{"id":163780,"date":"2020-03-25T11:40:51","date_gmt":"2020-03-25T10:40:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kinodvor.org\/?page_id=163780"},"modified":"2020-03-25T11:40:51","modified_gmt":"2020-03-25T10:40:51","slug":"kurja-polt-7-beyond-the-uncanny","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.kinodvor.org\/en\/festivals\/kurja-polt\/kurja-polt-7-beyond-the-uncanny\/","title":{"rendered":"Kurja Polt 7: Beyond the Uncanny"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt is only rarely that a psychoanalyst feels impelled to investigate the subject of aesthetics \/\u2026\/ But it does occasionally happen that he has to interest himself in some particular province of that subject; and this province usually proves to be a rather remote one, and one which has been neglected in the specialist literature of aesthetics. The subject of the \u2018uncanny\u2019 is a province of this kind. \/\u2026\/ that class of the terrifying which leads back to something long known to us, once very familiar.\u201d
\n<\/em>\u2013 Sigmund Freud, The Uncanny<\/em>, 1919<\/p>\n

\u201cPerhaps the most important difference between the <\/em>unheimlich on the one hand and the weird and the eerie on the other is their treatment of the strange. Freud\u2019s <\/em>unheimlich is about the strange <\/em>within the familiar, the strangely familiar, the familiar as strange. \/\u2026\/ The weird brings to the familiar something which ordinarily lies beyond it, and which cannot be reconciled with the \u2018homely\u2019 (even as its negation).\u201d
\n<\/em>\u2013 Mark Fisher, The Weird and the Eerie<\/em>, 2016<\/p>\n

Freud developed his famous concept of the unheimlich<\/em> \u2013 the uncanny, unhomely, the strangely familiar \u2013 on the basis of literary and linguistic examples. He mentioned only one film, Paul Wegener\u2019s The Student of Prague <\/strong>(Der Student von Prag, 1913), which is hardly unusual. In 1919, when the essay was published, horror cinema existed only in prototypes. But it would be in the realm of cinema, and particularly horror cinema, that this special quality of the horrific would come to life most fully and fruitfully. In the arena of fiction and imagination, this unheimlich<\/em> feeling can belong to the work (as artistic mode or device) or its audience (as experience and affect). It can be aroused by persons and things, impressions, events and situations. Freud lists particular motifs: inanimate objects that appear human (artificial dolls and automatons), doppelg\u00e4ngers, the fear of losing one\u2019s eyes or limbs, the fear of the dead and the return of the dead (spirits, ghosts and haunted houses) all the way to castration anxiety, Freud\u2019s ultimate settling of the unheimlich <\/em>enigma. A century later, British philosopher Mark Fisher (1968\u20132017) returned to Freud\u2019s essay and in his study The Weird and the Eerie <\/em>(2016), subtitled \u2018Beyond the Unheimlich\u2019, identified two additional modes related to this complex category of the uncanny: the weird <\/em>and the eerie<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Our thematic Retrospective: Beyond the Uncanny<\/strong> offers us a chance to bring Freud\u2019s and Fisher\u2019s thoughts to mind and invite the viewer to take their precious books in hand. While on the big screen we will play freely with the categories of the unheimlich<\/em>, the weird and the eerie, at times arousing uncanny horror, at others subverting it to comic effect. The chronologically earliest, and closing this year\u2019s festival is Benjamin Christensen\u2019s surreal, pioneering and strikingly progressive The Witch <\/strong>(H\u00e4xan, 1922). One of the most unique and original works of cinema\u2019s silent era will be accompanied live by Slovenian musicians Elvis Homan and Bo\u0161tjan Simon on drums, saxophone and electronics. Georges Franju\u2019s poetically surreal and chillingly visceral psychological nightmare Eyes Without a Face<\/strong> (Les yeux sans visage, 1960) is a bona fide classic of horror cinema. Director Jo\u00ebl S\u00e9ria and actress Jeanne Goupil will join us to present a true gem of subversive cinema, the rarely seen Don\u2019t Deliver Us from Evil<\/strong> (Mais ne nous d\u00e9livrez pas du mal, 1971). Peter Weir\u2019s enigmatic and eerie chronicle of a disappearance, where repressive Victorian nurture collides with ancient Australian nature, is a potent distillate of unheimlich <\/em>unease. Thundercrack! <\/strong>(1975), the ultra-cult high mass of queer and camp cinema by avant-garde auteurs Curt McDowell and George Kuchar, subverts the \u201chorror\u201d of its Gothic, dark-house setting with anarchic humour and delirious debauchery. With Karen Arthur\u2019s dark and bizarre tale of obsession and incestuous passion, The Mafu Cage <\/strong>(1975), we will encounter the uncanny (along with some hefty taboos) at home. Schramm <\/strong>(1993) by cult filmmaker J\u00f6rg Buttgereit will provide the indispensable castration anxiety, while its surrealist animated sequel Tomorrow I Will Be Dirt <\/strong>(2019) by Robert Morgan will weave together all Freudian nightmares. Joining us in person, J\u00f6rg Buttgereit will bring along his newest short film Piglets <\/strong>(Schweinchen, 2020) straight from its premiere at the Berlinale.<\/p>\n

Our Focus: Africa<\/strong> combines the great classics of African film heritage with more contemporary and far-out genre creations. Ghana\u2019s musical trailblazers, the witty satirists M3NSA and Wanlov the Kubolor aka FOKN Bois <\/em><\/strong>will join us in Ljubljana with \u201cThe World\u2019s 2nd 1st Pidgen Musical\u201d Coz Ov Moni 2: FOKN Revenge<\/strong> (2013) and a live concert! From Wakaliga, a slum in Uganda\u2019s capital of Kampala and home to the grassroots film studio Wakaliwood, comes the most insane and insanely entertaining no-budget DIY action extravaganza: a double boom of Bad Black<\/strong> (2016) and Who Killed Captain Alex? <\/strong>(2010) with star, producer and Wakaliwood ambassador to the world Alan Ssali Hofmanis in person. Miguel Llans\u00f3\u2019s Ethiopian entry Jesus Shows You the Way to the Highway <\/strong>(2019), an explosion of pop-cultural nostalgia billed as \u201cThe Matrix on Acid\u201d, rounds off our contemporary offerings. And then come the giants of African cinema, Mauretania\u2019s Med Hondo (1936\u20132019) and Senegal\u2019s Djibril Diop Mamb\u00e9ty (1945\u20131998). Although considered a father figure of Panafrican cinema, Hondo\u2019s films are still so young, fresh and radical today as if they were made \u2013 tomorrow. We shall explore his sweeping epic about the warrior-queen Sarraounia <\/strong>(1986) on 35mm in all its widescreen glory. The great soul of Senegalese cinema, Mamb\u00e9ty will be the focus of this year\u2019s family Matin\u00e9e<\/strong> with the newly restored versions of Le Franc <\/strong>(1994) and The Little Girl Who Sold the Sun<\/strong> (La petite vendeuse de soleil, 1999) \u2013 hymns to the courage, resilience and imagination of the downtrodden and marginalized, brimming with deep humanity and Chaplinesque humour.<\/p>\n

In our Contemporary <\/strong>section Belgian cineaste Fabrice du Welz concludes his \u201cArdennes trilogy\u201d with a daring and delicate ethereal tale of teenage amour fou <\/em>Adoration<\/strong> (2019). Johannes Nyholm\u2019s Koko-di Koko-da <\/strong>(2019) is a nightmarish pseudo-surrealist fairy tale for adults, infused with formal play and the darkest of humours. One of the major discoveries at last year\u2019s Cannes, J-P Valkeap\u00e4\u00e4\u2019s Dogs Don\u2019t Wear Pants<\/strong> (Koirat eiv\u00e4t k\u00e4yt\u00e4 housuja, 2019) is a darkly humorous and deliciously painful BDSM love story that enraptured cinephile audiences and critics. While Llans\u00f3\u2019s Jesus Shows You the Way to the Highway <\/strong>topped festival sections dedicated to new and idiosyncratic visions.<\/p>\n

In the focus of our Endemic <\/strong>section, exploring genre tendencies in Slovenian and broader ex-Yugoslav cinema, is master filmmaker and cinematographer, a standard-bearer of the Yugoslav Black Wave and our eternal inspiration: Karpo Godina. At the famous Belgrade Film Festival of 1972, Karpo brought together the who\u2019s who of independent filmmaking \u2013 including Milo\u0161 Forman, Buck Henry, Paul Morrissey, Frederick Wiseman and Tinto Brass \u2013 to create the now legendary Dadaistic collage I Miss Sonja Henie <\/strong>(Nedostaje mi Sonja Henie, 1972). His documentary The Making of Sonja Henie <\/strong>(1972\u20132007) offers an insight into this wild creative process and serves as an invaluable record of a lost era. This is cult cinema in action!<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t look for it at home, the strangely familiar is coming to cinema.
\nMa\u0161a Pe\u010de & Kurja Polt Festival<\/strong><\/p>\n

Production: Dru\u0161tvo Kurja polt
\nCo-production: Kinodvor, Slovenska kinoteka<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt is only rarely that a psychoanalyst feels impelled to investigate the subject of aesthetics \/\u2026\/ But it does occasionally happen that he has to interest himself in some particular province of that subject; and this province usually proves to be a rather remote one, and one which has been neglected in the specialist literature<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"parent":33008,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"views\/template-project.blade.php","meta":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kinodvor.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/163780"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kinodvor.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kinodvor.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kinodvor.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kinodvor.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163780"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.kinodvor.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/163780\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":163781,"href":"https:\/\/www.kinodvor.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/163780\/revisions\/163781"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kinodvor.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/33008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kinodvor.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}