The Juniors: An Imagine Fantastic Film Festival Podcast

Imagine Fantastic Film Festival 2023 podcast series explores the 2023 festival theme - Fantastic Alchemy. The series consists of four episodes, which correspond with 4 elements of alchemy that we find especially relevant to us nowadays - Narrative, Identity, Technology, and Substance. In this episode, we explore the topic of TECHNOLOGY, which is perhaps one of the most tangible elements of alchemy for us today as it inspired many scientific innovations throughout centuries. We look specifically at films and VR works, which use technology to tame digital matter and channel it through the medium of storytelling to make emotionally resonant experiences. The episode features conversations with Norman Leto, a Polish filmmaker, and a digital alchemist in his own right, whose film Photon screens at Imagine, and a multidisciplinary artist Steye Hallema, whose latest VR piece Imaginary Friend is shown in the VR section of the festival.

IMAGINE PROGRAMME  MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE:

- Screening of Photon + Extended Introduction, dir. Norman Leto (Fantastic Alchemy: Technology) | 28 October (LAB111 2) & 2 November (LAB111 2)

- The VR Exhibition (Virtual Alchemy), featuring:

- The Cinematic Visions of VR programme (films dedicated to VR technology):

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE:

Films

- Photon (2017), dir. Norman Leto

- The Lawnmower Man (1992), dir. Brett Leonard

- Strange Days (1995), dir. Kathryn Bigelow

- Nirvana (1997), dir. Gabrielle Salvatores

- Brainstorm (1983), dir. Douglas Trumbull

VR Works

- The Imaginary Friend (2023), dir. Steye Hallema

- Wolves in the Walls (2019), dir. Pete Billington

Imagine Fantastic Film Festival 2023 podcast series explores the 2023 festival theme - Fantastic Alchemy. The series consists of four episodes, which correspond with 4 elements of alchemy that we find especially relevant to us nowadays - Narrative, Identity, Technology, and Substance. In this episode we explore the topic of IDENTITY. Contrary to modern science, in Alchemy there is no distinct separation between the the person performing the experiment and the object of the study. Both undergo the same process of transformation. To get a better sense of this process, and to also understand more about the founding principles of alchemy and its historical roots, we’re joined by Farânak Mirjalili, whose research falls at the intersection of Jungian psycho-spiritual alchemy and Spagyrics - the laboratory tradition of plant alchemy, and Corey Andrews, a historian and current PhD candidate at the center for the History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents at the University of Amsterdam.

Hosted by Hugo Emmerzael and Stanislaw Liguzinski. Produced by Inez de Coo. Edited by Tom Ooms.

IMAGINE PROGRAMME  MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE:

- “The Magic of Alchemy” event at Allard Pierson Museum featuring the talk by Peter Forshaw, viewing of the alchemical texts from the collection, and a short film programme | 22 October (Allard Pierson Museum)

- Screening of Eureka, dir. Nicolas Roeg (Fantastic Alchemy: Identity) | 26 October (FilmHallen 2) & 1 November (LAB111 2)

- Phytography: The alchemy of plants and photographic emulsion workshop with Karel Doing | 29 October (LAB111 Kapel)

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE:

Books

- Carl Gustav Jung, Psychology and Alchemy, Routledge 1980 (+ numerous other editions)

- Isaac Baulot, Mutus Liber, Inne Garden Press 2010 (+ numerous other editions since 1677)

- Mary Anne Atwood, A Suggestive Inquiry Into the Hermetic Mystery: With a Dissertation on the More Celebrated of the Alchemical Philosophers, Being an Attempt Towards the Recovery of the Ancient Experiment of Nature, Taylor & Francis Ltd 2015 (+ numerous other editions)

- Herbert Silberer, Hidden Symbolism of Alchemy and the Occult Arts, Dover Publications 1971

- Mike A. Zuber, Spiritual Alchemy: From Jacob Boehme to Mary Anne Atwood, Oxford University Press 2021

- J.R.R Tolkien, The Lord of The Rings, Harper Collins 2014 (+ numerous other editions)

-M. E. Warlick, The Alchemical Feminine: Women, Gender and Sexuality in Alchemical Images, Fulgur Limited 2023

Films

- Eureka (1983), dir. Nicolas Roeg

- The Lion King (1994), dir. Rob Minkoff, Roger Allers

Imagine Fantastic Film Festival 2023 podcast series explores the 2023 festival theme - Fantastic Alchemy. The series consists of four episodes, which correspond with 4 elements of alchemy that we find especially relevant to us nowadays - Narrative, Identity, Technology, and Substance. In this episode we explore the topic of NARRATIVE, examining how the power of interpretation can transform its objects, and radically alter the way that we see and engage with the world around us. We’ll look into George Sluijzer’s 1988 masterpiece Spoorloos, arguably one of the greatest Dutch films ever made, and try to reframe it as a horror and alchemical text per se with the help of our guests - Karen Pinkus, a professor of Italian and Comparative Literature at Cornell University, and a British film critic and writer Christina Brennan.

Hosted by Hugo Emmerzael and Stanislaw Liguzinski. Produced by Inez de Coo. Edited by Tom Ooms.

IMAGINE PROGRAMME MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE:

-Screening of Spoorloos, dir. George Sluizer (Fantastic Alchemy: Narrative) | 28 October 2023 (LAB111) & 3 November 2023 (FilmHallen 2)

- Screening of Eureka, dir. Nicolas Roeg (Fantastic Alchemy: Identity) | 26 October (FilmHallen 2) & 1 November (LAB111 2)

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE:

Books

-Karen Pinkus, Alchemical Mercury: A Theory of Ambivalence, Stanford University Press 2009- Christina Brennan, Devil's Advocates: The Vanishing, Liverpool University Press 2024 (expected)

-Tim Krabbé, The Golden Egg (Dutch: Het Gouden Ei), various editions

-Giorgio Agamben, State of Exception, University of Chicago Press 2005

Films

-Spoorloos (1988), dir. George Sluizer

-The Vanishing (1993), dir. George Sluizer

-The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), dir. Tobe Hooper