Viera Čákanyová's documentary FREM, a unique and experimental documentary that brings us a look at the Antarctica and its nature through the eyes of an artificial intelligence, will have an international premiere at Berlinale Forum.
As the climate crisis becomes increasingly urgent beyond the point of no return, and artificial intelligence expands exponentially, FREM presents a striking and sometimes uncomfortable reaction to the current wave of post-humanist, anthropocentric thinking. A unique and wildly experimental documentary, Viera Čákanyová’s film provides a haunting and futurist portrayal of one of the most beautiful yet extreme landscapes on earth: King George Island off the coast of Antarctica.
"Making this film was an extreme experience, in every aspect, not only physical, since we shot in Antarctica. I had to think un-thinkable. Leave the prison of anthropomorphism behind. Stop being human," says the director and adds: „I wanted to make a film in which the main character was not a man, because humanity reached the peak of its natural possibilities." Čákanyová describes her approach: "I wanted to 'visualise' the mental processes of an artificial brain using the limited resources that the film medium offers: image and sound. The way in which artificial intelligence thinks is something foreign to us. The greatest challenge of this film was to communicate this special, in a certain way disquieting experience, and to create a non-human character / entity in such a way that viewers could identify with it, to establish a link with its perspective."
On March 19 the film will be released in Czech theatres and online via DAFilms, where you can also watch short films short films directed by Viera Čákanyová.
Berlinale screenings:
Feb 21 19:30 Kino Arsenal 1 (int. premiere)
Feb 21 22:00 CinemaxX 6 (P&I)
Feb 22 11:30 Delphi Filmpalast
Feb 25 22:00 Zoo Palast 2
Feb 29 11:00 Zoo Palast
FREM
Written and directed by Viera Čákanyová (with Martin Kovačík)
Cinematography: Tomáš Klein, Viera Čákanyová
Editing: Marek Šulík, Viera Čákanyová
Sound Design: Miroslav Tóth, Dominik Dolejší, Stanislav Abrahám
Sound: Dominik Dolejší
Production: HYPERMARKET FILM - Nina Numakandič
Co-production: Punkchart Films - Ivan Ostrochovský
Co-production: Czech Television
CZ, SK, 2019, 73 mins
Viera Čákanyová
Viera Čákanyová (1980) was born in Bratislava, Slovakia. She graduated from the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava in screenwriting and received a BA from the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague in documentary film. She was internationally recognized for her student film Alda (2009), which won Regard Neuf (Prize of the canton Vaud) for a first or second film by a filmmaker of the 16th Visions du Réel International Film Festival 2010, Nyon, Switzerland and The Golden Key Award for the best documentary work of a director under the age of 35 of the 27th Kassel Documentary Film and Video Festival 2010, Kassel, Germany.
Filmography
2006 Under Underground; 18 min. 2007 Piraňa (Piranha); 26 min. · Červi (Worms); 13 min. 2009 100 dní (100 Days); 22 min. · Alda; 52 min. 2011 Olda; 80 min. · Update; 45 min. 2014 Letiací kôň (Flying Horse); part of the film project Gottland, 30 min. · Rupicapra; part of the film project Slovakia 2.0, 10 min.
