Vasko Pregelj – The Constants of Vanishing

Vasko Pregelj – The Constants of Vanishing 

Vasko Pregelj, Slovenia (Yugoslavia) 

Dreams, 1966, 5’, Fantasy, 1965, 8’, Old Courtyard, 1967, 11’, Requiem, 1966, 14’, Nocturne, 1965, 14’ 

From the Slovenian Cinematheque archive.

In the second half of the 1960s, Vasko Pregelj made a series of graphically well thought-out, darkly grotesque, and baroquely surrealist experimental films, in which he masterfully and originally intertwined both the key tendencies of the first historical avant-gardes, directed towards expanding and exploring the formal capacities of the medium, and an element – which was absolutely modern at the time – of later avant-gardes, which saw in film a lyrical possibility of most directly expressing one’s intimate emotional states. The sound has been preserved and digitised for only two of the five films in the programme, so the concept of the soundtrack and its live performance by Tine Mulej Vrabič – Nitz will present a sampling of the existing recordings and their re-interpretation in a contemporary ambient form, which will try to preserve the filmmaker’s musical imprint.
Matevž Jerman, Slovenian Cinematheque

Vasko Pregelj (1948–1985) made experimental films and, in the style of the historical avant-gardes, explored the medium’s formal possibilities. He made fifteen films between 1965 and 1982 and participated in many Slovenian and international festivals, where he won numerous awards. In addition to filmmaking, he reflected on film in the Ekran magazine.

In the last decade, Tine Mulej Vrabič – Nitz has become established as one of the most prominent representatives of the Slovenian electronic scene. He creates original music and has performed live at all the more important festivals and events. For many years, he was the programme director of the K4 Club in Ljubljana. He is an experienced DJ who has regularly performed at eminent European clubs. He is the programme director of Keep in Mind, a festival of contemporary electronic club music, the head of the AmbientSoup record label, and the creator of Senzorama, a programme on Radio Študent.

In collaboration with the Slovenian Cinematheque.