Labo Competition
A competition section that acts as a stage for innovation and creativity through works that explore new types of cinematic expression. From unexpected combinations of traditional techniques and new technologies all the way to fresh approaches to visual form and narrative style, the films in the Labo section are defined by a yearning for exploration.
In the hyperrealist animated Lick a Wound, a mysterious group of animals lives apart from humans, speaking their own language and practicing their own strange rituals. Multiple layers of meaning and stunning visuals combine in the French film The Exploding Girl, which was nominated for a European Film Academy award. A deconstruction of fantasies and dreams about a special holiday, the ideal partner, the perfect family… this is the German film Sunset Special 2. The Czech Republic is represented by Medical Field Guide or Rules of Engagement with Native E-Girls, a poem-inspired film about a former member of the Foreign Legion. The tender Kawauso, an animated short from Japan, presents a moving farewell to the extinct Japanese river otter, a species for which the world of consumerism has no place. Thai Crazy Lotus is a wild journey into a world where people can use the newly released “Distant Heart Glasses” to escape reality. De Occulta Imagine invites us to delve deep into the audiovisual archives of the democratic workers’ movement in Italy, into a past that, through the alchemy of cinema, is transformed into something new. Working with collages of YouTube videos, archival footage, 3D animation, and split screen technology, the French film for here am I sitting in a tin can far above the world explores the connections between speculative science fiction, financial speculation, and predictions of the future.
A jury made up of figures from the domestic art scene will name one of the eight submissions the festival’s Best Experimental Film. The award comes with a financial prize of 1,000 euros.
English spoken or English subtitled screening. Suitable both for English speaking viewers and Czech viewers alike.
