OFFoff OPEN CINEMA

On the occasion of Open Cinema, more than thirty cinemas and film exhibitors in Flanders and Brussels are throwing their doors wide open between September 29 and October 6. With extra initiatives and special programs, they highlight how they work and what they stand for. Art Cinema OFFoff joins in for a whole Sunday.

In our cinema space, we’ll set up three 16mm projectors with a blank film running in a long loop across the ceiling back into the projector. Everyone may scratch on the film or use markers to contribute to the collective film that we’re making with all the visitors passing by that day. This film installation will not only be spectacular to see, but allows young and old to get in close contact with the materiality of analog film. On top of that, you can also take a look inside our projection booth. 

We’ll also launch the new format of Atelier OFFoff. As of this season, Atelier OFFoff unites three young film programmers, but under this banner we’re also offering space to a filmmaker in residence. This fall, we support Victor Van Rossem. He recreated Tim Macmillan’s Time-Slice camera for 16mm film. This large, circular construction full of handmade cameras takes photos from different viewpoints all at the same time, thus ​“freezing” time inside the circle. A similar, digital technique was later used and popularized in The Matrix, known as Bullet Time. Macmillan’s analog camera, however, dates back to the early 1980s. Exact plans of Macmillan’s device are not available. Van Rossem managed to build a working version, consisting of a custom-made wooden structure with 86 3D-printed cameras (!) mounted over a rubber leader through which the film passes and a system to load and unload the film. This video with Meskerem Mees shows a first test! Within Atelier OFFoff, Van Rossem want to optimize the system in order to produce a short film. 

On Sunday, October 6, you can visit Van Rossem’s Open Atelier. The Time-Slice camera will be set up in the space, along with his 3D printer, loops, test footage, images and developed film. Come take a look! Victor is happy to talk about this project.

As part of Open Cinema, an initiative of the Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF) to highlight the diversity within the field of film exhibitors to new audiences.