4elements
welcome
The summer film seminar 4 zivly (4 elements) in one of the few film seminars taking place in Slovakia and it’s the one with the longest tradition. It was founded in 1999 by a group of students from VSMU’s department of film and television with the aim of fulfilling gaps in film education and to offer a counterpart to commercial distribution. Throughout eleven years of its existence it has managed to attract a mostly young public and participation has grown from 80 in 1999 to more than 400 in 2008. The popularity of 4 zivly can also be measured in the number of regular visitors coming to the festival each year.
The seminar’s appeal is significantly enhanced by its location — the historical town of Banska Stiavnica offers unique screening opportunities such as a movie theater on the third floor of a historical building, a summer amphitheatre with a view over the town, a part of the former mining system turned into a café that gives the right retro atmosphere to 16 mm films screenings and several other nice cafes and tea houses. The midnight screening of a silent film with live music in Old Castle’s courtyard has also become extremely popular not only among seminar-goers but also the local public and tourists visiting the town. Banska Stiavnica provides a perfect location for the seminar offering a non-traditional view on cinematography and invites for its open reflection by the public.
The programming of the seminar reflects the majority of a younger audience offering interesting films released in recent years in combination with international films that have been milestones in the history of cinematography. Each year the program is focused on certain theme and presents various ways, both formal and substantial, how to reflect that theme in filmmaking. The main thematic program of the seminar is accompanied by various screenings of students’ films, documentaries, experimental and 16 mm films that are rarely screened elsewhere.