Frooom! & CinEd: Analog Experimental Film – Images Reinvented

Date and Time of the Workshop: August 26-30, 2024, 9 AM – 3 PM
Location: Dr. Ivan Merz Elementary School (Rački Street 4, 10000 Zagreb)
Instructors: Ejla Kovačević (HR) and Sébastien Ronceray (FR)
Language: English and Croatian
Age Group: 13 – 18 years old

From August 26 to 30, 2024, as part of the CinEd project and Frooom! film school, and in collaboration with the artistic organization Klubvizija, an analog experimental film workshop will be held for young people aged 13 to 18. The workshop will be led by French film educator, curator, and researcher Sébastien Ronceray and Croatian film critic and curator Ejla Kovačević.

The workshop will introduce participants to the world of experimental film, which, with its exploratory and non-commercial nature, constantly questions and expands the possibilities of cinematic language! Nurturing historical ties with visual arts, music, and poetry, experimental film does not tell stories but invites the viewer to experience the film as a wave of sensations: visual, auditory, and often tactile. Due to its specific material properties, many experimental filmmakers continue to use film stock—a historically significant film format that was pushed to the margins of the industry during the rapid wave of digitization in the 2000s. In this new context, filmmakers are pushing the boundaries of creative work with celluloid: devising alternative techniques for shooting, editing, and developing film, repurposing film tools, and intervening in film archives.

During the five-day workshop, participants will be introduced to the theory, history, and practices of experimental film, with screenings of classic and contemporary film examples. The emphasis will be on analog film: exploring the historical development of the format, the chemical processes of developing and processing film material, and various tools for shooting, editing, and projection. As an introduction to the practical part of the workshop, we will focus on the screening and discussion of films in which artists manually intervene in film material—by drawing, painting, or scratching—either on transparent film or on existing material (known as found footage). Participants will have the opportunity to watch some of the classics of experimental film found in the CinEd collection (“Rainbow Dance” by Len Lye and “Notes on the Circus” by Jonas Mekas), and films by Norman McLaren and Fernand Léger will be viewed in their original 16mm format, thanks to projectors provided by the artistic organization Klubvizija! Following the examples presented, participants will, under the guidance of the instructors, try their hand at working on 16mm film and create their own short experimental film, learning to independently animate a sequence, edit, and finally project their 16mm film.

Participants will have access to all tools for working with 16mm film as well as film examples. The workshop is suitable for beginners, and no prior knowledge of working with analog film is required!

INSTRUCTOR BIOS:

Sébastien Ronceray is a French film educator, curator, and researcher. He has collaborated as a workshop leader with numerous French associations and institutions, most notably the French Cinematheque, where he worked for over 20 years. He is a guest lecturer at several Parisian universities and the author of texts published in numerous academic journals and books. In 2000, he founded the association Braquage, dedicated to the promotion and development of experimental film. In his curatorial and educational work, he is particularly interested in analog film practices, and he also creates films, installations, and performances on film stock.

Ejla Kovačević is an independent film critic, curator, and researcher in the field of artistic and experimental film. She is a regular collaborator and curator at the 25 FPS Experimental Film and Video Festival, a member of the selection committee for the Kinoskop Analog Film Festival (Belgrade, Serbia), and a film curator at the Fubar Glitch Art Festival in Zagreb. Since 2011, she has been a member of the film laboratory Klubvizija (Zagreb), where she organizes numerous screenings, workshops, and lectures on analog film practices. She holds a Master’s degree in French Language (Sorbonne Nouvelle University – Paris 3) and Comparative Literature (Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Zagreb).

The workshop is organized by the association Shadow Casters as part of the CinEd 2.1 project and is funded by: Creative Europe – MEDIA strand, HAVC, the City of Zagreb – City Office for Culture and Civil Society, and the Office for NGOs of the Government of the Republic of Croatia.