The Monthly discusses film and film poetry with Csilla Toldy – Part 2 – Searching for venues and getting screening the films

What happens after the first showing of “Ec(h)o”?

At the moment I am trying to find galleries which will exhibit the film, either on the 4 walls or in a cube of some sort. I would like to screen the film in a Dome, eventually; I want to make it a more immersive experience.

You have won awards for your films?

I won an award for a film poem based on a Lithuanian poet’s, Matilda Olkinaite, poem and I won an award for cinematography. It was awarded at the European Union Film Gala in Glasgow and the film poem was called, “To my Dear Idealist”.

The award was really interesting to me, because I won the award for cinematography but I shot the film on my Iphone. It was shot in black and white and it does look like a proper film, but I didn’t actually enter the film for a cinematography award. It was wonderful to be recognised for my work.

You also had your work exhibited in Dublin?

Yes, in the Visual Artists Centre. That was a screening of experimental films. We had to find a film that was inspiring to us and it related to our work, and we had to select it from the Artists Film Index, which is an archive of experimental films.

It was a really good event because there was lots of feedback by other film-makers. Two of my films were shown in London recently in the Playground Theatre, too, both related to the Holocaust, one was the film I won the award for, and that was also very satisfying.

What is happening now?

A film poem I made last summer, based on a poem of mine, “SubRosa – A Cold War Lullaby” was screened in a few festivals last year. I am presently submitting it to more festivals to see if it can be shown. It is the first film where I included dance as part of the project.

I would like to move in this direction. I met a dancer in Scotland recently at Cove Park, where I was artist in residence and I have some footage of them dancing to a poem I recited. I want to work on that project.

And is immersive art going to be part of that process?

I was looking at Immersive Art films in Cardiff at the FDUK Fulldome Festival and I do think that approach has some limitations. Most of what you see is animation, so I would like to experiment with real life footage because no one seems to do that. A 360 degree camera is the first step and I am learning the use of it and the editing skills with SRC , supported by Light Theatre Company at the moment.

We have applied for funding to make an Immersive Art film for kids based on the story of Walter Sekules, a Holocaust survivor, so if we get the funding, I would like to turn a story from my book, “Enemy Alien”, into an immersive film. But all in all, I think to avoid immersive arts to become “gimmicky” we need to explore the possibilities it provides more.