Film programme

Together with Transatlantyk, we will present the latest documentaries about the photographers we do not need to introduce: Koudelka Shooting Holly Land and Don’t Blink. Robert Frank. We will also show a unique film about the masters of industrial architecture photographers, Bernd and Hilla Becher – in the space which perfectly complements this documentary, namely in the Planetarium of the newly renovated EC1 Heat and Power Plant. Moreover, Martin Kollar will be ready to answer your questions after you watch his latest production, inspired by slow cinema, but also well-grounded in his own photoaesthetics – 5 October.

In the section that is directly related to the main theme of this festival, “Can you imagine?”, we will show you Ascent by visual artist Fiona Tan. Her film consists of over 4500 photographs from 150 years of history of Japan and Mount Fuji, which tell us an elusive love story balancing between fiction and documentary. Moreover, the curator of Les Nuits Photographiques will invite you to a review of short films made by visual artists and photographers whose area of work is on the border of film and photography.

One of the most intense titles included in the programme is going to be widely discussed I Am Not Your Negro by Raoul Peck, one f the greatest hits of this year’s festival in Berlin, presenting the situation of racial segregation in the USA, thanks to, among others, photo documentation from that period.

Some of the Fotofestiwal film shows are the result of our cooperation with Transatlantyk Festival, and they will also be presented on 14-21 July.

The Photographers Bernd and Hilla Becher will be shown thanks to our collaboration with the National Centre for Film Culture, whereas Ascent will be presented in cooperation with the Film School Cinema.

Schedule:

3.06, 17:30, 5 October, dir. Martin Kollar, Czech Republic, Netherlands 2015, 50’ + Q&A with Martin Kollar; Art_Inkubator, theatre hall, ul. Tymienieckiego 3

04 June, 18.00, Short films from the Les Nuits Photographiques festival, 55’ + meeting with Guillaume Chamahian, Art_Inkubator, theatre hall, Tymienieckiego 3

07 June, 19.00, Koudelka Shooting Holy Land, dir. Gilad Baram, Czech Republic 2016, 72’, Polish premiere; Art_Inkubator, theatre hall, Tymienieckiego 3

08 June, 19:00, Ascent, dir. Fiona Tan, Netherlands, Japan 2016, 80’, Polish premiere; Film School Cinema, Targowa 61/63

9 June, 20:00, Bernd i Hilla Becher/ The Photographers Bernd and Hilla Becher, dir. Marianne Kapfer, Germany 2011, 94’ + meeting with the director. Presentation at EC1 Planetarium, ul. Targowa 1/3

10 June, 19.00, Don’t blink – Robert Frank, dir. Laura Israel, USA 2015, 82’; Art_Inkubator, theatre hall, Tymienieckiego 3

11 June, 19:00, I am not your negro, dir. Raoul Peck, USA 2017, 95’; Art_Inkubator, theatre hall, Tymienieckiego 3

Descriptions:

5 October, dir. Martin Kollar, Czech Republic, Netherlands 2015, 50’

When Ján Kollár finds out that he may only have a couple of months left, he sets off on a journey with no destination, but only a deadline. Photographer and director Martin Kollar accompanies his brother in the bicycle excursion – with every next entry in the diary, they get closer to the date of Jan’s difficult surgery, whereas the viewers get closer to the silent protagonist. A classical “slow Cinema” form as presented by Martin Kollar reaches its furthest limits. Kollar tells us an intimate story and, at the same time, asks questions about the differences between (moving) photography and (still) film. And he brings out the best from both these media – not for some formal fun, but to tell the story, as honestly as possible, about the exceptional state of human soul in crisis.

The world premiere took place in 2016 at the Film Festival in Rotterdam.

Short films from the Les Nuits Photographiques festival, 55’

Les Nuits Photographiques was first organized in 2010 as an innovatinve platform for promotion and creative support of photo&film and multimedia projects connected with photography. For a couple of years, it has built a big portfolio of photo-films presented at festivals and in institutions such as Les Rencontres d’Arles, Le musée de L’Elysée in Switzerland, Binôme Gallery in Paris, Cinema Acte Sud in Arles, Yangon Photo Festival in Myanmar.

The festival’s founder and curator, Guillaume Chamahian (working as a multimedia artist), prepared in cooperation with Fotofestiwal a set of films from the catalogue of his event. His selection reflects the multitude of forms which a photographic film may adopt and at the same time relates to this year festival theme “Can you imagine?”.

This is how Fotofestiwal joins the main mission of Les Nuits Photographiques, which is to present the works of authors and photographers who analyse and presents the world to us in the form of multimedia forms to a wider audience.

After the film show, feel invited to take part in a meeting with the festival’s founder – Guillaume Chamahain.

1981-2013, dir. Gabriel Folli, 2’

The route 66, dir. Leo Delafontaine, 5’, 2011, France

Eidalopolis, dir. Cyrille Lallement, 5’,

Le modulor, dir. Guillaume Martial, 2’

Closer, dir. Julia Sitarska, 2’

Turn to beauty, dir. Sun Cunming, 1’

Voyage, Voyage, Voyage, dir. Robin Lopvet, Sam Racheboeuf, 6’

Petit lait, dir. Marine Dricot, 9’

Las Vegas Birthday, dir. Alec Soth, 4’

Futur Électronique, dir. Pascal Labrouillẻre, 6’

Psychoterisme, dir. Robin Lopvet, 2’

Cortex, dir. Collectif Faux Amis, 6’

Samsung Galaxy, dir. Romain Champalaune, 7’

[GO BACK TO SCHEDULE]

 Koudelka Shooting Holy Land, dir. Gilad Baram, Czech Republic 2016, 72’

Forty years after capturing the iconic images of the Soviet invasion of Prague in 1968, Josef Koudelka arrives in Israel and Palestine arrives in Israel and Palestine to begin his 4-year long project, which once again confronts him with the harsh reality of violence and conflict. Director Gilad Baram, who at that time was the assistant of one of the most acclaimed Magnum photographers, follows his master on his journey through the Holy Land and its enigmatic and visually stunning spaces.

A dialogue emerges between Baram’s cinematography and Koudelka’s still photographs, as Baram places the photographer in his own breathtaking compositions.

In each location – soon to become a new “Koudelka photo” – a new scene unfolds, gradually introducing us to Koudelka’s method of working. The film is an opportunity for the photography lovers to accompany their master for over an hour, watch closely during fine, long takes,  the photographer decides on the place and angle, how Koudelka picks his locations and angles from which to shoot the photo, but also how he changes the reels, works with people and comments on the reality.

The film has been presented at festivals such as:

Docaviv 2016

Filaf in Perpignan

San Francisco Jewish Film Festival

Dok. Fest Munchen

One World – International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival in Prague

Finale Plznen (Special International Jury Award)

DokuArts in Berlin

The film show is organized in cooperation with Transatlantyk Film Festival [the film will be also presented on 14-21 July, with a discourse programme prepared by Fotofestiwal]

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Ascent, dir. Fiona Tan, Netherlands, Japan 2016, 80’; Polish premiere

Film School Cinema, Targowa 61/63

Photographs of Mount Fuji – contemporary and archive, taken by professionals and toursists – are where a love story unfolds. An Englishwoman and her late partner let us follow their relationship. Quickly, their story turns out to be the starting point for reflection on the language, philosophy, the history of Japan, the religious significance of Mount Fuji and human contact with nature. The film is composed exclusively of still images (4500 photographs from the last 150 years) and is a cinematographic experiment, balancing somewhere in between document and fiction. The other movie by Fiona Tan is a continuation of her reflection on the nature of photography and film, as well as on the opportunity to develop a story basing on found footage. But this is not the end of her artistic expression – Ascent is a photo book and an exhibition.

The film has been presented at festivals such as:

Locarno Film Festival
BFI London Film Festival
MOSTRA Sao Paulo international Film Festival – New Filmmakers Competition
Porto/Post/Doc – Oporto Film & Media Festival 
Gothenburg International Film Festival
International Film Festival Rotterdam

The film show is organized in cooperation with Transatlantyk Film Festival [it will be also presented on 14-21 July, with a discourse programme prepared by Fotofestiwal]

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Bernd i Hilla Becherowie/ The Photographers Bernd and Hilla Becher, dir. Marianne Kapfer, Germany 2011, 94′

There is no better location to show this film than the post-industrial spaces of Łódź. Would you say no to watching it in the EC1 Planetarium?

Photographers Bernd and Hilla Becher for over forty years photographed in black and white the mines, water reservoirs, log cabins and all those spaces which have become the testimony to the industrial prosperity in Europe and the USA of the 19th and 20th centuries. The couple of photographers redefined the idea of architectural photography and documented places which no longer exist. Marianne Kapfer’s film shows how much artistic consciousness, hard work on the composition, but also determination is hidden in the apparently monotonous and simple images by the German photographers. The director also confronts the Bachers with the accusations and ethical issues which their artistic output had to face. The couple and their students reveal the secrets of work on their most significant projects and once again show us the beauty of industrial constructions and the principles which apply to them.

After the show, do not forget to take part in a meeting with the director. The film is presented thanks to our cooperation with the National Centre for Film Culture and EC1.

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 Don’t blink – Robert Frank, dir. Laura Israel, USA 2015, 82’

Directed by Robert Frank’s long-term colleague, a film about the icon of American photography and film director is not a documentary we would expect. Laura Israel aims at understanding and presenting the nuances of Robert Frank’s creative process and the background of his artistic decisions – rather than the facts as such. She rejects the classical structure of a dynamic film biography about the groundbreaking role of the eccentric filmmaker and photographer, who in 1958 revolutionized photography with The Americans, and with Pull My Daisy came to be an important experimental cinema maker. She adopts the technique of a non-linear journey through various aspects and moments of Frank’s life, thus referring to his style of work. In various moments of the film and in various ways she also takes up the issue of publishing The Americans, Frank’s engagement in the beatnik movement, his cooperation with the Rolling Stones and the counterculture of the 1960s, experimental films, but also Robert’s relationship with his wife, June Leaf, and their tragically deceased children.

The film includes photos from Frank’s private archives and his own words – not those spoken for TV or news reporters, but those directed to the editor of his films and a friend – are a unique opportunity to meet closer one of the most significant persons in the history of documentary photography. With its approach and research work, the film will satisfy even the keenest fans of Robert Frank’s works let us better understand his uncompromising approach to art, fame and talking about himself.

The film has been presented at, among others, the Film Festival in Berlin – Berlinale in 2016, New York Film Festival, IDFA in Amsterdam.

The film show is organized in cooperation with Transatlantyk Film Festival [it will be also presented on 14-21 July, with a discourse programme prepared by Fotofestiwal]

[GO BACK TO SCHEDULE]

I am not your negro, dir. Raoul Peck, USA 2017, 95’

James Baldwin, one of the most influential African American writers, essayist and thinkers, in 1979 began work on the book which was to become revolutionary: a personal account of the lives of his three friends: Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. and their assassinations. When he died in 1987, Baldwin had only written thirty pages.  

In I am not your negro Raoul Peck presents the book which Baldwin never managed to finish. He used the writer’s words (voiced by Samuel L. Jackson) and the great amount of archive material (including photographs) to create a radical, detailed analysis of the racial problem in the USA. I am not your negro is a journey through the history of African Americans, from the Civil Rights Movement to the contemporary #BlackLivesMatter. It is a film which asks questions such as how many black people have succeeded, for example, in Hollywood, and at the same time presents the Baldwin himself. It questions the core of what defines America. Finally, it presents to us a great part of American documentary and reportage photography, which became a witness to the events which took place in the USA in the 1960s and 1970s.