Documentaries of Time: How to Make the Absent Present

The second edition of the conference discussed how filmmakers should work with material they have not filmed themselves (archive material, found footage, home videos, found footage on social media, news reports, etc.). Therefore, the second edition aimed to explore the limits, principles, and documentary methods of work with these materials, considering the crises we are currently facing or have faced in the past (wars, ethnic conflicts, pandemics, genocides, totalitarian regimes, propaganda).

PROGRAM

9:30 AM – 10:40 AM | Morning coffee on documentary ethics (Czech)

For pre-registered participants only.

A morning coffee or tea time will enable students to share their insecurities and experiences with moral dilemmas connected with documentary filmmaking, ask questions, and actively participate in the discourse on documentary ethics. Designed as an open and safe space and moderated in a non-hierarchical and inclusive way, it will allow collaborative dialogue about authorship, representation, and even profession among students, from exchanging feelings and experiences to articulating opinions and attitudes.

For registered participants only.

10:40 AM – 10:55 AM | morning coffee

10:55 AM – 11:00 AM | opening word

11:00 AM – 12:00 PM | Michael Renov: The Compilation Film
Michael Renov

Keynote by a prominent American documentary film theorist and documentary animator (especially the travelling conference Visible Evidence), whose main areas of interest include film autobiography, activism and video art, but also the representation of history, especially the Holocaust. In his work, he explores the relationship between fiction and truth and advocates a pedagogical approach emphasizing epistemology and ethics. In his paper, he will discuss the compilation of films from media archives in relation to the history of the genre and its connections to remix media culture.

12:00 PM – 1:00 PM | lunch break

1:00 PM – 2:15 PM | Academic Perspective: Ethical Contexts of Archives and Found Footage

The academic panel will present several scholars of the Czech and Slovak universities and art schools, who will explore the topic of working with archives or found footage in its complexity, including its relation to the new challenges of artificial intelligence or institutional context.

Moderated by Jan Motal

1:00 PM – 1:10 PM | Ethical issues of working with found footage
PhDr. Mgr. Andrea Slováková, PhD. MBA (FAMU)

1:10 PM – 1:20 PM | Archaeology of Everyday life
doc. Mgr. MgA. Jan Gogola ml. (UTB)

1:20 PM – 1:30 PM | The Ethics of Making the Absent Present Using AI
Mgr. Mário Homolka (VŠMU)

1:30 PM – 1:40 PM | Principles and Ethics of Access in Czech National Film Archive (NFA)
MgA. Matěj Strnad (NFA)

1:40 PM – 2:15 PM | Discussion

2:15 PM – 2:30 PM | coffee break

2:30 PM – 3:45 PM | Masterclass with Sergei Loznitsa: Portraying the Carnival of History
Sergei Loznitsa

In his masterclass, the prominent Ukrainian director of Belarusian origin will focus on his methods of working with archival material and propaganda, using the example of his film A Night at the Opera and other edited films. Loznitsa's work often uses non-original material depicting historical events associated with war or totalitarianism, as in The Kiev Trial (2022), The Natural History of Destruction (2022), and State Funeral (2019).

3:45 PM – 4:00 PM | coffee break

4:00 PM – 5:15 PM | Filmmaker's Perspective: Illuminating the Shadows of Everyday Life and Intimacy (Czech)

Several prominent figures of Central European filmmaking will attempt to explore the shared space of (supra)national memory of life under unfree regimes and the ethical dilemmas of work with documents of everyday life from the period of totalitarianism and revolutionary times. How do we depict an everyday life marked by pervasive ideology, propaganda and hidden violence? How do we work with archives, family heirlooms and artefacts of totalitarianism? What questions do filmmakers face with materials that they did not film themselves and are marked by the ideology of the time? Everyday life - totalitarianism - documentary.

Moderated by Andrea Slováková
Panel speakers:
Peter Forgacs (HU)
Lucie Králová (CZ)
Tomasz Wolski (PL)

5:30 PM – 7:00 PM | New Media: The On-line Invasion

How do you make a film about a war happening "out there"? How do we work with material being filmed by others? How do we deal with videos and photos from social media that spread through digital space? How do we use images from news coverage always shaped by war propaganda? A discussion will focus on the current war in Ukraine, our trust in the image of it and the limits of creative work with materials from social or news media.

Moderated by Ivo Bystřičan
Panel speakers:
Adéla Klečková
Anna Kryvenko
Zdeněk Chaloupka

The conference is organized by the Ji.hlava IDFF in conjunction with the Center for Media Ethics and Dialogue (CEMETIK) at the Department of Media Studies and Journalism, Faculty of Social Studies of Masaryk University with the support of the Czech Film Fund.

The event is part of the Visegrad Accelerator.