Back to the Future: SPECTRAL, Edition IV, day 2, 20th September 2025, analog/chemical/handmade 16mm/8mm/35mm film festival at WORM, Rotterdam, Netherlands

"Back to the Future is a 3-day festival dedicated to analogue moving images and optical sound - a celebration of the real film medium. The international programme features audio-visual performances, films, presentations, devices, a motion picture panorama, and a radio play.

This 4th edition has a focus on performative & expanded cinema. On show will be works that venture beyond the constraints of the passive cinema to propose an engaged, shared experience of the inimitable ritual of flickering light and shadow. The festival is an initiative of Filmwerkplaats, WORM’s artist-run analogue film lab and a vital hub for DIY film practice in the Netherlands and across Europe. Many of the works presented are created within the context of SPECTRAL, a joint project by six special film labs across Europe."

15:00 Wandering, Mire (FR), Labor Berlin (DE), SPECTRAL Device improv performance

"To expand cinema’s possibilities, Labor Berlin developed a state-of-the-art 16mm Film Projector using open-source tech and widely available spare parts. Mire explores the concept of “wandering” by creating mobile, self-sufficient cinema tools — easy to transport, set up, and power. In Rotterdam, they will take you for a round with three self sufficient 16mm projectors: Eikaski, Eumigo, and Eumiga."

15:30-16:30 SPECTRAL Device Presentation, Mire (FR), Labor Berlin (DE), Crater-Lab (ES), Filmwerkplaats (NL), presentation

"Part of the Spectral project goal was to re-engineer motion picture devices, combining old and new technology to form new projection and production tools. Mire presents the OCTOPLOC, a modular magic lantern and three self sufficient 16mm projectors. Labor Berlin brings their 16mm Film Projector. Crater-Lab will show the Camera Robotics - 360° analogue hyperlapse camera. Filmwerkplaats will demonstrate their portable contact printing device."

15:30-16:30 It’s not the sun who is moving, Luis Macias (ES), SPECTRAL Residency outcome, expanded cinema installation

18:00 Neuroqueer Landscapes, curated by Mars Saude (US/UK) & Pat Janeiro (PT/NL), short film programme

20:30 Shelter 9999, Takahiko Iimura & Alvin Lucier ( JP/US), performed by Ojoboca (DE) and Martin Moolhuijsen (IT/DE), re-enactment performance "Japanese experimental filmmaker Takahiko Iimura went to the United States in 1966 as a fellow for the Harvard University International Seminar in Boston, where he met American composer Alvin Lucier. Soon after, they initiated a collaboration called ‘Shelter 9999’, a multi-projection live performance that was staged over several years in a variety of venues."

[moving images from high-speed photographs, lenses: KMZ OCT-18 28mm/50mm/135mm, originally designed for Konvas 35mm motion picture camera]