Ecology and sustainability in the experimental film practice in focus of this year's symposium
The third Analogue Film in a Digital Age Symposium will take place during the 20th edition of the 25 FPS Festival, under the topic of ecology and self-sustainability of independent film labs, photochemical practices, and wider practices in the experimental cinema.
Once more, the symposium will present two film programs and a round table discussion, featuring the Dutch director and founder of the Rotterdam film lab Filmwerkplaats – Esther Urlus, French-Australian filmologist Charlie Hewison, Scottish filmologist Kim Knowles, as well as Czech artists, researchers, and Labodoble lab founders – Alexandra Moralesová and Georgy Bagdasarov. They will talk about the use of alternative, non-toxic film developers and will hold a workshop on the same topic during the festival (Friday, 27 September & Saturday, 28 September),
“In contrast with the premises of the contemporary consumer society of constant production and consumption, independent film labs have gone back to the premises of sustainable work, due to the precarious position of photochemical film. Since their beginnings in the 1990s, film labs have been salvaging discarded film tools and equipment, from film stock to flatbed editors, with the goal of sustaining the practice of working on film. Many of them are artist-technicians, who have been sharing technical knowledge with each other, especially in relation to repairing or repurposing film equipment. With the decreasing availability of film materials and chemicals, lab members have also started to develop their own chemical formulas for film development, as well as their own film materials”, says the symposium curator and round table moderator – the film critic Ejla Kovačević.
The round table will take place on Friday, 27 September at 14:00 at the new festival location – in the courtyard of the studio-gallery KLET (Ilica 73).
Esther Urlus, one of the filmmaker-alchemists whose work revolves around the DIY color-chemistry and emulsion, will introduce herself with a retrospective program. On Wednesday, 25 September at 14:00 in the Kinoteka cinema, Esther will present seven of her short films shot on 16 mm film. Curated by Charlie Hewison, the second film program establishes direct and symbolic links between film materials and natural processes, problematising the relationship between man and nature. The program will screen on Thursday, 26 September at 14:00, in the Kinoteka cinema.