by Adela Lovric // Dec. 13, 2024
PAF Olomouc, the annual convergence of art, film and music in Olomouc, Czechia, defies easy categorization. Over the course of four packed days, a deluge of screenings dominated this year’s 23rd edition with a wide variety of video art, experimental cinema and animated films—from classics to recent and commissioned productions. The range extended further with performances, exhibitions, workshops, music gigs and DJ sets.
The Art Center of Palacký University served as the festival’s main location, with events taking up spaces across its four floors. Outside of the walls of this baroque 16th-century building, formerly a Jesuit dormitory, the program took over various pockets of the city, some less expected than others—galleries, bookshops, cafes, bars, a cinema, a church and even an ice cream parlor.
‘A—Z: Chronicles. Act 1,’ PAF Olomouc 2024 // Photo by Monika Dražilová
While PAF’s scope is extensive in terms of mediums and genres, each year’s program finds a unifying beat in the festival theme. ‘Diaries’ as this year’s topic provided a lens that was sharp enough to focus the curatorial vision but stretchy enough to accommodate a wide range of artistic responses. It resonated on multiple levels—personal, collective, historical—and its elasticity allowed for a variety of works, some of which didn’t immediately feel thematically tethered. The screenings explored (self-)reflection and documentation anchored in wider sociopolitical contexts, often considering the contemporary condition dictated by digital technologies and the very nature of (self-)representation with all its quirks and caveats.
Among the highlights that tied into the festival’s theme in playful and thought-provoking ways were George Kuchar’s ‘Weather Diary 3’ (1988) and ‘Weather Diary 5’ (1989), home movie-style 8mm videos shot and edited in-camera during his stay in Oklahoma City. A key figure in underground cinema and video art, Kuchar also made comics and drew weather maps for local TV news. With a mix of observational humor and introspection, the ‘Weather Diaries’ series heightens the drama and comedy of natural elements, social interactions and the mundane spaces in and around the motel where the artist stayed, while storms and tornadoes loom just out of frame, threatening to disrupt the scene.
Jeremy Deller, Mike Figgis: ‘The Battle of Orgreave,’ 2001, PAF Olomouc 2024 // Photo by Monika Dražilová
Another highlight was Jeremy Deller’s 2001 project ‘The Battle of Orgreave,’ which documents a re-enactment of the violent 1984 clash between miners and police near the Orgreave coking plant in South Yorkshire—a pivotal moment in the series of miners’ strikes of that time. The project enlisted historical re-enactment groups alongside former miners and police officers who had experienced the original confrontation. The resulting hour-long film captures the intensity of the event and features interviews with key participants from both the 1984 strike and its reconstruction. Through these candid perspectives, it exposes the Thatcher-era labor struggles and highlights their enduring impact on Britain’s working class.
Emily Pope: ‘BUST 2012–2024,’ 2024, installation view, PAF Olomouc 2024 // Photo by Monika Dražilová
Presented as part of the group exhibition ‘You Make Me Feel,’ curated by Anne Duffau at XY Gallery in Olomouc, Emily Pope’s 2024 video ‘BUST 2012–2024’ is a wild ride through the artist’s past 12 years of living and working in London. It collages Pope’s private archive and images of events that marked the period culturally and economically. Among these are the 2012 London Olympics, which depleted the city’s resources, destroyed animal habitats and left behind Anish Kapoor’s controversial £13 million public sculpture, which has been visually offending passersby ever since. The images are accompanied by Pope’s honest, funny, critical and self-deprecating narration that bemoans artists’ labor conditions and celebrates friendships—a monologue she also performed live during the festival with the video running in the background.
Michelle Williams Gamaker: ‘Thieves (Three-Strip Color),’ exhibition view, PAF Gallery, PAF Olomouc 2024 // Photo by Monika Dražilová
Michelle Williams Gamaker’s presence wove through the program with three film screenings at Metropol Cinema and the Palacký University, as well as an exhibition at PAF Gallery inspired by her latest work, ‘Thieves’ (2023). This film within a film reimagines the 1924 and 1940 versions of ‘The Thief of Bagdad,’ reclaiming the narratives of marginalized characters. It centers Chinese-American actor Anna May Wong and Indian-born American actor Sabu as they unite to stage a fictional on-set revenge against the filmmakers. The accompanying cinematic installation evokes the atmosphere of an abandoned film set crammed with costumes, props and posters, extending the film’s themes of racial discrimination, collective resistance and the artifice of cinema.
George Finlay Ramsay & CobySey: ‘Flesh, Wax & Glass II: The Age of the Son,’ 2024, performance at Central, PAF Olomouc 2024 // Photo by Monika Dražilová
Another compelling example of expanded cinema was the screening of George Finlay Ramsay’s new film, ‘Flesh, Wax & Glass II: The Age of the Son’ (2024), a continuation of the first part presented at last year’s PAF Olomouc. The event featured a live score performed by Coby Sey, with the filmmaker himself delivering the voiceover. The film follows practitioners of a flagellant ritual in Calabria, Italy, who offer their blood to Madonna Dolorosa, and further develops through exploration of mourning of a lost family member and Ramsay’s evolving relationship with the protagonists. Beautifully shot on 16mm film, it reconciles the corporeal and the spiritual, poetry and violence, love and grief.
Qow & Theo Alexander: ‘So Afraid to Show I Care,’ performance at the Church of Hus Choir, PAF Olomouc 2024 // Photo by Tomáš Kozohorský
Among the live music performances, Qow & Theo Alexander’s ‘So Afraid to Show I Care’ at the Church of Hus Choir was a hypnotic standout. Accompanied by George Cremaschi on double bass, this sonic palimpsest layered tape loop fragments, voice-note tone poems and organ work. The result was a soundscape both dreamlike and feverish, enveloped in a disorienting haze of artificial fog.
In a city with a population of just 100,000, PAF Olomouc’s scale, ambition and longevity proved impressive, especially given its distinctly experimental bent. The festival could have easily sprawled across a week or more in any major capital, but there’s a particular charm in the compact setting of Olomouc’s city center where everything unfolds within a walkable radius. The variety of locations brought the festival to audiences who might have not sought it out, offering a refreshing break from the generic Christmas market ambience that seems to be the only thing drawing people out this time of year.
Festival Info
PAF Olomouc
‘Diaries’
Festival: Dec. 5–8, 2024
pifpaf.cz
Various Venues, Olomouc, Czechia, click here for map
