Newsreel 63 – The Train of Shadows

Obzornik 63 – Vlak senc

64th TIFF: Greek Premiere
Newsreel 63 tries to position and understand a particular image – a shred of video taken with a mobile phone on the once famous Belgrade-Ljubljana rail route, where refugees now travel not in couchettes but between the train’s wheels. Newsreel 63 drifts into a visual investigation of railways and explores their historical, social, and political narrative. The essayistic and associative elements of Newsreel 63 link this historical narrative to our pursuit of happiness in the current social constellation, where our longing for happiness is all too often tied to the idea of traveling somewhere – or the need to secure means for mere basic survival. In her conception of the newsreel, Autor refers to traditional forms of the genre and employs various layers of content, connecting them through essayistic narration and visual elements. What makes Newsreel 63 unique is the way it straddles the line between the traditional informative, committed anti-newsreel form and a more textually-driven and experimental cinema, guiding the viewers through the story while leaving them to fill in the blanks with their own thoughts and reflections.
Screening Schedule

No physical screenings scheduled.

Direction: Nika Autor
Script: Ciril Oberstar
Editing: Nika Autor
Sound: Matevž Kolenc, Miha Šajina
Music: Matevž Kolenc, Miha Šajina
Production: Newsreel Front
Co-production: MG+MSUM, KGLU
Narration: Pia Nikolič
Format: DCP
Color: Color, B/W
Production Country: Slovenia
Production Year: 2017
Duration: 39'
Contact: Newsreel Front
Awards/Distinctions: Found Footage Award– International Film Festival Rotterdam 2018

Nika Autor

Nika Autor undertook her BA and MA studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana and obtained her PhD in Practice at Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. Her practice is primarily based on experimental videos and documentary films, film essays, photography, collages, drawings, and spatial video installations. The focus of her work is research into invisibilities/ inaudibilities in relation to concealed topics of the forgotten past and the silenced present. She is part of the collective Newsreel Front (Obzorniška Fronta), an informal collective of workers hailing from film theory and art practice fields.

Filmography

2010 Postcards (short doc)
2012 Solidarity (short doc)
2013 Newsreel 55 (short doc)
2017 Newsreel 63 – The Train of Shadows (short doc)
2021 Newsreel 80 – Metka, Metki (doc)
2022 Newsreel 4517 – Across the Water into Freedom (short doc)