Disappearing Act IV
April 11 - 22, 2012
NYC, USA
An annual film series held in New York since 2008 showcasing recent European films that deserve a wide exposure. Program also includes industry discussions devoted to issues of presentation of foreign language films in North America. The festival showcases 25 contemporary European films from Austria, the Wallonia-Brussels and Flanders regions of Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
Disappearing Act IV is organized by the Czech Center, the Romanian Cultural Institute and the Group of European Cultural Institutes and Diplomatic Representations in New York. Sponsored by the EU Delegation to the UN. Curated and produced by Irena Kovarova.
East European documentary films screened @ Disappearing Act IV:
Thursday, April 12 / Bohemian National Hall / 6:30PM - Cinema Komunisto, Serbia, 2010, directed by Mila Turaljic
Cinema Komunisto
Cinema Komunisto , Serbia, 2010, 100 min, Digi Beta, HD, Arts and Culture, History, Politics, Society
When reality has a different script from the one in your films, who wouldn't invent a country to fool themselves? Using rare footage from dozens of forgotten Yugoslav films, as well as never-seen-before archive from film sets and Tito’s private screenings, the documentary recreates the narrative of a country, the stories told on screen and the ones hidden behind it. Stars such as Richard Burton, Sofia Loren and Orson Welles add a touch of glamour to the national effort, appearing in super-productions financed by the state. Tito’s favorite film director, his projectionist who showed him films every night for 30 years, the most famous actor of partisan films, and the director of the film studios who was a secret policeman - all tell how the history of Yugoslavia was constructed on the screen.
Sunday, April 15 / Bohemian National Hall / 3:45PM - Disco and Atomic War (Disko ja tuumasoda), Estonia-Finland, 2009, directed by Jaak Kilmi and Kiur Aarma
Disco & Atomic War
Disko ja tuumasõda , Estonia, 2009, 80 min, ?, Beta, DVD, HD, Archive , Creative, History, Personal View
Disco and Atomic War tells the story of a strange kind of information war in which a totalitarian regime stands face to face with the heroes of popular culture. And loses. Western popular culture had an incomparable role shaping Soviet children's worldviews in those days - in ways that now seem slightly odd. Finnish television was a window to a world of dreams that the authorities could not block in any way. Though Finnish channels were banned, many households found some way to access the forbidden fruit. Disco and Atomic War offers its own version of recent history, mixing spy games into a human tragicomedy.
Thursday, April 19 / Bohemian National Hall / 6:30PM - Negative History of Hungarian Cinema (Negativ Magyar filmtortenet), Hungary, 2010, directed by Gyula Nemes – NY Premiere
Negative History of Hungarian Cinema
Negatív Magyar Filmtörténet , Hungary, 2010, 47 min, Beta SP, Archive , Arts and Culture, Creative
Reconstructions of unrealized Hungarian films.
Friday, April 20 / Bohemian National Hall / 6:30PM - The Border (Hranice), Slovakia, 2009, directed by Jaroslav Vojtek – NY Premiere
The Border
Hranica , Slovak Republic, 2009, 72 min, 35 mm, History, Personal View, Politics
During the night of August 30, 1946, the village of Slemence on the eastern European border, was divided by the Red Army into two parts. One part, Veľké Slemence, remained in Slovakia [former Czechoslovakia]; the other part was renamed Malé Slemence and became a part of Ukraine [in the former Soviet Union]. The absurdly demarked border, similar to the famed Berlin Wall, divides estates, the cemetery, and closest families up to this day. This documentary pictures the bitter experience of people from Slemence, who dream of the opening of the most closely-watched border of the European Union.
Disappearing Act IV runs April 11 - 22, with 25 contemporary European films + debates and panels.