In cinematography, the period of time between the twilight and the dawn is possibly the most opportune and visually appealing time, apt for observing various (ab)normal kinds of human behaviour and actions. Films that take place at nighttime and stories set after dusk are a perfect tool for depicting both authentic and romantic rash actions in the human behaviour as well as some odd tendencies and obsessions. They help illuminate blind escapes (from the reality of our everyday lives, work, or families) and even unexpected decisions. The night becomes the time for manifestation of the states of awakening and understanding as well as the expressions of weakness, failure, alienation, emotional paralysis, or a certain finishing of the existing way of life. In crime film, it is exactly at night that history is made and the lives of individuals change. Film has learned to simulate night scenes when needed (the Day for night cinematography technique). The night has become a meaning-making factor in films criticizing the social situation (Fritz Lang) and a distinctive feature of some auteur’s style (Tim Burton). It is an in indispensable part of narration and atmosphere creating in various noir series (the American and French “film noir”). Some genres and vampires only exist thanks to the night. Many filmmakers have decided to let their film stories be ensnared by the night. Some of them will be featured at the eleventh Summer Film Seminar 4 Elements, 2009.

Martin Kaňuch, a film theorist and the dramaturge of the Summer Film Festival 4 Elements.

Films: Werckemister Harmonies, The Third Part of the Night, Cabaret Balkan, Ghost School, REC, the surprise from the archive, The Paper Will Be Blue, Night on Earth, The Night of the Hunter, Naked, The Man Who Never Returned, One Night in City, Häxan, Long Dusk, Day Watch, Diamonts of the Night, I Was a Teenage Intellectual, Blue Mountains or Unbelieveble Story