BIEFF 2014 International Competition: Theme Program – URBAN GHOSTS: Between Foreboding and Nostalgia

The BIEFF 2014 International Competition confronts us with the reality of a new human species, Homo Urbanus, and his unexpected and permanently changing faces. The theme program URBAN GHOSTS: Between Foreboding and Nostalgia explores the symptoms of urbanization, the inner tensions of contemporary man: caught between here and there, now and then, between the longing for an idealized past and an uncertain threatening future, estranged from his environment, from others and, ultimately, himself, and yet in a continuous process of recovering and redefining his humanity.
 

Sealed away from the outside world in his concrete blocks, out of a perverted sense of self-preservation, contemporary man gets unconsciously desensitized to the pain of others. As a reaction, in Douwe Dijkstra’s DÉMONTABLE, our domestic space turns into a world reminiscent of Gulliver’s Travels, invaded by miniature projections of the outside world (as defined and constructed by the mass-media). “A funny, playful film on the absurd relationship between daily life and global news. The level of media saturation we’re bombarded with creates an absurd distortion and distance between our daily routine and current affairs. Démontable explores this bizarre melange of realities by throwing the two worlds together: attack helicopters shred a newspaper, while a dinner plate suffers a drone strike. They’re a series of attempts to try and understand our world better by playing with its violent protagonists.” (Douwe Dijkstra). Nominated for the Golden Calf for Best Short Film at the Netherlands Film Festival 2014. The screening is possible thanks to the kind support of LIMA Distribution Amsterdam. (Trailer)
 

 
Ulu Braun’s BIRDS provides a canted look at the human presence in urban spaces through the primordial, prehistoric perspective of the titular animals. Through a mesmerizing Hitchcockian visual study in ornithology, visual artist Braun breaks down societal construction by hinting at a dormant danger: he observes Earth’s winged inhabitants from up close, looking to their ominous and omniscient presence that watches over us in quiet surveillance. Associative editing brings out the sinuous elegance of wild and domestic birds, positioning them against the glamour and refuse of urban cities shaped by human civilization. A cohabitation of prehistoric lineage estranged by an abstract soundtrack, this unlikely pairing of fowl and man becomes a premonitory reminder of the fallacy of modern civilization’s progress. (Andrei Tănăsescu, BIEFF). Screened at Berlinale 2014, Oberhausen 2014, Clermont-Ferrand 2014 and many other prestigious festivals. This screening is made possible with the kind support of German Films. (Trailer)
 

 
Isolating himself from the outside world and real human contacts, the urban man reinvents his identity in the virtual realm, in the deliciously cheeky METUBE, by Daniel Moshel, "a tribute to the countless performers seeking self-expression through the rhizomes of YouTube (...). The famous opera tenor August Schram plays the balding, meek protagonist whose self-recorded performance of Habanera from Bizet’s Carmen is interrupted by his doting mother. From there, the one-man show unleashes a flurry of genre-and-gender benders, reflecting the internet kaleidoscopic personalities. As the film tangos on, the mirroring effect celebrates both the artistic spirit of YouTubers, as well as our aspiring, inner diva." (Andrei Tănăsescu, BIEFF) Audience Award winner at Semana de Cine Experimental Madrid. The screening is possible with the support of Sixpackfilm Austria.
 

 
While previous movies investigate different ways in which contemporary man became alienated from himself, EMERGENCY CALLS (nominated for the European Film Awards 2014) is a plea for re-humanisation. Using actual emergency call center recordings, the film creates an intense vision of human suffering and frailty. With an eerie, almost surreal atmosphere, the callers’ faceless voices recount the horrors they are going through. "Through a tense musical score and visuals that underline mankind’s microscopic existence in the universe, filmmakers Hannes Vartiainen and Pekka Veikkolainen’s celestial vision constructs a palpable sense of imminent danger. From its midst, the viewer escapes as a spectral witness, privy to the fragility of its own human life." (Andrei Tănăsescu, BIEFF). "Being human is a fragile and fleeting opportunity to experience life and the universe around us. In the face of overwhelming darkness all we can do is to rely on and find solace in one another", note the filmmakers. (Trailer)
 

 
In STORM IS COMING, the plight of mankind is contoured in indirect fashion by the absent presence of interviewed Romanian immigrants: against the image of a grey, yet idyllic French countryside, their soundless voices warn of an approaching literal and metaphorical storm. Through fixed long takes and muted field recordings, Romanian visual artist Daniel Djamo engages us to read and thus embody voices that recount their varied experiences earning a living on the streets of Paris. In this process of identification, the practical when and how of the titular tempest give way to the metaphysical where and why, allowing Djamo’s dialectical method to bring to life the specters of migrants’ experiences within the viewer. Reconciled and contradictory, heart wrenching and deeply poignant, these are the collective voices of our contemporary, human condition. (Andrei Tănăsescu, BIEFF) (Trailer)
 

 
BIEFF continues the inspiring collaboration with Le Fresnoy – Studio National des Arts Contemporains, bringing again to Bucharest the Romanian premieres of some outstanding Le Fresnoy 2014 productions. Within this competition program, Arash Nassiri’s fascinating TEHRAN-GELES flies us over a would-be space, where past and present, memory and imagination merge under luminous Iranian adverts and signs projected over an aerial night-time image of Los Angeles. “During the flight, recorded phone calls relate memories of events that took place in Tehran. These stories refer us to the city’s past. In the 1970s and 80s the reality of American life was projected onto the city’s social and urban fabric. The music, clothes, cars, boulevards and motorways echoed that way of life. The revolution brought this period to an end. Like science fiction cinema, in which the present of a city is projected into the future, this video projects the past of Tehran into the present, taking Los Angeles as a setting.” (Le Fresnoy) (Trailer)
 

 
Migratory ghosts return to assert their existence in the conceptual NEW YEAR’S EVE 2014, signed by Artur Boruzs, a production of the National University of Theatre and Film Bucharest. On the 1st of January, 2014, UK visa restrictions for Romanian workers were lifted, prompting fears of an impending invasion. Avoiding the news coverage of the British reaction, the film looks, rather, at the hypothetical results in Romania. Local TV news fragments ferment the hysteria while the streets blink their neon lights in a deserted city. Utopia turns to dystopia, where an abandoned Romania is left to ponder its future. Deliberate and foreboding, Artur Boruzs’s satire turns to science-fiction, offering a timely alternative to the underlying issue of global overpopulation. (Andrei Tănăsescu, BIEFF)

The 5th edition of Bucharest International Experimental Film Festival BIEFF will take place between December 10th–14th, 2014, at CinemaPRO and Elvira Popescu Cinema.
 
BIEFF is honoured and grateful to receive support and inspiration from its partners: Quinzaine des Réalisateurs Cannes, Berlinale Forum Expanded, International Film Festival Rotterdam, Oberhausen Film Festival, IDFA Amsterdam Paradocs, Centre Pompidou, Le Fresnoy - Studio National des Arts Contemporains, CINEDANS - Dance on Screen Festival Amsterdam, Tampere Film Festival, Sixpackfilm Austria and EYE Film Institute Netherlands.
 
BIEFF would not possible without the support of the Romanian National Cinema Centre, the Romanian Cultural Institute, the National University of Arts Bucharest, the National University of Theatre and Film Bucharest, the French Institute in Bucharest, the Austrian Cultural Forum, Goethe-Institut Bukarest, Czech Centre Bucharest, Balassi Institute, the Italian Cultural Institute "Vito Grasso", the Rule of Law Program South-East Europe of Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, Embassy of Sweden, Embassy of Finland, Embassy of Israel, Accion Cultural Española, German Films, Swiss Films, ABIS Studio, the National Dance Centre Bucharest CNDB, Galateca.
 
Media partners: 121.ro, AaRC.ro, ArtOut.ro, Asociația Paspartu, B365.ro, CalendarEvenimente.ro, Carturesti.ro, CineFan.ro, CinemaRx.ro, Designist.ro, DorDeDuca.ro, FilmReporter.ro, FilmSense.eu, GingerGroup.ro, iFestival.ro, IQads.ro, LaPunkt.ro, LiterNet.ro, OrasulM.eu, PostModern.ro, Revista Arte & Meserii, RomaniaPozitiva.ro, societatesicultura.ro, Studentie.ro, Sub25.ro, TOTB.ro, Urban.ro, Urban Things Romania, VinSiEu.ro, WeART.ro, Ziarul Metropolis.