Wiz-Art Spectrum
WIZ-ART Spectrum is a parallel curated art programme of the WIZ-ART Film Festival, created as a space for a spectrum of works that use moving image as their primary medium and extend beyond the traditional cinematic experience.
About the Program
We consider the new form that emerges through movement as an object in its own right. We bring to the foreground what usually remains in between: between points of departure and
arrival, between states and established categories. At the centre of this year’s programme is the movement of birds, people and identities—processes in which it is impossible to remain unchanged. In Tawny Pipit: Archive of Disappearance, the calls of migratory birds are brought to life by people who imitate their songs, becoming a living archive of the simultaneous disappearance of ecosystems and folk knowledge. In Thelma and Louise in Queer Tuning Mode, movement beyond an imagined ending transforms the car into a nomadic space of freedom, care and intimacy. Rather than attempting to stop or fix these processes, the programme looks closely at what becomes visible only through movement.
Program Curator
Zoya Laktionova is a filmmaker and visual artist whose practice exists at the intersection of
documentary cinema and contemporary art. She brings her experience of working with forms
that belong simultaneously to the fields of cinema and video art, as well as her experience of
international art residencies, to WIZ-ART Spectrum—a new parallel programme of the film
festival. The programme creates a space for works in which moving image is the primary
medium and which extend beyond the traditional cinematic experience.
The exhibition will take place from September 21 to 27 at Lviv Municipal Art Center, 11 Stefanyka str. (door code 27)
Program opening – September 21, 5:00.
Program Films
TAWNY PIPIT: ARCHIVE OF DISAPPEARANCE // 40′, Sol Archer & Giulia Zabarella, 2026
Exploring the dual extinctions of ecosystems and inherited relations to them: Northern Italian, Spanish, and French bird song imitators, or Chioccolatori, adapt their centuries old tradition to produce an archive of critically endangered and regionally extinct migratory bird calls, as they are embodied in co-terminously endangered folk knowledge.
TREES THAT COME TO ME IN MY DREAMS // 4′, Angelik Ustymenko, 2025
Home is where the trees feel like family. To some, these trees are old friends; others are prepared to burn them simply to conquer the land on which they grow.
THELMA AND LOUISE IN QUEER TUNING MODE // 13′, Juliana Dorso, 2025
Thelma and Louise in Queer Tuning Mode imagines an alternative sequel to Ridley Scott’s film, in which the protagonists’ story does not end with their fall into the canyon. Juliana Dorso envisions their life after the final leap: Thelma and Louise remain in motion, creating their own nomadic space of freedom, care and intimacy. Through the practice of queer tuning, the car ceases to be a symbol of power and performative masculinity, becoming instead a mobile home, a safe space and a means of staying together.
GARDEN OF NAMES // 5′, Zoya Laktionova, 2026
An artistic act of resistance to occupation through remembrance, with the human being at its
centre.
SIMEIZ // 18′, Anton Shebetko, 2022
Simeiz is a small village on the southern coast of Crimea which is temporarily occupied by Russia. In the Soviet era, an underground gay resort arose in the village. It started with a small nudist beach; a popular bar and night club, Hedgehogs, appeared later in independent Ukraine. From the 1990s on, Simeiz became a significant meeting point for members of the LGBTQ+ community from Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. Every year, about 4,000 people visited the place before the temporary occupation of Crimea by Russia in 2014.
VULVINA QUEEN OF ECSTASY // 13′, Clémence André, Nawel Bahamou, Ming-Chieh Chang, Théo Guyot and Mary Yanko, 2022
Vulvina has just separated from her ex, but a strange encounter transforms her love life and may place her entire kingdom in danger. Through erotic, fantastical and at times unsettling imagery, the film explores desire, obsession and transformation.
The project is supported by Ukrainian Cultural Foundation.
Festival partners: ZMIN Foundation, Ukrainian State Film Agency, M-Rental, Morshynska, America House Lviv, Lviv City Council, Megogo, Morshynska, Lviv Film Hub, Suspilne Culture, Sebto Media, Zaxid.Net
