The Black Screen

Visions of Europe(en)

Twenty-five films from twenty-five European countries by twenty-five European directors.

(There Is No) Cure(en)

In this new video essay, filmmaker Alexandre O. Philippe delves into the dread-inducing mood and tone of Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s modern horror classic Cure, deploying a dizzying range of cinematic references to unravel the film’s eerie magic.

Opera About Poland(pl)

Pole, who are you? This film collage that combines archival and contemporary materials, documentary and staged pictures, press reports, social announcements, sale offers and speech excerpts is an attempt to answer this question. Referring to the Polish tradition of a creative documentary in the style of Wojciech Wiszniewski, the film presents various manifestations of Polishness: patriotic and religious rituals, everyday traditions as well as characteristic landscapes or intimate memories from childhood.

Make Moravia Great Again(cs)

Moving Memories(pt)

On April 1st, 2022, my grandfather passed away and i felt lost. I think my path changed when, some days after he passed away, i was offered a small VHS camera. "Moving Memories" is a visual journey that makes the viewer reflect on our momentary presence on earth and questions the nature of memory. Throughout this journey, we get to the conclusion that memories are more than just static photographs in our minds, they're alive and in constant movement, changing while we evolve as individuals. These memories have influence and help us to move on.

2 or 3 Things I Know About Her(fr)

As the city of Paris and the French people grow in consumer culture, a housewife living in a high-rise apartment with her husband and two children takes to prostitution to help pay the bills.

White Noise(fr)

A reflection on the fate of humanity in the Anthropocene epoch, White Noise is a roller-coaster of a film, a whirlwind of sounds and images. The fourth feature-length work by Simon Beaulieu, this film essay plunges viewers into a subjective sensory adventure—a direct physical encounter with the information overload of daily life. White Noise transforms the imminent collapse of our civilization into a visceral aesthetic experience.

Vowellet - An Essay by Sarah Vowell(en)

This Pixar documentary short follows Sarah Vowell, who plays herself as the title character, on why she is a superhero in her own way. (This short piece is included on the 2-Disc DVD for "The Incredibles", which was released in 2005.

And there was evening and there was morning. The first day(en)

With the lack of personal video archive, Youhanna (the filmmaker) creates false memories using lost home videotapes shot between the 1990s and 2000s in Europe, Africa, and Asia, with the help of an Artificial intelligence programme, until a real, personal video archive surfaces, transporting him into the past to relive one more memory with his late mother.

Oblivion(ru)

A lone passenger is reflected in the windows of a train crawling through layers of textures towards Minsk. During his absence, the city has not changed: all the streets are frozen, long-gone voices can be heard in the empty rooms and around the corner you can find yourself in a video game from your childhood.

Metropia(es)

The Sound of Crickets(es)

After the disappearance of Aldemar his wife decided to get overall uncertainty by including him in the list of deaths in the 1938 Colombian National Census. Today, 83 years later, I repeat her. I try to find myself among the numbers in the digital database in order to finish the torture that has also implied my own disappearance.

Zaniklý svět Karla Pecky(cs)

James Bearden: Man of Metals(en)

An essay style film in the vein of Orson Welles' "F For Fake" and Jon Jost's "Speaking Directly". From 2011 to 2013, filmmaker Kristian Day randomly documented the art and actions of the award winning metal sculptor, James Bearden. Refusing to make another artist documentary, Day insisted on illustrating Bearden's creative process through surreal and id oriented story telling.

The Fall of Communism as Seen in Gay Pornography(en)

Every image in The Fall of Communism as Seen in Gay Pornography comes from gay erotic videos produced in Eastern Europe since the introduction of capitalism. The video provides a glimpse of young men responding to the pressures of an unfamiliar world, one in which money, power and sex are now connected.

Bitva o život(cs)

A documentary based on the mutual experiences of a trio of directors, which portrays life in the border village of Bystré during the last year of the millennium. The film concentrates on the exuberant social life of the community, including many bizarre recent customs, as well as on several very intimate moments in the lives of the inhabitants.

Electric Eye(pt)

An experimental short film, shot during the COVID-19 pandemic, made by one person. Using recorded scenes and archival footage, the short presents an unorthodox narrative to explore the themes of self-identification, identity, gender expression and androgyny.

The Road to Magnasanti(en)

In 2010, an obsessed gamer designed the perfect game of Sim City. Achieved through a repeating pattern of clustered high rises, “Magnasanti” exposes the hellish consequences of top-down civic design. In his new documentary, John Wilson explores how New York City is creeping closer and closer to realizing this fictional metropolis.

Hovory o lékařské etice(cs)

Klassenverhältnisse am Bodensee(de)

A filmmaker reconstructs a common memory about the formerly industrialized Lake Constance region, which was also largely built up by migration – and in recent years has mainly attracted people who do not like to pay taxes. The imprints speak, the fog. Without talking heads, in perspectives beyond the memorialized self-image of this region, classism becomes comprehensible.

Like a Pig in Shit(en)

"Like a Pig in Shit" is a twenty-minute video piecing together audio and visual material found online, a collage technique common to the artist’s practice. It comprises nine movements and a spiraling, ultra-introspective, stream-of-consciousness monologue that diarizes the cumulative effects of life in the mediated, surveilled, freelance matrix.

Re-Births(fr)

A documentary film depicting five intimate portraits of migrants who fled their country of origin to seek refuge in France and find a space of freedom where they can fully experience their sexuality and their sexual identity: Giovanna, woman transgender of Colombian origin, Roman, Russian transgender man, Cate, Ugandan lesbian mother, Yi Chen, young Chinese gay man…

Osiris(en)

Special Forces commandos on a mission are abducted mid-operation by a mysterious spacecraft. Upon waking aboard, they find themselves prey to a relentless alien race in a fight for survival.

Vera and the Pleasure of Others(es)

Seventeen-year-old Vera earns money by secretly renting out an apartment to teenagers seeking privacy, all while eavesdropping from behind a closed door. As she listens, her own desires awaken.

Re-Kill(en)

Five years after a zombie outbreak, the men and women of R-Division hunt down and destroy the undead. When they see signs of a second outbreak, they fear humanity may not survive.

She Rides Shotgun(en)

Newly released from prison and marked for death by unrelenting enemies, Nate must now protect his estranged 11-year-old daughter, Polly, at all costs. With scant resources and no one to trust, Nate and Polly forge a bond under fire as he shows her how to fight and survive—and she teaches him the true meaning of unconditional love.

(re)kindle(pt)

Ana and Helen, two divorced women, were close friends as teenagers. Today, amidst the corona virus pandemic and in quarantine, they get in touch after 20 years via internet. Through video conference calls, memories, sensations and emotions reflourishes.

Creation of the Gods II: Demon Force(zh)

Taishi Wen Zhong led the army of Shang Dynasty including Deng Chanyu and four generals of the Mo Family to Xiqi. With the help of Kunlun immortals such as Jiang Ziya, Ji Fa led the army and civilians of Xiqi to defend their homeland.

Re-Cycling(en)

This direct-to-draw animated film on 35 mm film features the imagery of 10 European directors in a collective project. Each produced 1 minute of animation on film, drawing directly onto it in his or her own style.

Sarkozy-Gaddafi: The Scandal of All Scandals(fr)

A democracy and a dictatorship. A presidential campaign and dirty money. War and death. When Nicolas Sarkozy affirmed in the press that “No one can make sense of it”, he was trying to discredit the investigation into his ties with Muammar Gaddafi, portraying it as a bunch of gibberish. As Sarkozy and his many accomplices go on trial in the Libyan campaign financing affair, here’s the film that will finally explain all of the ins and outs of one of the most remarkable French political scandals in decades.

Tethered Wings(fr)

On his wedding day, Paul is confronted by the sudden return of Joseph, a boy he lost touch with twenty years ago. The burning memories of that summer of 1983 resurface, overwhelming him with doubts about a lifetime of choices and the emotions of a forbidden love. As teenagers, their dazzling romance sparked relentless, violent homophobic harassment—until one tragic night changed their lives forever. Now, twenty years later, the past comes crashing into the present.

Flow(en)

Freakier Friday(en)

Years after Tess and Anna endured an identity crisis, Anna now has a daughter of her own and a soon-to-be stepdaughter. As they navigate the myriad challenges that come when two families merge, Tess and Anna discover lightning might indeed strike twice.

The World of Apu(bn)

Apu, now a jobless ex-student dreaming vaguely of a future as a writer, is invited to join an old college friend on a trip up-country to a village wedding.

Entr'acte(fr)

Stop-motion photography blends with extreme slow-motion in Clair's first and most 'dada' film, composed of a series of zany, interconnected scenes. We witness a rooftop chess match between Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray, a hearse pulled by a camel (and chased by its pallbearers) and a dizzying roller coaster finale. A film of contradictions and agreements.

Liberation: Direction of the Main Blow(ru)

This five part epic war drama gives a dramatized detailed account of Soviet Union's war against Nazi Germany during world war two. Each of the five parts represents a separate major eastern front campaign.

Main Krishna Hoon(hi)

In answer to an orphan boy's prayers, the divine Lord Krishna comes to Earth, befriends the boy, and helps him find a loving family.

Kayara(en)

A courageous and athletic teenager, Kayara dreams that she is destined to be the first female to break into the league of Chasquis - the official messengers of the Incan empire. As she learns what it takes to be a Chasqui along with its challenges, she tackles every mission she gets and discovers the ancient stories of her land and her people.

The Tale of King Crab(it)

Small town in Italy, end of the 19th century. Luciano, a drunk, doesn't fit in the town. Rebelion against authority and a forbidden love makes him to commit a crime accidentally. To pay for his crime, he is forced into exile on the most remote island in the world, Argentina’s Tierra del Fuego. The hunt for the shipwreck treasure hidden on the island becomes his opportunity for redemption.