Workshop: "Film as meditation" (Seminar: "Film kui mõtisklus")

Screening: "This Is the Day" (65') and "Sundial" (65')

KERSTI UIBO and LIIS NIMIK

The filmmakers are interviewed by poet, writer, and musician RISTE SOFIE KÄÄR.

A poetic film resembles poetry. Both demand silence and immersion. You need to be "on the wave" for the eye to start distinguishing details and noticing barely perceptible changes and harmonies.

At first it may seem that nothing is happening, and a sense of dissatisfaction can arise. But if the viewer is patient and doesn't fidget, a door opens into the empty space created by the filmmakers, and the viewer's imagination begins its own journey. This happens in parallel with what's occurring on screen. When the pace is slow, it becomes possible to be in two spaces at once: the one we see, and the one that arises within us.

Why should a filmmaker leave the viewer an empty space? How much does a film need to explain, and how much can it trust the viewer?

"Sun Time" took eight years to make. "This Is the Day" — together with the film "The Gate Is Narrow," which was also filmed in a Kosovan Orthodox monastery — took twelve years. The filmmakers talk about what it means to live with one film for so long: how the film changes over that time, how the author himself/herself changes, and how to recognize the moment when a film is finally finished. What kind of patience does such work demand, and what is the price of dedication?

Three generations of creators meet: Kersti, Liis, and Riste Sofie. Do slowness, attention, and immersion mean the same thing for different generations? What unites them and what sets them apart? And in a world where our attention is fought over every second, might a slow film suddenly have a whole new meaning?

Seminar schedule:

15.00 Introduction to the genre of contemplative/meditative film

15.10–16.15 "Sun Time"

16.20–16.50 Discussion

16.50–17.55 "This Is the Day"

18.00–18.30 Discussion