Završio 17. PSSST! Festival nijemog filma

Svečanom dodjelom nagrada u subotu, 4. studenog 2023. završio je sedamnaesti po redu PSSST! Festival nijemog filma koji se tijekom tri dana održavao u Centru za kulturu Trešnjevka.

U natjecateljskom programu prikazano je 11 animiranih i 8 igranih kratkometražnih filmova. Sve projekcije su uživo pratili vrhunski glazbeni improvizatori – Vitomir Ivanjek na klaviru te Lela i Joe Kaplowitz. I ove godine smo imali filmove koji slijede izvornu poetiku nijemog filma, a dominirali su filmovi iz Španjolske i Njemačke, ali prisutni su bili i filmovi iz Rusije, SAD-a, Velike Britanije, Češke, Italije, Belgije, Slovenije i Hrvatske. Od eksperimentalne estetike do animiranih filmova o super junacima, od kompjutorski generirane distopije do šaljive vožnje kroz povijest klasičnih umjetnosti, PSSST! je ponovno pokazao šarolikost tema i stilova filmskih autora.

Do iduće godine PSSST! pozdravlja sve posjetitelje i filmofile te najavljuje još pokoju aktivnost u skoroj budućnosti!

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The seventeenth PSSST! Silent Film Festival ended with the awards ceremony on Saturday, November 4, 2023 at the Trešnjevka Cultural Center.

The judging panel of the competition program, composed of Dina Pokrajac, curator and film critic, and Ejla Kovačević, curator and film critic, awarded the Veliki Brcko prize to the animated film To Bird or Not to Bird, directed by Martín Romero (2023, Spain , 9’13”), with the following explanation:

In this year’s laureate, Shakespeare’s famous phrase becomes the starting point of an existentialist dilemma, but this time from a bird’s eye view, enabling the author to critically observe the modern world dominated by human beings, while birds only mirror their harmful habits, worries and obsessions. Through a sovereign use of animation techniques, the author creates a peculiar and grotesque ornithological microcosm in which the meaninglessness of everyday actions reaches absurd proportions. But at the same time, while the tragicomic bird hamlets balance on the see-saw between being important and non-important, he manages to see the humorous aspect of being. The impressive film experience was completed by the performance of pianist Vitomir Ivanjek, who with subtle variations of rhythm and tempo enhanced the elements of fear and suspense, voicing the animator’s dark forebodings and demonstrating that reality hides much more gruesome things than it seems at first glance. This year’s Veliko Brcko goes to the film “To Bird or Not to Bird” by the young Spanish illustrator, comic book author and director Martín Romero.

 

The audience award was won by the feature film Big, dir. Olga Dymskaya ( 2023, Russia, 17’35”).

 

In the competition program, 11 animated and 8 feature short films were shown. All screenings were accompanied live by top musical improvisers – Vitomir Ivanjek on the piano and Lela and Joe Kaplowitz. This year too, we had films that follow the original poetics of the silent film, and films from Spain and Germany dominated, but films from Russia, the USA, Great Britain, Czechia, Italy, Belgium, Slovenia and Croatia were also present. From experimental aesthetics to animated superhero films, from computer-generated dystopia to a humorous ride through the history of classical art, PSSST! has once again shown the variety of themes and styles of filmmakers.

Until next year PSSST! welcomes all visitors and film buffs and announces some more activities in the near future!