Shhh is the only festival that declares its love for both silent film and the sea. In this edition, landscape takes centre stage — and the human being who, with abandon, disappears into it.
Ana Mendieta + Bas Jan Ader + Malena Szlam, Becoming Sea
Duration 26’
OCEAN BIRD – ANA MENDIETA – US, 1974 – Super 8 to digital – 5’
UNTITLED – ANA MEDIETA – US, 1981 – Super 8 to digital – 3’
FALL 1 LOS ANGELES – BAS JAN ADER – US, 1970 – 16mm to digital – 1’
FALL 2 AMSTERDAM – BAS JAN ADER – NL, 1970 – 16mm to digital – 1’
BROKEN FALL (ORGANIC) AMSTERDAMSE BOS – BAS JAN ADER – NL, 1971 – 16mm to digital – 2’
BROKEN FALL (GEOMETRIC) WESTKAPELLE HOLLAND – BAS JAN ADER – NL, 1970 – 16mm to digital – 2’
MERAPI – MALENA SZLAM – CAN/CHL, 2021 – 16mm to digital – 8’
LUNAR ALMANAC – MALENA SZLAM – CAN/CHL, 2013 – 16mm to digital – 4’
Vittorio De Seta + Rosa Butsi feat. Marie Cocriamont, Forgotten Rhythms
Duration 61’
LU TEMPU DI LI PISCI SPATA (IN THE AGE OF THE SWORDFISH) – VITTORIO DE SETA – IT, 1955 – digital restoration – 10’
PASTORI DI ORGOSOLO (ORGOSOLO’S SHEPERDS) – VITTORIO DE SETA – IT, 1958 – digital restoration – 10’
PESCHERECCI (FISHING BOATS) – - VITTORIO DE SETA – IT, 1958 – digital restoration – 11’
UN GIORNO IN BARBAGIA (A DAY IN BARABGIA) – VITTORIO DE SETA – IT, 1958 – digital restoration – 9’
I DIMENTICATI (THE FORGOTTEN) – VITTORIO DE SETA – IT, 1959 – digital restoration – 21’
Hannes Schüpbach + Joël-Claude Meffre, A Poetry of Gestures
Duration 75’
VERSO – HANNES SCHÜPBACH – CH, 2008 – 16mm – 13’
L’ATELIER – HANNES SCHÜPBACH – CH, 2007 – 16mm – 16’
INSTANTS – JOËL-CLAUDE MEFFRE – live poetry reading – FR,20’
INSTANTS – HANNES SCHÜPBACH – CH, 2012 – 16mm – 16’
Eva Giolo, There Are Tides In The Body
Duration 68’
733 FRAMES (2026) – EVA GIOLO – BE, 2022 – 16mm to digital – 1’
MAUD CAPTURING THE LIGHT ON A CLEAR DAY – MANON DE BOER – BE, 2024 – 16mm – 3’
I’M ROOTED BUT I FLOW – EVA GIOLO – BE, 2026 – 16mm to digital – 6’
METRONOME – GUY SHERWIN – UK, 1975 – 16mm – 3’
SILENT CONVERSATIONS – EVA GIOLO – BE, 2023 – 16mm to digital – 8’
AM FROSTIGEN ATLAS – ANTOINETTE ZWIRCHMAYR – AT, 2020 – 16mm – 7’
WIND – JOAN JONAS – US, 1968 – digital – 6’
THE DUTCHMAN’S PHOTOGRAPHS – ISAO KOTA – JP, 1976 – digital – 7’
THE ADVANTAGE OF LYING ON THE FLOOR – EVA GIOLO – BE, 2023 – 16mm to digital – 3’
FATIGUE – EVA GIOLO – BE, 2023 – 16mm to digital – 1’
COWFISH – JOÃO MARIA GUSMÃO & PEDRO PAIVA – PT, 2011 – 16mm – 3’
TRIO A – YVONNE RAINER – US, 1978 – digital – 10’
ELIXIR – AMY HALPERN – US, 2009 – 16mm – 8’
Lili Dujourie + Barbara & Michael Leisgen, The body as a measure of time and space
Duration 65’
SONNENZEICHEN (SUN SIGNS) – BARBARA & MICHAEL LEISGEN – DE, 1973 – digital – 7’
ÜBUNGEN (EXERCISES) – BARBARA & MICHAEL LEISGEN – DE, 1974 – digital – 11’
THE NEVER ENDING WATER – BARBARA & MICHAEL LEISGEN – DE, 1974-1975 – digital – 12’
SONNET – LILI DUJOURIE – BE, 1974 – digital – 7’
PASSION DE L’ÉTÉ POUR L’HIVER – BE, 1981 – digital – 15’
Peter Hutton + Elisabeth Klinck, At Sea
Duration 60’
AT SEA – PETER HUTTON – US, 2007 – 16mm – 60’
John Ernest WIlliamson + Giulia Rae, Wonders of the Sea
Duration 64’
WONDERS OF THE SEA – JOHN ERNEST WILLIAMSON – US, 1922 – digital restoration – 64’
| 18/09 | ||
| 20:00 | ANA MENDIETA + BAS JAN ADER + MALENA SZLAM Becoming Sea Opening program |
in O.666 |
| 21:30 | VITTORIO DE SETA + ROSA BUTSI feat. MARIE COCRIAMONT Forgotten Rhythms Silent film + Live music |
in O.666 |
| 19/09 | ||
| 13:30 | HANNES SCHÜPBACH + JOËL-CLAUDE MEFFRE A Poetry of Gestures Silent film with poetry reading |
in O.666 |
| 16:00 | EVA GIOLO There Are Tides In The Body Silent film |
in O.666 |
| 19:30 | LILI DUJOURIE + BARBARA & MICHAEL LEISGEN Installation |
in O.666 |
| 21:30 | PETER HUTTON + ELISABETH KLINCK Silent film + Live music |
in O.666 |
| 23:00 | PARTY Radio Onderstroom |
in O.666 |
| 20/09 | ||
| 11:00 | BREAKFAST Coffee + pastries |
in O.666 |
| 12:00 | JOHN ERNEST WILLIAMSON + GIULIA RAE Wonders of the Sea Silent film + Live music |
in O.666 |
The sea — or any landscape in film — is never merely a backdrop. It becomes a mirror, a co-player, a body that moves along. The image becomes a space in which human being and environment share the same breath, in which a horizon does not divide but connects.
To become one with a landscape does not simply mean to stand before it, but to enter its rhythms and move with them. Join us for the 8th edition of our silent film festival: three days of films and performances that bear witness to our surroundings – not as scenery, but as a voice of their own. Filmmakers, artists, musicians and poets, will tell us about the body in a landscape, each in their own vulnerable, magical and often playful way.
From Ana Mendieta and Bas Jan Ader, who let themselves be carried by waves and gravity, to Malena Szlam, who traces the time of volcano and moon. From Vittorio De Seta’s fishermen and shepherds, sounded anew through the music of Rosa Butsi, to Hannes Schüpbach’s light and Joël-Claude Meffre’s language.
From Eva Giolo, who brings her view of body and landscape into dialogue with kindred makers, to Lili Dujourie and Barbara & Michael Leisgen, who let the body merge with living room, sun and water.
From Peter Hutton, who films the ocean as a trembling space, accompanied by Elisabeth Klinck’s violin, to John Ernest Williamson, who descended into the sea a hundred years ago — summoned back to the surface today by Giulia Rae.
We invite you to gaze and listen in wonder to these stories by our beloved sea.
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With the support of Vlaamse gemeenschap, Vlaams Audiovisueel Fonds, nw-aalst, O.666, KAAP, Stad Oostende.
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Individual screenings cost €13 (support rate), 11€ (basic rate), 9€ (reduced rate for students, 65+ and teachers) or 2,20€ (UiTPAS). A festival pass for all events costs €42 (support rate), 35€ (basic rate), 28€ (reduced rate for students, 65+ and teachers). You can order passes and tickets via XXX.
You can contact info@monokino.org for more info.
SUPPORT — Your support is more than welcome and literally brings light to the screen:
BE80 7340 4532 5277 BIC: KREDBEBB
Payment reference: ‘Gift’.
Gifts above the sum of € 40 are tax deductible.
A gift of € 100 will only cost you € 55.
Artistic coordination: Anouk De Clercq, Godart Bakkers
General coordination: Ditte Claus
Artistic team: Eric de Kuyper, Xavier Garcia Bardon
Production team: Bob Mees, Jef Declercq, Johan Opstaele, Noah Heylen
Communication: Cynthia Vandenbruaene
Graphic design: Michaël Bussaer. Webdesign: Dominique Callewaert.
With the support of Auguste Orts, CINEMATEK, KAAP, KASK School of Arts Gent, Onderzoeksfonds Universiteit Gent, Vlaams Audiovisueel Fonds, Vlaamse gemeenschap.
Whoever walks in Ostend today is confronted with a fantastic eclecticism: a brutal grey apartment block exists next to the glorious Thermae Palace. The mighty, almost Stalinist, building of De Grote Post dominates the Hendrik Serruyslaan. A former department store houses a museum for contemporary art. Belle-époque houses are hidden in the quiet but stately streets.
In 2017, one void struck artist Anouk De Clercq: that glorious film culture of Henri Storck, James Ensor or Raoul Servais had disappeared from the streets. With the closure of the Rialto cinema, the last independent cinema from the Ostend cinema circuit also disappeared. Against such an extraordinary backdrop, with the sea as a large projection surface for images, stories and histories, that is such a shame.
And so the idea of Monokino ripens: one room, marked by an equally fantastic eclecticism, where cinema can be itself again. One room where long and short films, film classics, auteur cinema, video art, experimental films, animation, or the work of young makers can find a place. Monokino shows, questions, responds, engages in conversation, invites, welcomes, puts in perspective. Monokino is a place of, by and for people from Ostend, for professionals and enthusiasts, for young and old, for those from here and those from there.
The films that Monokino wants to show don’t only live on the screen. They also spread between residents, spectators, and makers. In that sense, Monokino is also Kopfkino: a mental cinema, where images get the chance to live and multiply.
That’s how Monokino drifts nomadically through those eclectic streets of Ostend and settles in the heads and hearts of the people of Ostend. Soon it’ll moor for good.
Monokino wants to drive cinema into the 21st century and illuminate the adventurous side of film. While we strive for a permanent place as anchorage for cinefiles from Ostend and beyond, Monokino operates as a nomadic film platform.
The sea is Monokino’s favourite projection surface for images, stories and histories. In anticipation of our next screening, we’ve started to collect a list of films in which the sea plays a main or supporting role. Can you think of a film that’s not already on our list? We’d love to hear about it via info@monokino.org.