13th One Take Film Festival Zagreb

Good news from Zagreb, Croatia!

My short experimental unspoken film UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING will be screened in a special program outside competition highlighting the use of still frame in one single take films at 13th One Take Film Festival in Zagreb, Croatia. 

The film was previously screened in 2020 at Experimental Forum in Los Angeles.

Screening: October 13, 2023 to Sunday, October 15, 2023

Download the program from here (details about my film is on Page 81.)

Lily Boy is nominated to Special Jury Awards at 2023 Cefalù Film Festival

Good news from Cefalù, Sicily, Italy!

My short experimental unspoken film Lily Boy will be screened and also nominated to Special Jury Awards at 2023 Cefalù Film Festival. "This is the remastered version thanks to Lajos Polecsák and Chris Allan Tod hard work on post-production. 

Screening: September 1st, 2023.

Excerpts from my contemplative cinema

After 5 + years being represented on Vimeo I decided to remove most of my short films from the platform. I created a demo reel to cinephiles keen to my experimental unspoken cinema, slow cinema. My films will be available soon for both individuals and institutions, festival screenings, public programs, exhibitions, museums and galleries and also for educational purpose. A few of my short films are also available on YouTube . 

The Gardener (trailer)

Click here to wach the trailer of my first feature length micro budget contemplative avant-garde fiction film.

The film was entirely shot on shoestring budget and took place on and off for a period of 2 years. As well as in my experimental one take short films, I only used extreme long static shots and let the unpredictable occasions happen on outdoor locations. Working without actors, extras, lack of financials, professional equipment, etc... didn't stop me to continue or give up the project, instead encouraged to use the extended, almost limitless time to develop and frame the storyline.  The nearly silent film "home movie" is an experimentation, just like Chantal Akerman's earliest cinema, though here, diegetic outside the frame "off screen" sounds and dialogues are also key elements of the story telling. 

Story line: a middle age expatriate man working as a gardener for wealthy local families to support his own family somewhere in South East Asia, but one day, everything change.

Music: Kai Engel https:// www. kai-engel. com

Film festival screenings postponed

As a result of the covid-19 Pandemic, 9 month after the Los Angeles based film festival, Experimental Forum announced to postpone the screenings, today the 9th International Video Poetry Festival in Athens Greece did the same. I totally agree with their decision and hope both of my films The Unbearable Lightness of being and Sunday of Zen will be screened this year and get some publicity.

Namaste

Sunday of Zen Official Selection for the 9th International Video Poetry Festival 2021 in Athens

I'm so honored to announce that my experimental short film "Sunday of Zen" is part of the Official Selection for the 9th International Video Poetry Festival. Screening be held on March 2021 in Athens, Greece.

Lily Boy has remastered

 

The good news: my film "Lily Boy" remastered version has done, thanks to Lajos Polecsak and Chris Allan Tod. 

Fear

The remastered version of my experimental contemplative short Holocaust film is currently available on my vimeo channel here.

The film is available for both distribution and screening.

30th Girona Film Festival Finalist

Experimental Forum 2020 International Video and Film Festival screening has postponed for next year

Those are expected the screening of my film "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" this year in Los Angeles must wait for another year.

This is the festival official announcement I received:

"At Experimental Forum, we strive to make sure our public screenings are a safe and positive experience for everyone at the festival. Due to the current widespread of COVID-19, we are taking extra steps to consider the safety of everyone who comes to the event. Some attendees from out of state and overseas require advance notice to plan and travel to the festival. Certain travel restrictions or health concerns due to the pandemic will make it impossible for most to freely attend. For everyone’s safety, peace of mind and a chance to fully celebrate the filmmakers' achievements, the festival committee have decided to screen this year’s selection together with the 2021 festival edition next year, when the situation is safe and everyone can make plans to attend the festival with greater confidence and certainty."

If you are a slow cinema addict and can't wait till next year, please take a look Benoit Rouilly Unspoken Cinema Blog and find his review on my film with a short interview . The film also available as a bonus for the the blog's readers.

Click here to watch the film

The Gardener

My first feature long contemplative Avant-garde film, production the title "The Gardener" is getting close to the end of production period. It took more than a year to shoot on locations in Cambodia and Thailand. There was no script and neither the story-line was written advance. I developed the story in my head step by step, sometimes at the location right before the shoot. The entire shooting period was a real experience with the unpredictable time on certain locations. Regarding to the circumstances I decided to shoot without assistance, it means I was the only crew member. There was no meaning to look after freelance crew. Neither the shooting days nor the production period was scheduled in advance. I used my own basic camera, sound and lightening equipment, car, rented properties, etc... I used natural lights on locations, except when I shot the interior scenes and the lights were not adequate. 

Shooting and acting in a same time was more than challenging. I have no previous acting experience, though most of time was not needed any acting skill just had to be in the right mood. A little meditation always helped to tune the soul to the right frequency. There were no rehearsals only concepts, but I had to record the scenes multiple times if something went wrong. That wasn't easy. Usually pre-production process took longer than the entire shoot.

The (fiction) story in a nutshell: an expatriate man (who is happened to be a gardener) somewhere in South East Asia is struggling to survive emotionally the tragic loss of his family, meanwhile loosing his job as well. The film is very contemplative, so I hope the audience will have enough patient to watch till the end. Each shots somewhere between 10 to 30 minutes. The entire film can be a few hours long at the end. I can't say anything about post production yet, but probably will take a few months to finish. 

Experimental Forum International Film and Video Festival Official Selection 2020

My film The Unbearable Lightness of Being is selected to the Experimental Forum International Film and Video Festival 2020 Los Angeles. Screening: July 19th 2020.

If you would like to know more and even watch the film, please read Benoit Rouilly Unspoken Cinema blog 

The Unbearable lightness of being

Benoit Rouilly critic and expert on Contemporary Contemplative Cinema (CCC) review on one of my film,"The unbearable lightness of being" shot entirely in Cambodia. The scene is reminiscent of him to the opening of Bela Tarr's and Agnes Hranitzky's world famous Satantango and some point he also compares the film to Lumière brothers, Andy Warhol, James Benning and Nikolaus Geyrhalter works.

click here to read the article

The Bay /Honorable Mention Award

Great news "The Bay" my contemplative short filmed in Cambodia received Honorable Mention Award at Los Angeles Underground Film Forum (LAUFF) 2019.