Behind the Looking Glass is a cinematic self-portrait created as a combination of film sequences made between 1965 and recent years which depict how the filmmaker was seen by others and introspective videos made the author herself during the last decade. Jagoda Kaloper, a versatile Croatian visual artist, actress and filmmaker won the Museum of Contemporary Art 2010 Award for Behind the Looking Glass.

Signals Regained is a non-competition selection dedicated to reflection on the nature of film and film heritage from a contemporary perspective. It features rarely shown classics and masterpieces of film avant-garde, as well as documentary films concerning film as art.

Behind the Looking Glass will be screened in the unit named To recite and recycle, to recollect and reflect, together with the documentaries A Pervert’s Guide to Ideology directed by Sophie Fiennes, in which famous Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek expounds and interprets his favourite film moments, as Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen by Hungarian director György Pálfi. A common trait of all the selected works is that they work with existing film material, but using different cinematic syntax.

The Verdict by Đuro Gavran (trailer) will be screened in the Spectrum Shorts non-competition programme. The Spectrum Shorts programme is dedicated to films featuring thematic, conceptual, aesthetic or technical advances in works by particular directors or cinemas.

In Đuro Gavran’s 11-minute film we see several thousand people gathering in Zagreb’s main square sixteen years after the war to watch a live broadcast of the verdict to Croatian generals. Through a series of close-ups, the film records the eruption of emotions caused by the verdict. Đuro Gavran has directed two experimental films and five documentary films. His documentary The Big Day won the Grand Prix and Best Director Award at the Days of Croatian Film 2012 and the Audience Award at DOKUart in Bjelovar.

The International Film Festival Rotterdam is an A-list festival. Its programme provides an insight into a wide spectrum of films whose authors are talented debut directors or acclaimed filmmakers. In 12 days of the festival it screens several hundred films. The programme is divided into three main sections: Bright Future is devoted to up-and-coming talents in feature-length and short film (including a competition in both categories); Spectrum is a section dedicated to already established authors and artists who greatly contribute to film art; while Signals presents special programmes and retrospectives devoted to special topics and eternal ideas in film.

Cover photos: Behind the Looking Glass; The Verdict