Othon Cinema’s first screening, titled “The Dream of the Avant-Garde”, will take place at the Pera Museum on September 20-21-22, in collaboration with Pera Film and with the support of the Austrian Cultural Forum. The event will feature the participation of Austrian avant-garde director Peter Tscherkassky and American experimental filmmaker Eve Heller!

Peter Tscherkassky, one of Austria’s leading experimental filmmakers, has gained international acclaim with awards from prestigious festivals such as the Cannes Film Festival and the Venice Film Festival. Eve Heller, a filmmaker from the second generation of American avant-garde cinema, is renowned for her work in the “found footage” genre, with screenings held across many parts of the world. Both filmmakers present works shaped by a mysterious lyricism and an investigative curiosity about dreams, memories, and our relationship with time. Their ultimate goal is a journey into the poetics of cinema, intertwined with encounters that enrich life along the way.

As part of this retrospective, all films by the two directors will be screened in Turkey for the first time. Following the sessions, Peter Tscherkassky and Eve Heller will meet the Istanbul audience for the first time in post-screening discussions.

All screenings and events within this program are free of charge. Reservations are not required.

About Peter Tscherkassky:
Peter Tscherkassky, born in Vienna in 1958, is an Austrian avant-garde filmmaker. He studied at the University of Vienna and the Freie Universität in Berlin, writing his doctoral dissertation on “Film and Art.” Tscherkassky has been making his own films since 1979 and has been publishing extensively on film theory and history since 1984. He held teaching positions at the University of Art and Industrial Design in Linz (1989–2002) and the University of Applied Arts in Vienna (1998–2006).

In 1993 and 1994, Tscherkassky served as the artistic director of the Diagonale – Austrian Film Festival. His films have received over 50 national and international awards, including the Austrian Film Art Award (1996), the Grand Prize at the Oberhausen International Short Film Festival (2002), and the Orizzonti Award for Best Short Film at the Venice Film Festival (2010).

Peter Tscherkassky’s works are part of prestigious collections, including the Centre Pompidou, Harvard Film Archive, and Cinémathèque Française.

About Eve Heller:
Avant-garde filmmaker Eve Heller was born in the United States, where she worked with first- and second-generation American experimental filmmakers such as Paul Sharits, Tony Conrad, Abigail Child, Peggy Ahwesh, and Peter Hutton. Since the late 1970s, Heller has created works characterized by a profound complexity and curiosity about the artistic possibilities of her medium, as well as its relationship with dreams, memory, and time.

Her films regularly premiere at the New York Film Festival’s Views from the Avant-Garde before being showcased internationally. Heller has lived and worked in Austria since 2005. In 2018, she received the Niederösterreich Cultural Award for her contributions to experimental cinema. Her latest film, Singing in Oblivion, premiered at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 2021 and won the prestigious Mehrwert Award at Viennale in 2022.

Following the death of pioneering “found footage” filmmaker Phil Solomon in 2019, Heller and curator Mark McElhatten launched the Phil Solomon Project, dedicated to preserving and promoting Solomon’s artistic and intellectual legacy.

Our first screening, “The Dream of the Avant-Garde: A Retrospective with Peter Tscherkassky and Eve Heller”, was held over three incredible days in a packed theater. We extend our heartfelt thanks to all the audience members who joined us, as well as to the wonderful Peter Tscherkassky and Eve Heller.

To everyone who filled the hall to the brim, leaving no empty seats—even occupying the stairs—and to those who stood by us and offered unwavering support throughout this journey: you have been a tremendous source of motivation for our future screenings.

Othon has taken its first step on a long path, and we feel an even greater excitement for every step ahead. We are fully committed to keeping this flame alive, nurturing it with all our energy to ensure it never dims.

Long live cinema!