BEAST IFF ON-TOUR: BRINGING THE NEW EAST TO LISBON
After wrapping up its on-site edition in Porto, BEAST IFF brings part of its 2021 program to Lisbon.
To close its 2021 program, BEAST IFF, in partnership with Cineclube Aparição, is now promoting a pocket edition of the festival at the renowned Galeria Zé dos Bois, in Lisbon.
Called BEAST IFF: ON-TOUR, this short edition proposes to bring the highlights of the online and on-site program to Lisbon audiences, while promoting the best of the New East cinema.
The cycle of sessions starts on June 7th, taking place weekly on Mondays at 9 pm. Admission will cost €3 and tickets are already available online at Galeria Zé dos Bois’s website (CLICK HERE).
PROGRAM
June 7th: Shorts from Mirages of Freedom
Kyiv Frescos (Sergei Parajanov, Ukrainian SSR, 1966) Asphaltotronic (UPV Art Group and Viacheslav Buhaevskyi, Ukrainian SSR, 1967) Water Supply (Ada Kviraia, Ukrainian SSR, 1987) The End of Vacation (Serhii Lysenko, Ukrainian SSR, 1985)
June 14th: As Far As I Know (Nándo Lõrincz and Bálint Nagy, Hungary/Romania, 2020)
June 21rst: The Distance Between Me and Me (Mona Nicoară, Dana Bunescu, Romania/USA [Idea: Ada Solomon], 2018)
June 28th: Shorts from The ExperimentalEast
Today Is 11th June 1993 (Clarissa Thieme, Bosnia and Herzegovina / 13’ / Winner BEAST IFF 2018) Maternity (Nataliya Ilchuk, Ukraine, 17′, 2019) The Close River (Marta Hryniuk, Poland, 27′, Winner BEAST IFF 2021)
BEAST IFF WRAPS UP ITS 2021 EDITION IN THE CITY OF PORTO
BEAST International Film Festival implemented this year’s program in different stages, in order to aim for the safety and health of the public due to COVID-19.
Presented by Associação Cultural OKNA in co-production with Porto City Council and with the support of local and international cultural institutes, BEAST International Film Festival has been operating since 2017 as a complex channel of contemporary culture from Central and Eastern Europe to the Portuguese public.
Thus, BEAST IFF held in March this year a successful online edition, which surpassed the ten thousand views mark and presented more than 60 short, medium and feature films, with part of its program also being made available through the streaming platform Filmin Portugal. In addition, more than 20 special activities were broadcast throughout the edition, such as performances, interviews with directors, lectures, and discussions with members of the film industry, such as producers Ada Solomon and Monica Lăzurean Gorgan.
Within the online edition, the Official BEAST IFF 2021 Competition was also promoted. This year, the following films were awarded by the jury team: SH_T HAPPENS (EAST WAVE Award, Michaela Mihalyi and David Štumpf, Czech Republic); Pure Art (EAST DOC Award, Maksim Shved, Poland and Belarus) and The Close River (experimentalEAST Award, Marta Hryniuk, Poland). The program ended up opening a cultural umbrella that covered 20 countries, with a unique focus on diversity.
Given the positive response from the public to the online program and the new measures easing lockdown restrictions by the Directorate-General of Health, BEAST IFF decided to once again extend its program to the traditional cinemas of Porto, which have always welcomed it. This second cycle of the festival in 2021, called on-site, took place from April 29th to June 3rd and promoted 15 on-site cinema sessions in the city of Porto.
Among short films, documentary and fiction features, 16mm projections and educational activities, 38 films were screened in five different cultural spaces in Porto: Cinema Passos Manuel, Casa das Artes, Maus Hábitos Espaço de Intervenção Cultural, Livraria Térmita and OKNA Espaço Cultural.
The performance of all the activities mentioned above is due to the support and fundamental participation of cultural institutions such as the Câmara Municipal do Porto, Ágora, the International Visegrad Fund, the Instituto Cultural Romeno Lisboa, the Hungarian Embassy in Lisbon, the Slovak Embassy in Portugal, the Polish Embassy in Lisbon and the Romanian Embassy in Portugal.
Having walked with us in the production of this year’s edition, the public and the festival’s partners allowed BEAST to foster the Portuguese cultural scene even in the face of such an adverse period for the world and for the creative sectors.
BEAST IFF ON-SITE #12: Acasă, My Home
On June 3rd, the award-winning Romanian feature film “Acasă, My Home”, will be shown at Cinema Passos Manuel.
Within the scope of the festival, the Focus Country section acted this year as a window into Romanian culture through the attentive and sensitive look of its filmmakers. This special program aimed to highlight the power of storytelling based on real facts, as well as the talent and creativity of the region’s directors.
Included in the section is the documentary feature film “Acasă, My Home”, which premieres on the big screens of Portugal with the support of Instituto Cultural Romeno Lisboa. The film also wraps up the <on-site> cycle of BEAST IFF 2021 in the city of Porto.
Location: Cinema Passos Manuel
Date: June 3rd (THU), 8:30 PM
Ticketing: 5€, while the student ticket and the ticket for Tripass cardholders are 3.5€.
Program
Acasă, My Home (Radu Ciorniciuc, Romania/Finland/Germany, 85′, DOC., SUB. ENG)
A patch of idyllic nature right next to the metropolis of Bucharest. In this area of overgrown reed and criss-crossing waterways there’s an eleven-strong family living under basic circumstances.
When the territory is designated as a nature reserve the family has to yield: they are forcefully resettled into a small city apartment, in the heart of Bucharest.
BEAST IFF ON-SITE #11: The Soviet Garden
On June 2nd, the feature film “The Soviet Garden”, co-produced between Romania and Moldova, will be shown at Maus Hábitos Espaço Cultural.
Within the scope of the festival, the Focus Country section acted this year as a window into Romanian culture through the attentive and sensitive look of its filmmakers. This special program aimed to highlight the power of storytelling based on real facts, as well as the talent and creativity of the region’s directors.
Included in the section is the documentary feature film “The Soviet Garden”, which premieres on the big screens of Portugal with the support of the Instituto Cultural Romeno Lisboa.
Location: Maus Hábitos – Espaço de Intervenção Cultural
Date: June 2nd (WED), 8:30 PM
Ticketing: Free entry* *Pre-reservations can be made by purchasing a snack pack at the Maus Hábitos store.
Program
The Soviet Garden (Dragos Turea, Romania/Moldova, 76′, DOC., SUB. ENG)
Stimulated by his grandmother’s lethal illness and her memories of some mysterious agricultural experiments in the past, Moldavian filmmaker Dragoș decides to investigate why cancer rate has increased in his home country lately and whether there is some connection between the fatal statistics and these secret scientific endeavors.
This very personal documentary digs into rare found footage in order to portray the industrial shock imposed on Moldova by the Soviet State while unveiling the secret plan of Nikita Khrushchev to transform Moldova into the Soviet Garden.
V4 ACADEMY: Audiovisual Storytelling | Workshop for Youth
BEAST IFF will be hosting, under the Visegrad Film Hub project, one workshop meant to cultivate the youth, specifically teenagers (14-18 yrs).
Built to train youngsters with an interest in the art of storytelling, whether they had experience in audiovisual and creative writing or are new to the field, this workshop aims to help each participant develop abilities in the context of storytelling.
The class will begin by learning and experimenting through practical techniques and games that help thinking in stories and characters, based on (re)mixing visual and sound associations. This involves the basics of sketching and character creation, leading to construction and reconstruction of storyline variations from the random association of characters, objects, and sounds.
The participants develop their skills while fulfilling individual and group activities over the course of two meetings, exploring types of cinematography camera shots, play with collage, montage, and remix while identifying tricks and tips for creating storyboards and moodboards.
Entry Requirements: The Youth Audiovisual Storytelling Workshop course is open enrolment and there are no entry requirements. However, in order to get the most out of the course, you should be able to both speak and write in English to a reasonable standard.
WORKSHOP TRAINER: Livia Barts
Lívia Barts is a visual facilitator and a graphic designer, and also a PhD student at the Institute for Art Theory and Media Studies (ELTE, Budapest), where she also teaches courses as a visiting lecturer. She has a degree in English Literature (ELTE, 2010) and in Graphic Design (MOME, 2012). Currently she lives in Vila Nova de Gaia and is enrolled in the post-graduate programme of Curating, Urban Culture and Spatial Practices at ESAP. Her graphic work is mainly focused on visual knowledge communication: from graphic notes and visual summaries to explanatory animations. She researches visual thinking in learning, modern history of visual communication, pictorial abstraction, diagrammatic and non-linear knowledge management techniques, and visualizations.
Location: OKNA Espaço Cultural (R. Igreja de Cedofeita 27, Porto)
The workshop is held within VISEGRAD FILM HUB, organized by BEAST International Film Festival with the support of International Visegrad Fund providing support for the audiovisual works from the V4 region (Czechia, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia).
V4 ACADEMY: AUGMENTED REALITY WORKSHOP
The content of the project, which will be in English, will give participants the opportunity to create an augmented reality app for Android and iOS.
On June 9th and 10th, BEAST International Film Festival & OKNA Espaço Cultural will promote, in partnership with the Hungarian-Polish duo Elektro Moon Vision, a free and introductory workshop on augmented reality.
The class will get familiar with the interface of Unity and simple scripting to enhance the possibilities of the built-in tools. The aim of the project is to build the application, which will later be used for an exhibition organized by BEAST IFF & OKNA – Espaço Cultural.
The workshop is held within VISEGRAD FILM HUB, organized by BEAST International Film Festival with the support of International Visegrad Fund providing support for the audiovisual works from the V4 region (Czechia, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia).
Date: June 09 & 10 (18:00 – 21:00)
Location: OKNA Espaço Cultural (R. Igreja de Cedofeita 27, Porto)
Language: English
Duration: 2 Sessions (3h/session)
Free entry with mandatory registration, up to 15 people.
A OKNA Espaço Cultural, escritório e berço do BEAST IFF, exibirá no dia 30 de maio duas sessões da Competição Oficial do festival de 2021.
O BEAST International Film Festival finalmente abre ao público, em segurança, as portas de sua própria casa – OKNA.
A partir de uma estreita cooperação entre a Europa de Leste e Portugal, a OKNA Espaço Cultural promove diálogos inter-culturais e evidencia-se como um importante centro cultural dedicado a fornecer programação artística, residências e projetos educativos na cidade do Porto.
Neste sentido, além da exibição de filmes da Competição Oficial do BEAST IFF 2021, haverá uma receção especial a partir das 17h.
Local: OKNA Espaço Cultural
Data: 30 de maio (DOM), 17h
Bilheteira: A entrada é livre, mas é necessário confirmar a sua presença AQUI.
Programa
No âmbito dos prémios EAST Doc, EAST Wave e experimentalEAST, as três menções honrosas determinadas pelo júri na edição online do BEAST 2021 serão exibidas às 18h e depois novamente às 20h. O limite de capacidade por sessão é de 20 pessoas.
EAST DOC AWARD Menção Honrosa do Júri: A CAT IS ALWAYS FEMALE (Martina Mestrovic & Tanja Vujasinovic, Croácia, 2019, 16′, LEG. PT/EN)
Através de uma lente feminista, as cineastas prestam homenagem à professora Marija Ujevic Galetovic – uma das escultoras mais importantes da Croácia. A história de vida e as visões de Marija são contadas através de uma combinação de vídeos e animações das suas esculturas femininas.
EAST WAVE AWARD Menção Honrosa do Júri: NINA (Hristo Simeonov, Bulgária, 2019, 19’, LEG. PT/EN)
Nina, de 13 anos, está a sentir-se presa na sua relação com o autoritário Vassil, que a está a prepará-la para ser uma habilidosa ladra de carteiras em Espanha. Há dias em que ela está quase a ponto de fugir dele.
EXPERIMENTAL EAST AWARD Menção Honrosa do Júri: MATERNITY (Nataliya Ilchuk, Ucrânia, 2019, 17′, LEG. PT/ENG)
O acto de auto-sacrifício em prol de uma criança que absorve todo o tempo e não deixa espaço nem para o consumo, nem para satisfações ou vaidades, torna-se numa oportunidade para uma mulher devotada, em estado de exaustão física e emocional, atingir um estado transcendental próximo a um êxtase espiritual.
V4 ACADEMY: Workshop online de Animação para crianças
A partir do 1º de junho, o BEAST IFF oferece gratuitamente um Workshop de animação para crianças de 5 a 12 anos, em parceria com o estúdio checo Aeroškola.
Na próxima semana, o BEAST International Film Festival dará início ao Workshop online de Animação para Crianças, preparado pelos educadores de cinema checos do estúdio de animação Aeroškola. O conteúdo será em português, e as atividades gratuitas propostas pelo Workshop poderão ser realizadas até ao dia 15 de junho.
O objetivo do workshop é a criação de uma curta animação caseira, baseada em personagens do filme-conto infantil “Hungry Bear Tales”. Os filmes criados pelos participantes serão exibidos posteriormente no centro de operações do BEAST IFF – a OKNA Espaço Cultural.
Os únicos materiais e pré-requisitos necessários para a realização do workshop são uma tesoura e qualquer dispositivo com que o participante possa tirar fotografias (telemóvel, tablet, câmara fotográfica). Papéis, cola e outros materiais de arte não são necessários, porém é preferível tê-los.
Ao registar-se, a criança ganha acesso a um vídeo educativo criado pela Aeroškola, um material em pdf com fantoches para recortar, e o filme animado Hungry Bear Tales (2020, República Checa, dirigido por Alexandra Májová e Kateřina Karhánková).
O workshop é realizado com o apoio do International Visegrad Fund, que fornece suporte para as obras audiovisuais da região V4 (República Checa, Hungria, Polônia, Eslováquia).
Para participar, basta realizar apenas um rápido registo.
BEAST IFF ON-SITE #10: The 16mm Surrealist Czech Underground
On Saturday, May 29th, two festivals come together to bring the best of Czech surrealist cinema from the 80’s to Portuguese audiences
Among the novelties for those who accompanied BEAST IFF from the comfort of their homes in March this year, there will be two very special and unseen screenings in partnership with the Czech festival BRNO16 – International Short Film Festival.
These screenings are held in partnership with the International Visegrad Fund, within the scope of the Visegrad Film Hub project.
Location: Livraria Térmita
Date: May 29th (SAT), 7 PM & 9 PM.
Ticketing: Free entry.
Program
Four shorts by director Jiří Smýkal Donné, founder of the underground group Esenc (formed also by his companions in the Brno (CZ) film scene), will be screened from original 16mm film reels.
The work of Jiří Smýkal Donné and his friends is saturated with cinematic poetics inspired by Dada, Expressionism, and Surrealism. They also blend strong images with brilliance.
BEAST IFF ON-SITE #9: Servants
On May 26th, the feature film “Servants”, co-produced by the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania, will be shown at Cinema Passos Manuel.
The film by director Ivan Ostrochovský was one of the highlights of the online edition of BEAST IFF 2021. “Servants” is also within the V4 Screen program, dedicated to the cinema of the Visegrad Group countries.
This session is held in partnership with the International Visegrad Fund and the Slovak Embassy in Portugal, as a part of the Visegrad Film Hub project.
Location: Cinema Passos Manuel
Date: May 26th (WED), 8:30 PM
Ticketing: The regular ticket will be 5€, while the student ticket and the ticket for Tripass cardholders will be 3.5€.
The year is 1980. Michal and Juraj are students at a theological seminary in totalitarian Czechoslovakia. Fearing the dissolution of their school, the tutors are moulding the seminarians into a satisfactory shape to the ruling Communist Party.
Each of the young students must decide if he will give in to the temptation and choose the easier way of collaborating with the regime, or if he will subject himself to draconian surveillance by the secret police.
