South by Southeast is a survey program that presents new film and video work from the area to the South and the East in Europe. The countries located in this area have alternately been classified as Balkan and Mediterranean, as capitalist and socialist, and as European and non-European. They share in common historical and cultural links that move in multiple directions. They also share in common a lower profile in the international culture of cinematic arts that comes from a lack of interest and care on the part of the dominant institutions and curators in Western Europe and North America. This program as such represents an intervention. It is a strategy for forging productive transnational links and also a method for mapping a new conception of Europe for a new generation.
South by Southeast presents work built for cinemas, galleries, online, and other cross-disciplinary exhibition spaces. The artists included in the selection engage in practices that blur boundaries and challenge the conventions of contemporary visual culture. In 2020, for the first time, this program will be a special part of the festival’s international competition.
Greg de Cuir Jr
Selector
Selection:
I Am Here, Alina Manolache, Romania, 2020, 15 min.
The film starts as an effort to map a series of landscapes both familiar and strange to the audience, vistas from a world that is apparently asleep, as seen in the midst of a global crisis. Recorded by the mechanical eye of utility cameras, these views appear, at first, as dystopian visions of the world, foretelling a bleak post-human future.
Events Meant to Be Forgotten, Marko Tadić, Croatia, 2020, 6 min
Filmed on 16mm film, this visual expression is rooted in archival materials and based on a poem by Hans Magnus Enzensberger. It speaks of forgotten people, their lives and their deeds. These two Archives were found at a flea market in Zagreb. One is of a famous architect and the other of a famous composer. The film ponders on this occurrence, as well as on the vanishing and forgetfulness of humans.
Centaur, Siddharth Govindan and Kanykei Orozoeva, Hungary, 2021, 8 min
In the age of the anthropocene, a relationship of a thousand years has now reached a state of contact. What happens when a non-riding culture comes into contact with people who were mounted on horses? Centaur surveys mysterious figures looming in the dark, known for waking up before first light.
ЮНАК [juˈnʌk], George Stamenov, Bulgaria/United Kingdom, 2018, 8 min
The work depicts a series of “unnecessary memories” from the director’s childhood. Reminiscences, not related to a significant event, unnecessarily stored in his mind. All shots in the film are abstract depictions of the director’s personal “unnecessary memories”.
I Bhfad as Amharc/Out of Sight (Outro), Jelena Perišić, Serbia, 2021, 2 min
Video for the author’s song “I Bhfad as Amharc / Out of Sight (Outro)”, which is on the EP “Seanchroí / Old Heart”. Both the song and the video deal with the topic of communication, ie. lack of it, and difficulties in mentally / emotionally and physically moving away from events, things or people that cause negative feelings. Does our effort to get as far away from them as possible actually have a counter-effect?
Vdor / Intrusion, Matevž Jerman & Niko Novak, Slovenia, 2021, 11 min
General high school Gian Rinaldo Carli in Koper, Slovenia, keeps one of the oldest collections of animal specimens preserved in formaldehyde. The collection dates from the second half of the 19th century. The film Intrusion documents animals from the collection of the Oreste Gerosa Cabinet of Natural Sciences, stored in glass jars.
Dear Diary, Anja Banješević and Marija Šumarac, Serbia, 2021, 6 min
This video was made of 7 audio-visual pieces, each representing a daily diary-like recording of the first week of 2021. With this project we wanted to explore topics related to the isolation, loneliness, feelings, communication and connection of our inner and outer space.
Packing and Unpacking Christo, Zoran Saveski, Serbia, 2021, 11 min
The film shows a part of the preparation of the project L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped, and might be considered as Christo’s final work. The film is a reflection of the artist’s vision and of the playful nature of his work.