The Secret Arts

Out in 2023

Official Teaser

First official teaser of the film, which had been broadcasted for the very first time as a part of the European Researcher's Night on November 27th 2020 in Sofia.

News

17.07.22

The 3rd Official Teaser of the movie is finally out!

Having already pondered the boundary between life and death, and having also dealt with the latter as material, this time we turn our attention to the animistic worldview and the importance of an animal spirit as a spiritual guidance.

Click here and enjoy: https://vimeo.com/730695810, or go to our Media Section where you can also find a list of our previous teaser material.

Music by Kuro: kuro.bandcamp.com/

05.07.22

A podcast about 'The Secret Arts' is out!

We talk about the subtle differences between a scientific film and the experimental attempt in audio-visual ethnography where a humanities scholar feels the need to suddenly become artistically active.

The episode can be heard here: https://sinnfoll.podigee.io/

01.07.22

Our crowdfunding campaign has finally started!

You can send us your financial support here https://www.startnext.com/en/the-secret-arts. With the financial means we will cover a part of the post-production, i.e. the workload for editing, digital post-production and sound design.

We are dependent on our supporters, because without external financing and involvement of external partners the project can unfortunately not be realized.

24.06.22

The English version of our website is online!

Just switch your language to English in your browser settings - it's as simple as that!

31.12.21

The Secret Arts looks back at the year 2021.

Since the beginning of the Corona Crisis 2020, quite a few shooting plans and trips had to be cancelled and reconsidered.
This year, our agendas mainly focused on social media and the web presence, which had a positive effect on the reach and the development of a small community. In addition, we were able to polish the script and visuals to our heart's content.
Strengthened in terms of crew, we will take off in the coming year and have the complete footage in the can as well as start with the post-production and hopefully realize it in the end.
In this sense - a happy new year and see you in 2022!

15.02.21

Work on 3rd official teaser started

Thematically we continue our narrative here as well. Having already pondered the boundary between life and death, and having also dealt with the latter as material, this time we turn our attention to our place in the cosmos and the animistic worldview that is understood as one of the leitmotifs in magical thinking.

08.02.21

Our 2nd demo teaser is out!

It is strictly limited demo material that will be made available exclusively to supporters of the project who actively contribute to the realization of our film with a free amount via the crowdfunding platform (see Cooperation-Section). So we need your support! And as a reward, there will always be one or the other treat - in the form of bonus material, or from our merch assortment, which we are currently working on!

29.01.21

Invitation to Sofia Science Festival 2021!

Our friends from the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore in Sofia (IEFEM) have invited us to participate in the 11th Sofia Science Festival, to be held in Sofia Tech Park from May 15-18, 2021. We already had a very good collaboration with the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences last year regarding the presentation of our film project at the European Researchers Night 2020, so we are confident that our rather young collaboration will bear fruit in the future. Due to the Covid 19 pandemic, changes may of course occur - both in terms of date and format (digital or face-to-face).

26.11.20

Promo presentation of 'The Secret Arts'

On 27.11.2020 it finally happened: In a successful collaboration with the Bulgarian Institute of Ethnology and Folklore (IEFEM) the film project could be presented for the first time to a broad audience in Bulgarian language. Due to Covid requirements, the entire European Researcher's Night took place online this time. The presentation was recorded and published on the Institute's Facebook page and Youtube channel.

Synopsis

The film documentary 'The Secret Arts' presents one possible avenue of basic research into the phenomenon of magic and associated magical worldviews. It provides an exciting insight into certain magical practices as well as ideas and attempts to locate their place in the everyday life of various local cultures.

As artists with a cultural-scientific-philosophical background, we therefore make use of stylistic means that borrow from both immersive aesthetics and sober observation. The film thus represents an experimental attempt in the field of audio-visual ethnography and approaches the subject from four different perspectives, which as central systems of order allow the narrative to emerge from within itself: Everyday Life, Art, Science and Faith. Therefore, the personal approach of the so-called protagonists as well as their social reality can be animistic, shamanistic, cultic, but also artistic, or even scientifically based. We aim to illustrate a wide range of different understandings in dealing with magic and strive to illuminate the phenomenon both from the internal perspective of magical practitioners as well as from the outside.

In search of impressions, analogies and interfaces, the film deals with the complexity and uniqueness of the phenomenon of magic, whose linguistic history and cultural manifestations know innumerable connotations. The importance of this phenomenon as a folk practice in certain regions, as well as its undisputed role in some religions and beliefs still today, seem to give it a captivating, albeit contradictory character, often associated with stigmatized areas and ominous practices.

Using selected examples, we set out to confront viewers with their emotional and ethical sense of the world: Is it possible to make a value-free judgment about the nature of such marginalized practices by means of speculations and subjective imaginings? What is the likelihood that such a judgment lies outside the bounds of our own experiential horizons? And finally: what do we understand by magic and how is this knowledge dealt with?

Crew & Cast

Evelino Gortchev

Director, Editor, Writer, PR, Cut

Georg Watschka

Cinematographer, Cut

Daniel Ivanov

Sound-Designer

New Cast Member

We are looking for new interview partners for 'The Secret Arts'!

Karine LaBel

Karine LaBel is a recognized freelance artist, dance choreographer and dance teacher who was born in Les Cayes (Haiti) and lives in Vienna. She understands her artistic contribution also in the sense of a creative personality development through dance, rituals and ceremonies.

PD Dr. Christa Tuczay

Privatdozent Dr. Christa Agnes Tuczay (born 1952) is an Austrian ancient Germanist, medievalist and cultural scientist living in Vienna.

Snow Owl

Snow Owl (real name Juan Garcia-Herreros) was born in Bogotá, Colombia and had great ambitions to become a musician from an early age.

Dr. Georgi Mishev

Georgi Mishev, PhD, born in 1982, is a Bulgarian author and researcher of ancient cultures and religion of the Mediterranean region. Furthermore, his field of research extends to magical practices, rituals and reminiscences in the folklore of the Balkan peoples.

Zoe DeWitt

Zoe DeWitt is a Vienna based multimedia artist and philosopher with roots in Industrial music and Viennese Actionism. During the 1980s her musical solo project Zero Kama has gained international cult reputation within the ritual industrial / dark ambient genre.

Anufa Ellhorn

Wiccan and witch since the 80's (traditionally initiated since 2000) and Shiatsu practitioner since the 90's. High priestess of a coven until 2008 and co-founder of the WurzelWerk association (2001 – 2018).

Markus Konecny

From an early age artistic ambitions and thoughts digressing into space. Various entheogenic experiences awakened the interest in occultism, psychonautics and dream interpretation, especially in relation to their prophetic character.

Phra Ram

We had the opportunity to meet Phra Ram in Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand in 2019. As a Buddhist wandering monk, this was the first time he stood so close in front of a camera. The interview took place in the Buddhist temple (Wat) Suandok under the Buddha tree.

WolfRabe

Oneheart Standing Mountain is the leader of the 'Oneheart Warriors Lodge' and has been walking the Sweet Medicine Sundance path since 1992.

Obsidian Sea

Obsidian Sea is a Bulgarian doom rock band that has its musical roots in the 70s proto-doom and early metal scene. Originally formed in 2009 by Anton and Bozhidar in Sofia, they managed to catapult themselves to the top of the Bulgarian underground metal and rock scene within a few years.