The special programme “Expanded Painlevé”, conceived with guest curator Federico Rossin, combines the films of Jean Painlevé, surrealist poet of wildlife, with those by filmmakers from the American and European avant-garde who have pursued different modes of openness to the animal world.

Brussels based artist Els van Riel  (b 1965) is a member of the analogue film-lab Labo Bxl and Cinema Parenthèse. Her films, videos and installations examine the impact of detailed changes in moment, movement, matter, light and perception. Her works relate to a tradition of minimal and structural filmmaking (Paul Sharits, Ernie Gehr), she processes the basic elements of film - time and light, silence and sound - and develops a form for expanded aesthetic saturation based on phenomenological observation within a sensitive and personal horizon that bypasses symbolism and narrativity.