A Double Tribute to Vision: Yervant Gianikian and Béla Tarr

The festival weekend is in full swing, bringing unforgettable moments: on Saturday, October 11, 2025, we conferred the Darko Bratina Award to the exceptional filmmaker Yervant Gianikian. The event took place via Zoom, where Gianikian led his masterclass – a rare opportunity to explore his unique method of working with archival footage and reshaping forgotten historical layers. The session was moderated by Nil Baskar and Donatello Fumarola, followed by an online screening of his latest film Diari di Angela – Noi due cineasti – Capitolo terzo, recently presented at the 82nd Venice Film Festival.

The artistic duo Yervant Gianikian and Angela Ricci Lucchi has created an extraordinary body of work over decades, revealing forgotten layers of history—from colonialism to exile and war—through archival footage. Their work, imbued with empathy and critical thinking, restores the human face to the film strip—the one often overlooked by history. Kinoatelje’s connection with their work has been long-standing and profound, from collaborating on the reconstruction of La sentinella della patria to the Italian premiere of the restored Profumati in 2016 in Gorizia.

The cinematic celebration continues Sunday at Palazzo del Cinema, with a screening of the masterpiece Sátántangó honouring Béla Tarr while also celebrating this year’s Nobel laureate in Literature, László Krasznahorkai, author of the eponymous novel. The screening will be introduced by Aljaž Škrlep, with refreshments available during the intermission. The story does not end there—Béla Tarr will join us in person in November to receive the Darko Bratina Prize 2025.