LOOK INSIDE THE GHOST MACHINE (Péter Lichter / Hungary / 2012 / 4’) The first avant-garde filmmakers believed that cinema had the function of a machine, created to manage pure emotions.
NUTRITION FUGUE (Péter Lichter / Hungary / 2018 / 4’) 'Közért' (translation: 'for the public') was a chain of stores run by the government of Hungary during communism (1948-1989). The word 'közért' is still present in Hungarian. Our film was made with ads from these stores, their original 35mm films were decomposed and cut into pieces.
“The future of Hungarian experimental film is open” – claimed Lóránd Hegyi in his 1983 review of the topic. Thirty years later the same is true, and Hungarian experimental film still exists – even if it is currently hiding. Following the elimination of creative workshops and restructuring of film theaters, museums and galleries became primary forums for experimental films, and they have been forced to share the space with video art pieces designed for this specific environment. Raymond Bellour connected the gallery installation experience with the loss of sustained concentration and defined the cinema with its specific features (isolation, darkness, strict positioning of the viewer) as the optimal environment for focused attention – somnambulism versus hypnosis.
The aim of the program is to create a bridge between the “Western” and the “Eastern” contemporary avant-garde film discourse. “We picked a few of the most memorable North American avant-garde films made in the last few years and looked for Eastern European ones which somehow refer or connect to them by following a similar trend or technique.”
As the overall picture of the contemporary avant-garde film scene is extremely complex, each selection is inevitably subjective and reflects the taste and preferences of the curators.
