Kinomino

On Saturday November 21st, I attended the theater atop the Olympian building to watch Kinomino, part of the Experimental Forum of the Thessaloniki Film Festival. Kinomino is a series of short films, each created by a different person, showing the changing techniques and evolution of experimental film. The series starts off with a film-joke by playing a Daffy Duck cartoon which expresses experimentation in mainstream cartoons. The remainder of the film was comprised of nine short films; these varied from Stan Brakhage’s Mothlight, for which he glued moth wings and pieces of grasses onto clear film, to Notes on the Circus by Jonas Mekas, which is a fast motion film that communicates the emotion of the circus.

Kinomino allowed me to gain a better understanding and slightly change my views about experimental films through the perspective of the development of experimental film through history. A difference that I noticed during the viewing of this film was that there many children, from teens to toddlers, watching this film. This was very different from other experimental films and it shocked me because I did not think that this type of film could be liked by all ages. My favorite short film was Vormitagsspuk by Hans Richter, which shows the use of free moving objects and is humorous to the viewers.

Avant-Garde of the Kino Club #1

Unchartered Serbia: Avant-Garde of the Kino Clubs #1 is a collection of short experimental films released in 2005. It focuses on the experimental films of the 1920s and 1930s. Experimental film is a type of film making that takes a detour from mainstream filming, creating a new style that allows the viewer to gain a deeper understanding of the film. This is the second year that the Thessaloniki Film Festival has had an Experimental Film category. Going into this film I no idea what to expect - I had never seen an Experimental Film before. This type of filmmaking is very different from the ordinary movies that I watch back home. I viewed five different short films, each with its own unique style, each telling a different story. In the end I would have to say that for a person to enjoy and understand this type of film a certain taste must be acquired. It is a different way of viewing a story and a different way of understanding the filmmaking process that will take me some time to fully appreciate.