This year’s Florida Experimental Film/Video Festival brought six different international curators for its 10th anniversary this weekend.
The festival ran Friday through Sunday at the Wooly event space in downtown Gainesville to screen experimental films from all over the world.
The curators presented programs from their respective cities – Montreal, Paris, London, Tokyo, Mexico City and Berlin, said FLEX artistic director Roger Beebe.
“It was great to be able to get six different curators this year because we generally only have three locals or one international,” he said.
Curator Daïchi Sanïto kicked off FLEXfest Friday night with a presentation of film, video and installation artists from Montreal’s Double Negative collective, which seeks to locate cinema in human experience.
Afterward, Sally Golding, of London, demonstrated a live cinema performance.
Saturday included a roundtable discussion with the curators, films by Tokyo curator Rei Hayama and a performance by Mexico City’s Trinchera Ensamble.
The festival ended Sunday with another discussion and films and videos selected by Berlin curator Guillaume Cailleau and Sébastien Ronceray, of Paris.
UF students and Gainesville residents attended the festival.
Alexandria Dasilva, a 20-year-old UF art sophomore, said this was her first year attending the event.
“The experimental film really opened up my eyes to something different,” she said. “I’m really excited to start making my own films.”
Dasilva’s reaction is reminiscent of what Beebe said is the organization’s goal.
He said FLEX exists to inspire the audience members to make their own experimental films after they’ve attended the festival.
“The best thing is to inspire and develop an audience,” Beebe said. “We want to help them develop a taste. It’s like planting a seed that we hope will grow into trees.”
[A version of this story ran on page 5 on 2/24/2014 under the headline "Experimental film festival highlights international curators"]
