A polaroid of a candle is observed developing from the moment of capture to its final state. The film presents this event in reverse. As the image “un-develops” it dissolves/fades into a frame of white light, illuminating the space and audience in the process. The photographic process takes exactly as long as one 100ft roll of 16mm, creating an equivalence between a still and a moving medium. At 18fps the projector animates the candle’s flame into a flicker.

Neil Henderson (Worcester, UK 1973). Studies at Kent Institute of Art and Design and Slade School of Fine Art; screenings at Whitechapel Gallery and Tate Britain (London), Microscope Galley (New York), Kettle’s Yard (Cambridge). Editor of RGB Publishing with Simon Payne. Shortlisted for the Jerwood Drawing Prize (2009). Third appearance at Media City. Lives in Kent, England.

We see Max Horkheimer buying newspapers, we hear Hannah Arendt speaking about the mother tongue and making the invisible tangible. We also see Frankfurt am Main during the great (re)construction boom of the 1960s. We see demonstrations on the Römerberg and the presence of the American Forces in the Federal Republic of Germany during the Cold War, as well as scenes after the apprehension of members of the Red Army Faction. Housing shortages, urban development, youth and their future, guest workers, consumer society: these topics are repeatedly presented and discussed in the Hessen Schau news program from this period.

Laura J. Padgett (Cambridge MA, 1958). Studies at Pratt Institute, Städelschule, and Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University; screenings and exhibitions at Haus of World Cultures (Berlin), Städel Museum (Frankfurt am Main), Centre Pompidou (Paris), Pharos Centre for Contemporary Art (Nicosia), IFF Oberhausen, Les Rencontres Internationales (Paris/Berlin), Dokfest (Kassel). First appearance at Media City. Lives in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

A primal scream in which changes in light exposure modulate the soundtrack.

“Cinema’s ventriloquism is the product of an effort to overcome the sound-image gap, to mask the sound’s technological origin, and to permit the film’s production personnel to speak their sub-conscious mind – their belly – without fear of discovery.” – Rick Altman

WHAT EXISTS – exists outside of me. WHAT EXISTS is knowledge of what exists. This knowledge exists from cultural pressure. WHAT EXISTS – IS A CONVENTION. What I do in film, video or in the area of other techniques consists of nothing more than laying traps for WHAT EXISTS.

Wojciech Bruszewski (Wrocław, Poland 1947– Łódź, Poland 2009). 25+ films and video since 1971; screenings and exhibitions at The Artists’ Museum (Łódź), Erweiterte Fotografie (Vienna), Documenta 8 (Kassel), LUX (London). Member of Zero-61 (1965-68) and Film Form Workshop (1970-77). Builds Poetical Machine (1982). Publishes Leipzig Sonnets (1992), Wrocław Sonnets (1993), Budapest Sonnets (1996). Broadcasts The Infinite Talk on Radio Ruine der Künste Berlin without pause (1988-1993).

Theatre of the Overlooked. Performance and film come together to evidence a physical and poetic response to an old sofa abandoned on the street. Transforming the discarded into action, comedy, and pleasure. A road test of materials, bylaws, and nerve.

Bea Haut (London, UK 1966). Studies at Goldsmiths College. 15+ films since 2012; screenings at ICA (London), Museum of Moving Image (New York), AVANT (Karlstad), etc. Member of Loophole Cinema (1990-1998), Analogue Recurring (2012) and Film in Process (2015). Lives in London, England.

“mumok kino is a thrilling miniature portrait of the Viennese cinema, as seen through stuttering, flickering glimpses of walls and other surfaces in a pure play of light and shadow.” – TIFF

Philipp Fleischmann (Hollabrunn, Austria 1985). Studies at Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien and Die Schule für unabhängiger Film Friedl Kubelka. 10+ films since 2006; screenings at TIFF, Berlinale, Anthology Film Archives (New York), Vienna Secession, etc. Fourth appearance at Media City. Lives in Vienna, Austria.

“The Mediterranean being and the Dalmatian blueness, caught in a spell by the focus of the camera, as if the mechanized Caerus had stretched his scales from one object to another, from the lens all the way to the shore…Death walks the world south to north, across all meridians and all parallels, but it seems to me that no death is so close to a man, so daily and so normal as the Mediterranean death in the sun.” – Ivan Martinac (translated by Petra Belc)

Ivan Martinac (Split, Croatia 1938 – 2005). Studies architecture and civil engineering at University of Zagreb and University of Belgrade. 70+ films since 1959; screenings and exhibitions at Pera Museum (Istanbul), Tate Modern (London), Anthology Film Archive (New York). Member of Zagreb Kino Club (1957), Belgrade Kino Club (1959), Split Kino Club (1960). 9 extant books of poetry since 1962. Split Film Festival establishes the “Ivan Martinac Award” (2017). First appearance at Media City.

“Thirdworld depicts the landscapes, metaphorical and actual, of the southern island Panyi. The sounds are taken from different sources, but all were recorded without the subjects’ awareness of the recording apparatus. Thus, this piece may be called a re-constructed documentary”. – Harvard Film Archive

Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Bangkok, Thailand 1970). Studies at Khon Kaen University and School of the Art Institute of Chicago. 50+ films and digital artworks since 1993; screenings and exhibitions at Venice Film Festival, 11th Sharjah Biennial, documenta (Kassel), Busan Biennial, Irish Museum of Modern Art (Dublin), Haus der Kunst (Munich), New Museum (New York), Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, etc. Three-time award winner at Cannes, including Palme d’Or (2010). Third appearance at Media City.

“Ephemeral moments in which the flow of time becomes manifest.” – Michelle Koch

The river Ticino is the most important perennial left-bank tributary of the Po. It has given its name to the Swiss canton through which its upper portion flows. The two youths Ivon and Sango live in Pavia, not far from the river. The sculptures were also shaped directly by the life of the river, much as the recently deceased Mr. Chiodi through whom I inherited them. These objects reminded me of Franz West’s Adaptives, sculptures which West invited viewers to use as they pleased…

Friedl vom Gröller (London, England 1946). Studies at Vienna’s Graphic Instruction and Research Institute. 50+ films since 1968; screenings and exhibitions at Austrian Filmmuseum (Vienna), Anthology Film Archives (New York), Centre Pompidou (Paris), Frankfurter Kunstverein, etc. Founder of School for Artistic Photography and School for Independent Film (Vienna). Austrian State Prize for Photography (2005) and Film (2016). Seventh appearance at Media City, including first dual film and photography retrospective screening in 2010. Lives in Vienna, Austria.

“A group of teenagers conducts a cremation ceremony for a man who is entering the afterlife while still being sought by the military for deserting.” – IFFR

“The Last Village” is an unreleased song which depicts a group of hidden villagers delightfully conducting a funeral. Song X is an attempt to compose an extended version of this posthumous song, in the form of a visual poem, shooting with deteriorated 16mm and super 8mm film stock, portraying life after death. It is a means to deliver a message to my deceased band member and friend, and a memorial ritual for the dead.

Pathompon Mont Tesprateep (Bangkok, Thailand 1978). Studies at Chelsea College of Arts. 6 films since 2008; screenings at Bangkok Experimental Film Festival, IFF Rotterdam, Locarno Festival, Les Rencontres Internationales (Paris/Berlin), etc. Second appearance at Media City. Lives in Bangkok, Thailand.

Projector and projectionist form a binary star system. Only two points of light are showcased, the hand held flashlight and the exciter bulb. The “black hole” of a screen exhibits strong gravitational effects in the absence of the projector’s main bulb, forming an empty event horizon in relation to it. Sound, rotationally symmetrical, forms primitive cells with distinct orientations in its rotocenters in an all out star bout that rages between extraordinary and petty tricks.

“You and I must make a pact / We must bring salvation back, / Where there is love / I’ll be there.” – Berry Gordy, Hal Davis, Bob West, and Willie Hutch

Bruce McClure (Washington DC, 1959). Studies architecture at Virginia Tech. 100+ projector performances since 1995; screenings and exhibitions at IFF Rotterdam, Wexner Center for the Arts (Columbus), two editions of the Whitney Biennial (2002 & 2004), etc; Guggenheim Fellowship (2011). 16th consecutive appearance at Media City. Lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Above image: courtesy Yannick Grandmont