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    • NTC Award Ceremony
      New Talent Competition gives young filmmakers from Central, Eastern and Southern Europe the opportunity to present their outstanding debut or second film to the public. Join us on Sunday 1 December at 19h
    • Music at ENFF
      The Eastern Neighbours Film Festival welcomes special musical guests each year to enrich our program. For this 16th edition, we’re thrilled to present two talented young musicians: guitarist Antonio Peršak (CR) and violinist İdil Yunkuş (TR). Together, they will perform a traditional Balkan dance and folk song, highlighting the beauty of this music through the… Read more: Music at ENFF
    • Masterclass with Janez Burger
      This masterclass presents a unique opportunity to explore Burger's distinct storytelling style, genre use, and exploration of contemporary social issues. Join us on Saturday 30 November at 17h - Room 5
    • Panel Discussion: Exploration of individual and collective memory in cinema
      Panel Discussion: Exploration of individual and collective memory in cinema on Friday 29 November at 18h

Memory in Cinema

(El Shatt – A Blueprint for Utopia 2023)

Film is a medium defined by its relationship with memory. The audience is always aware that what it sees on screen was recorded in the past and edited in retrospect. In many ways, every film is a reminiscence, with the filmmaker and editor taking on the role of our subconscious as they select, focus, and edit images. “Cinema, like our memory, travels through time, reliving moments from the past with limitless possibilities,” says Hungarian philosopher and aesthetician Georg Lukacs. According to him, “cinema copies the selective encoding process of our memory onto the screen as a director and editor compose the images and scenes into a full-length film.” When we immerse ourselves in the stories of contemporary films, our memories often force us to think about our situation in the here and now, and even about the future. 

We look at dealing with memory in film from different angles. For example, memories that are projected but not present, or memories from a personal or collective recollection through archive material. Memory is not just about the past but also about interaction with the present, which can consciously or unconsciously influence our view of the future. How do we anticipate the future by, for instance, being confronted daily with the constant horrors of the war in Ukraine? What will the story of Europe be in thirty or more years?

This program comprises feature films, documentaries, and animated films from six countries.

In The Happiest Man in the World (North Macedonia, Teona Strugar Mitevska, 2022), which premiered at the Venice Film Festival and was the national submission for the 95th Oscars, an impressive drama is told, inspired by the true story of screenwriter Elma Tataragić from Sarajevo. By chance, a young woman encounters the sniper who severely wounded her as a child.

Deserters (Damir Markovina, 2022) from Croatia, winner of the Opus Bonum Grand Prize at the Jihlava Film Festival, takes a deep look at the still-visible scars of the war in Mostar, Herzegovina, using animation.

Love Is Not an Orange (Otilia Babara, 2022), an award-winning film from Moldova, tells the story of mothers working abroad without their families and experiencing homesickness, touching upon the reality of many Ukrainians whose families are also separated.