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

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

30th Girona Film Festival Jewish Film

Click here to see the llist of the films screened at 30th Girona Fil Festival in Jewish Film category.   

Through the rain / revealed

Through the rain my short avantgard film has been filmed last month from inside my hotel room in Phnom Penh. It was just a great occasion shooting the monsoon rain via the window. In the past decade Phnom Penh's scenery has changed a lot. Skyscrapers are growing like mushrooms. The city is a bit smog-filled, but the air still much better than in Saigon or Bangkok. The traffic has increased, not to mention the construction noise.

"Through the rain" like almost at all my other films I used no camera movement and extreme long take to highlight the time and timelessness. My films are not only what about you see. You need to be in a certain mood, let's say relaxed, to recognize the beauty of the hidden beast what I call Zen. I just can repeat myself again and again, please don't watch my films as usually you used to watch movies. Watch with your heart and soul and see what untrained eyes and ears can not catch. Learn the film and develop your senses. Learn watching films from the director and the cinematographer point of view. The movies will be more interesting and will open up an extraordinary endless journey.

I know my films are not for everyone. Maybe too philosophical or just too simple or boring to catch the attention of  wider audience. Curators, critics, festivals, museums are not really interested. Maybe they're not even watching because of the specific genre or just simple not get it what the hell is that for?

So here is a non scientific extreme short  explanation via "Through the rain".

For example: if you're recognized the two birds when they flew across in front of  the window, you are on the right path. It looks you have great sense for seeing details without someone call up your attention. ... but did you realized the traffic or when the tuktuk and the cars appeared and disappeared  at the left corner of the screen? .... or the window is divided for three different sections and that you are able to watch three different movies in the same time? You also can follow what's going on off screen, if you're carefully listening the "city-noise". ... and at the end there are rolling rain drops on the window glass (before they landed on the window they traveled approx. two to seven minutes) and new born clouds.

So everything is there, just have to wait and watch. If you have enough time and patience the magic will happen. .... and what about all of this boredom?

It's only about TIME and TIMELESSNESS, LIFE and BEYOND. It's about NOTHING....

It's about ZEN.

I am just framing my friend.

Please click here to watch "Through the rain" one of my experimental contemporary contemplative  slow cinema 

Sunday on Zen screening at Cefalu Film Festival, in Italy

Great news!

My contemplative short film "Sunday of Zen" has been selected to screen at the Cefalù Film Festival in Sicily, Italy! The Festival will be held on May 1, 2018. Stay Tuned!