
Click to see the trailer
“TRUST NO THOUGHT OF MINE”
(Zhel - Zeljko Vukicevic, 2024)
The Garden Cinema, Covent Garden, London
26 November 2024
7:00 pm
Runtime: 36 minutes
An exclusive, invitation-only dive into experimental cinema. This experimental omnibus film is an homage
to Isidore Isou—after this, nothing will ever be the same.
Feel like you should be there? Reach out to me directly—you might just secure an invite.
is the latest modular video work by Zeljko Vukicevic, also known as Zhel. This omnibus pays homage to Isidore Isou’s Venom and Eternity (1951), adopting Isou’s protest style— particularly through intertitles that act as provocative slogans on creativity, challenging and disrupting the viewer’s expectations.
Vukicevic incorporates Isou’s concept of “discrepant cinema” along with his own “lessons” style, intentionally misaligning audio and visual elements to unsettle the conventional narrative flow. These sequences are interspersed with abstract, nonsensical language in the Lettrist style, followed by foreign language segments with English translations—creating ambiguity around translation accuracy and the reliability of language itself.
Although Isou’s influence is central to the film, Vukicevic also weaves in techniques that blend psychological themes with nuanced sociopolitical commentary. Together, these layers open a critical space for reflecting on communication and expression in contemporary media.
Click to see the trailer
Click to see the trailer 2
--> STARRING (Zhel, 2023) will be screened at CLOSE-UP on 26th September 2024 at 8:15 pm, as part of 'One Minute Volume Eleven,' curated by the omnipresent Kerry Baldry. Hope to see you there!
A bit more info: CLOSE-UP, founded in 2005 and located in Shoreditch, is London's premier independent resource for film culture and history, offering a diverse range of cinema programmes alongside its extensive Library. For the past 16 years, artist and filmmaker Kerry Baldry has been curating One Minute—a series of screenings featuring one-minute films by artists at various stages of their careers.
STARRING, Zhel's latest film, is a one-minute exploration of animated film nostalgia, weaving self-reflection on the artist's own practice into the film’s playful narrative. It’s part of Zhel's forthcoming video collection, TNTOM.
Given the current state of media consumption and the increasing prevalence of shorter, condensed forms of media, such as videos, reels, and social media posts, it can be argued that we are living in an era of medleys to some extent.
As people's attention spans have decreased, content creators have had to adapt by creating shorter, more condensed forms of media that can capture people's attention quickly and hold it for a brief period of time. Medleys, with their combination of different songs or snippets of music, can be seen as a reflection of this trend, as they offer a variety of content in a condensed format.
In that context, this album is a medley of cassette demos, unfinished songs, and ideas from 1986 to 2022.
credits
Click to visit ZHEL BANDCAMP page
will be screened at
VASTLAB Experimental 2022, Los Angeles USA.
The film was also selected and screened at Amsterdam Freedom Independent IFF
on August 4th, 2022, and Stockholm City Film Festival, on 13 August 2022.
- Official Selection in the 2022 Experimental Film Fest in beautiful New Bern, North Carolina, 22 October 2022.
Click to visit VAST LAB page
Click to visit Experimental Film Fest official page
Click to visit ZHEL BANDCAMP page
Click to visit Cafe OTO events page
Click to visit Cafe OTO events page
Click to visit Cafe OTO events page
bEFOREANDaFTER group event : alongside Guy Sherwin, Kerry Baldry, Lynn Loo and Pablo Robertson de Unamuno I will be screening and performing:
'Noise Ain't Silence, Silence Ain't Dark' (2018) film, 1min 30sec /// ‘Mute Departures: Semiotic Threat’ (2014) film, 1min ///
‘Here They Come: The First’ (2020) film, 1min /// ‘Here They Come: The Second’ (2021) film, 1min ///
‘Red States, Blue States’ (2011) film – 1min, ///
‘Bar Delay’ (2009) film - 1min, ///‘Glenn Would Not Want It Any Other Way’ – (2021) film/performance, 5min.
Please see the full info on cafe OTO events page.
I am delighted to announce that six of my experimental short films will be archived at The British Film Institute(BFI). They will be archived as part of the One Minute programme, curated over the years by an amazing Kerry Baldry. Also, a big thank you to William Fowler (BFI) and Steven Ball (Central St Martins) for organising this, which wasn’t an easy undertaking, legally and otherwise.
5-7 November, 2021: 'Here They Come' (Zhel 2021), will be screened by Directors Lounge, Berlin - at Contemporary Art Ruhr in Germany, 5 - 7 November 2021. It is part of One Minute vol. 10 curated by Kerry Baldry.