VERZIO VISUAL LABORATORY

VISUAL LAB offers an opportunity for students and the general public to discuss the documentary genre and confront various attitudes towards documentary making.

The three-day program aims at sparking a debate about different ways to depict human society and historical issues on film. Together we will examine strong and weak points of recent documentary films and ask how successful they are in trying to get their message across. The goal of the discussion is to make the audience aware of the diverse paths documentary makers follow in their “search for truth.” Above all, it will sensitize participants to what they see on the screen, and enrich their visual literacy skills. Each program is constructed around a different theme and includes 4-6 film clips, leaving enough time to discuss specific issues related to each film and for a general discussion and summary.

I. POWER VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE / November 3, 1-3.30 PM / OSA Archivum

Documentary and its agenda, subversive documentaries, observational documentaries, activist documentaries. Filmmaker as “interventionist.”

II. CONFLICTING MEMORIES, MULTIPLICITY OF VOICES / November 4, 1-3.30 PM / OSA Archivum

Ways of using different source materials and constructing historical narratives: archival footage, eye-witnessing, expert knowledge. Subjectivity and truth. Filmmaker as investigator.

III. THE EYE AND THE OTHER: MODALITIES OF REPRESENTATION / November 5, 1-3.30 PM / OSA Archivum

Self-reflexive documentaries, interaction between filmmaker and filmed subjects, entangled and open-ended histories. Filmmaker as film protagonist.


Location: OSA Archivum, Arany Janos u. 32 


Organized and moderated by Oksana Sarkisova (OSA Archivum, Verzio Film Festival) and Helena Zajícová (FAMU, Film and TV School, Prague)


Due to space limitations pre-registration is required. To pre-register write to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with subject title ‘Visual Lab’


The program is free of charge and open to the public. Working language is English.