Experimental film and video art - Slovenian footprint

Subject is not scheduled Not scheduled

Code Completion Credits Range Language Instruction Semester
376MEFV credit 1 2 lecture hours (45 min) of instruction per semester, 2 exercise hours (45 min) of instruction per semester, 22 to 27 hours of self-study English summer

Subject guarantor

Name of lecturer(s)

Department

The subject provides Department for Theory and History of Audiovision

Contents

The module focusing on the Slovenian trace in the history of experimental film and video art will present the history of film and artistic practice that took place outside the official culture during the socialist era. The existence of these films from 1945-1991 was therefore threatened and only in recent years have they been archival preserved, so that their domestic and international value can finally be appreciated.

The module will consist of two blocks, both of which will take place on Friday, 6 March 2026. The first will take place at FAMU, where a documentary about this chapter of Slovenian cinema, Alpe Adria Underground! with the participation of its creators, film historians and curators Matevž Jerman and Jurij Meden. The curators will then present the works themselves, which were recently restored at the Slovenian Cinematheque and are now part of its collection. The screening of the tape with a curatorial introduction will then take place at the Ponrepo cinema.

In addition to providing a unique opportunity for students to get acquainted with a remarkable cross-section of European experimental and film and video art, the module will offer a contribution to contemporary historical research on local practice, which is intertwined with questions of the relationship between peripheries and canonized centers, the neglected history of the moving image, and last but not least, the topic of archiving and making obsolete media and unofficial culture accessible. The module will also offer a comparison of Czechoslovak and Slovenian video art and the experiences of filmmakers.

Learning outcomes

Through unique screenings and lectures, students will gain insight into Slovenian experimental film and video art, as well as knowledge of the study of local history and the preservation and accessibility of local work that can be applied to the Czech environment.

Prerequisites and other requirements

The module will be conducted in English.

Literature

Recommended reading:

Sylva Poláková - Martin Mazanec (eds.), Moving Image Mapping. Media, Actors and Places in the Czech Environment, National Film Archive, 2022.

Evaluation methods and criteria

Note

Alpe Adria Underground!

Between 2013 and 2023, Slovenian Cinematheque preserved and digitized 179 short films created on a tiny stretch of land between the Alps and the Adriatic Sea in the period of socialism (1945-1991), but mostly outside the prevailing state production. Today, we belatedly recognize these films as experimental and as an important, innovative part of the Slovenian film heritage, visible again for the first time after decades. The production of Alpe-Adria Underground! has radically accelerated efforts to preserve, digitize and restore this segment of Slovenian cinema.

Directors' Biography

Matevž Jerman is a film director, film curator and film critic, as well as one of the co-founders of the Kraken Association for the Promotion of Short Film and the Programme Director of FeKK - Ljubljana Short Film Festival. As a selector of the short film section he collaborates with festivals Kino Otok - Isola Cinema and LIFFe.

Jurij Meden is a curator and head of film program at the Austrian Film Museum in Vienna. Previously he worked as head of the program department at the Slovenian Cinematheque in Ljubljana and as curator of film exhibitions at the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, New York.

Further information

No schedule has been prepared for this course

The subject is a part of the following study plans