It has already been reported that the experimental cinema festival “Process” will take place from May 17 to 21. This time it will be devoted to analog moving image practices. The Vagonu Hall, Vagonu Street 21, will be the home of the festival again this year.