PSSST! Festival nijemog filma (18)

Festival start: 14 November 2024      Festival end: 16 November 2024

Rather unusual, rather trapped on the border between dream and reality, silent film has for several years found affirmation at the PSSST! Silent Film Festival organised by the Trešnjevka Cultural Centre.

PSSST! is a unique film festival presenting the art of silent film in a new, exciting and entertaining way. This Festival is a rare gem on the cultural scene which lacks initiatives offering artists the opportunity to try out their skills in this specific (and demanding!) artistic form.

The event confirms its status as a festival in the classic sense of the word through its competition programme in which contemporary “silent” titles are screened to an audience. The best film in the competition is awarded the Brcko Grand Prize, the official award of PSSST! named after the main character of Croatia’s first feature film Brcko in Zagreb made back in 1917.

But how many real silent films are made today, someone may rightfully ask? Certainly very few are made (although we can’t say none), and so we could ask the question – what is the point of the competition, what is the point of the Brcko Grand Prize? But the concept of this festival should be understood as a media experiment, created in the spirit of heterogeneity and the visual wealth of silent film. Authors can send films to PSSST! which they think could function and communicate even after we remove the original sound, and our festival is responsible for providing high-quality sound support, live music which will accompany the silent projection. Our expert improvisers cover a range of different genres and their hybrids – from rock via classical to jazz and electronic music, providing the audience with an interesting synaesthetic experience. This of course creates a film completely different from the original from which we removed the soundtrack, which is precisely why PSSST! is so exciting.

Apart from the competition programme, the Festival screens a rich selection of film classics from the golden era of silent film.

Silent film, with an expressive musical accompaniment, will lull you into a state of reverie. Its hypnotic power is not destroyed by the rude reality of the spoken word and so it becomes clear that dreams and silent films have much in common – they both deal with simple, direct emotions and action, such as love, hate, conflict or escape. This dimension of silent film emphasises its undying charm.

If you wish to open the door to a different world of unusual poetics again this year, come to PSSST! where the art of silent film lives on.

Brcko Grand Prize

18th PSSST! SILENT FILM FESTIVAL
14 – 16 November, 2024
Festival Rules



I. GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1

The PSSST! SILENT FILM FESTIVAL shows domestic and international silent films of all genres or the films of authors who are willing to remove the audio background of their film in a competition programme. The submitted films must not be older than 3 years and must not exceed duration of more than 60 minutes. The Festival’s organisers will provide a sound accompaniment to each film which will offer the audience a special experience.

II. PROGRAMME COUNCIL

Article 2

Every year the organisers will form a Programme Council for the needs of that year’s Festival. The Programme Council is responsible for compiling the competition and side programme. Programme decisions are made in agreement with the Festival’s organisers and in accordance with the financial possibilities.

Every year a Programme Council appoints:
– Selection Committe that selects films to be screened in the competition programme
– Competition programme Jury that selects the best film of the competition programme

The best film in the competition programme is awarded the Brcko Grand Prize.

The Audience Award is made by the audience by completing voting forms.

III. PROGRAMME AND CONDITIONS FOR SUBMISSION

Article 3

Films may be submitted by directors, producers, institutions or other legal persons with representation rights to the films. Only films which have no audio component may participate in the Festival. Films should be submitted via the Festival’s website. Films should be submitted via mail to the Festival’s address (DVD screener readable in all regions), Vimeo (https://vimeo.com/) or Dropbox (https://www.dropbox.com/).

There is no charge for submitting a film.

IV. SENDING FILMS

Article 4

Sending via mail:

Films should be sent to the following address:

PSSST! SILENT FILM FESTIVAL
Trešnjevka Cultural Centre
Park Stara Trešnjevka 1
10 000 Zagreb
CROATIA

All postal costs will be borne by the sender. The submitted DVDs will not be returned.

Sending via Vimeo or Dropbox:

The link and user information for downloading the film should be sent via e-mail pssst.silent.film@gmail.com. The requested film format is MP4.

The organiser is obliged to preserve all submitted films in the Festival’s archive and to use them exclusively for documentary, educational and cultural purposes. If the organiser should lose or damage a copy, he is responsible for covering the material and labour costs of making a new projection or archive copy.

The Selection Commission retains the right to refuse a copy which is of poor technical quality or in a format different from that stated above which could cause problems during projection.

The deadline for submitting films for the competition programme is November 1, 2024.

V. DIRECTORS’ GUEST APPEARANCES

Article 5

Directors with films entered in the competitive programme of the Festival will be invited to be the Festival’s guests. The Festival organisers will contact the directors.

VI. CONCLUDING PROVISIONS

Article 6

These rules are written in Croatian and in English. In the event of a lack of clarity, the Croatian version will be used as the starting point in interpreting the text. Any points that are not covered by these rules will be considered directly by the Festival organisers. All participants in the Festival will abide by these rules.