FF40: Enchantment

The screening of short films and following discussion will be part of the festival FAMUFEST 40.

The line between dream and reality is blurred, the solid ground beneath your feet has turned to sand. Gradually you sink deeper, your head gets heavier, your body gets heavier. Or is it all upside down? You float in the space between heaven and earth, there is no right or left - your rules don't apply here. You don't have to understand what you feel. Surrender. What will charm you? Who will catch you in their nets? Who will wrap you around their finger?

Amygdala / Viktorie Novotná / Czech Republic 2023 / Czech with English subtitles - Nora, a teenage girl, who’s in the shadow of her best friend Mája and tries to change that. However, her attempt at gaining an older man’s interest goes wrong. Crossing the line of an infantile game forever changes the girls’ friendship.

Yatra / Priyanka Sarkar / Czech Republic 2023 / 6 min. / no dialogue - Nora, a teenage girl, who’s in the shadow of her best friend Mája and tries to change that. However, her attempt at gaining an older man’s interest goes wrong. Crossing the line of an infantile game forever changes the girls’ friendship.

The Portrait / Lucie Šimková-Sunková / Czech Republic 2002 / 8 min. / without dialogue - A poor painter faces adversity. Haunted by the dream of a painting come to life, one day he gets a chance that could lead him to a life of wealth. For this film set in Tsarist Russia, Lucie Šimková-Sunková used her favourite animation technique of painting on glass.

A Work Method / Yevgeniya Soldatova / Czech Republic 2023 / Czech, Russian with English subtitles - There’s an old slavic belief that the easiest way to rid yourself of a curse is to let flowing water wash over you and let it wash away all the negative energy.

The Care You Give / Umi Ito / Czech Republic 2023 / 14 min. / Czech with English subtitles - A home-care nurse is hired to take care of a capricious aging woman. Over the course of a day, she narrates a story to the nurse. Soon enough, the woman’s true intentions are revealed.

A Step Away From The Light / Alžbeta Gertli / Czech Republic 2023 / without dialogue - When his mother killed herself, he was just a young boy and it changed his life forever. What future would have awaited him if his mother had made a different decision at the subway station that day, he will never know. Whatever it might have been, his life situation would probably have driven him to the same station anyway to repeat his mother's move. What fate awaits him in the end?

Creature of the Sun / Šima Müllerová / Czech Republic 2023 / 30 min. / Czech with English subtitles - Childlike imagination, naive playfulness and an enchanted view of the world are at the centre of this poetic film. The child protagonists and antagonists talk about their dreams, fantasies and experiences while touching on metaphysical questions of body and soul, life and death. Magic permeates every frame of this colourful collage. "I don't have any imaginary friends because I'm a realist."

The Cycle of Life / Klára Ondračková / without dialogue - Flickering, pulsating layers. Dense surfaces of paint layers that interact, intermingle and contrast with each other, then merge into a single unstoppable whole. A chirp - passing, appearing and disappearing again… A constant forward movement, cycling in endless circles, a chirp of thoughts in the head. The flutter of air and nervousness - death is just the beginning of another cycle. The listener is the centre of the spinning circle. The cycling mass degenerates into a chaotic vibration of space - it goes nowhere. We are here and now.

Work Method - Lukáš Novák / Denisa Nováková / Czech Republic 2023 / 3 min. / Czech with English subtitles - Lukáš Novák, an artist, glassblower and a designer, has made it a mission to push the limits of glassblowing. The technique of cold casting he utilizes never ends up becoming a simple vase or a glass, he’s set against form without any meaning. A short documentary from cinematographer Daniel Novák, attempting to capture the way Lukáš sees glass as an ever-changing substance without any definitive form.

A Portrait of Michaela Pavlátová / Adéla Kaiserová / Czech Republic 2023 / 4 min. / Czech with English subtitles - A short portrait of the world-renowned animator Michaela Pavlátová. We take a peek under her hand and look into her oasis of peace and FAMU, where she teaches.

Encounter / Clara Loeblová / Czech Republic 2023 / 5 min. / no dialogue - The film tells the story of an artist who is not satisfied with her work. To overcome this obstacle, she must confront the visions that appear to her while drawing.

Dizzy / Alexandra Volfová / Czech Republic 2023 / 7 min. / Czech with English subtitles - I'm drawn to corals. My film is meant to be the noonday sun, induced by the confusion of the senses. An attempt to approach some strange unconscious force, within and without man, which, when it seems to be at hand, dissolves.

Running time: 97 min.