СYFEST 16: Voyage Video Program

Binary Blues

11 min. 4 sec., 2023

Binary Blues delves into the near future, a realm where robots assume authority over every facet of human life. From the mundane to the complex, they control it all, leading humans to have an unexpected surplus of leisure time. Through this artwork, Francesca Fini beckons viewers to ponder the fascinating paradox of monotony in a world that seems otherwise perfect, all depicted through the nostalgic lens of vintage cinema.

Francesca Fini is an Italian artist renowned for her contributions to experimental cinema, digital animation, installations, performance art, virtual reality, and AI. Her live performances often delve into the dynamics between public and private realms, the interaction between performers and audiences, and the representation of these elements. Her work critically examines societal impacts on gender and women’s issues, as well as the mainstream media’s distortion of beauty standards. Her live and recorded art seamlessly blends traditional media with lo-fi technology, interactive design, and generative audiovisual elements.

A half-dreamed memory

6 min. 26 sec., 2021

“It’s an image I’m chasing for, nothing else.” Gerard de Nerval, Sylvie (1854)

Between memory, dream, and nightmare, between human skin and digital technology, we look for an image and a sound to express wishes, affections, fears, anguish, strength, fragility, and hope. This is a process where pleasure resides in the search itself.

Úrsula San Cristóbal is an artist and researcher devoted to experimental music, performance art, video art, weaving, and calligraphy. With an academic background in music, she later specialized in contemporary art and audiovisual media. Ursula holds a PhD in Art History and Musicology from the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Her dissertation on the role of sound and music in video art and performance artworks by Marina Abramović and Shirin Neshat received the Extraordinary PhD Award in 2020.

In memory of

5 min. 54 sec., 2021

How does a fading memory look? A forgotten person faces the material disappearance of what it passed. In memory of those who no longer exist, neither as a face, nor in our memories, nor in a short film.

Mattia Bioli (Italy) is a filmmaker and artist. He created different inter-medial projects, experimenting with every type of media and technique, from photography to animation. His short films have been exhibited at several national and international film festivals, including Visioni Italiane (Cineteca Bologna), Piccolo Grande Cinema (Cineteca Milano), Ribalta Experimental, Filmfest Bremen, TOFUZI, Linea d’Ombra, Minikino Film Week, Kino Otok, IBRIDA Festival. At the same time, he has been running a YouTube channel since 2014, where he tells the background of his personal works.

artifacts of you, artifacts of me

9 min., 2022

Сombining animation, live action, and photogrammetry, this intensely personal document tackles the universal subject of grief. It is an audiovisual reflection on the tension between photography and animation, death and digital reality, and the ghostly nature of space. 

Brecht De Cock (Belgium) studied at LUCA School of Arts, Sint-Lukas Brussels, where he obtained both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Audiovisual Arts, Animation. He is currently studying for a second master’s degree in Cultural Studies at the KU Leuven.

Previous projects by De Cock have been screened at the Leuven International Short Film Festival, Toronto Animation Arts Festival International (TAAFI) and Flicks International Student Short Film Festival.