zhel

17/05/2026

Attention agents!

I'm genuinely overwhelmed by the response to the second single that was released less than two days ago. I honestly haven't felt this kind of reaction since the early days, including messages from people from the industry I haven't heard from in a while.

So, thank you for the messages, shares, likes, support, kind words, and for actually listening properly. It means a lot.

Over the next couple of months I'll be sharing more material, including the story behind the upcoming release, and some very exciting intelligence, as we say in the agency, so secret it doesn't know about itself ^^

Those who were there in the 90s, and you know who you are, will have every reason to be excited, but new souls are equally welcome.

For those who missed the single the first time, the link is in the first comment.

Salut!
Zhel

15/05/2026

Hey, you cute storm riders,

Here’s HEAR‘EM, the second single and video from my upcoming 2026 album.

Give this little drama a spin!

Link in the first comment.

Zhel

06/05/2026

Veliko hvala portalu istarski.hr što pomno prati moje pojačane aktivnosti u Istri ove godine. O Screamstation Festu u Puli 6. i 7. studenog 2026. će još biti riječi, no evo za početak jedna najava. 🔥

**a2026

Screamstation Fest, festival eksperimentalnog i hibridnog filma, prvi se put održava 6. i 7. studenog u Puli, u kinu Valli.   “Screamstation Fest je kurirani dvodnevni program kratkih eksperimentalnih i hibridnih filmova koji istražuje odnos slike i zvuka izvan dominantnih narativnih struktura....

29/04/2026

Ako radiš eksperimentalni ili hibridni kratki film, prijave su otvorene.
Screamstation Fest

6–7.11. 2026 Kino Valli, P**a.
Natjecateljski program + međunarodne retrospektive

Prijave:
https://filmfreeway.com/ScreamstationFest

28/04/2026

Filmmakers!

Submissions are open.
Screamstation Fest
6–7 Nov — Kino Valli, P**a, Croatia

Experimental & Hybrid Short Film
Selective programme

Submit:
https://filmfreeway.com/ScreamstationFest

23/04/2026

PSIHOLOGIJA 101
Slažući materijale za novi intervju u Nacionalu, koji treba uskoro izaći, naletio sam na ovaj osvrt Darka Glavana iz sredine devedesetih za Nedjeljnu Dalmaciju. Iako mi je drago što je od početka prepoznao autentičnost, danas se više ne pronalazim u ovoj konstataciji.

Zapravo, mislim da nikada i nisam bio pravi storyteller. Uvijek me više zanimao onaj prostor between the lines koji bježi jasnom tumačenju i ima za cilj cjelinu tek kad se uključi tumačenje slušatelja.

16/04/2026

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!

Screamstation Fest — P**a, 2026
I'm thrilled to announce that Screamstation Fest will return on 6–7 November 2026, at Kino Valli in P**a, Croatia.

The festival began in London at The Horse Hospital in 2012, continued online, and now, for the first time, comes to P**a.

I want to share something personal about why this feels significant to me. I've spent 27 years living in London, deeply immersed in its experimental film scene as a filmmaker, a theorist, and an organiser. This isn't just a festival travelling to a new city. It's something being brought back.

The programme will connect historical context with the contemporary scene, work that carries continuity and weight, but that also speaks clearly to the present moment.

My hope is to make visible a part of this scene that rarely travels, and to bring it directly to audiences who deserve to encounter it: those who know what to look for, and younger viewers who will be meeting it for the first time.

More updates to follow.
Željko Vukičević, Zhel

HRVATSKI

Screamstation Fest, P**a, 2026.

S velikim zadovoljstvom najavljujem da se Screamstation Fest vraća 6. i 7. studenoga 2026., u Kinu Valli u Puli, Hrvatska.
Festival je započeo u Londonu u The Horse Hospitalu 2012. godine, nastavio se online, a sada, po prvi put, dolazi u Pulu.

Želim podijeliti nešto osobno o tome zašto mi se ovo čini posebno značajnim. Proveo sam 27 godina živeći u Londonu, duboko uronjen u tamošnju scenu eksperimentalnog filma, kao redatelj, teoretičar i organizator. Ovo nije samo festival koji putuje u novi grad. Ovo je nešto što se vraća kući.

Program će povezivati povijesni kontekst sa suvremenom scenom, radove koji nose kontinuitet i težinu, ali koji jasno govore i sadašnjem trenutku.

Moja je nada učiniti vidljivim dio te scene koji rijetko putuje, i dovesti ga izravno do publike koja to zaslužuje: onih koji znaju što tražiti, i mlađih gledatelja koji će ga susresti po prvi put.

Više detalja uskoro.
Željko Vukičević, Zhel

12/04/2026

'Days Of Knowing' (Zhel, 2026). The first single from the upcoming album.

Announced for the 16th. Releasing today. Good things come to those who don't wait.

Link in the first comment.

06/04/2026

KONTEKST:

Krajem drugog mjeseca ove godine imao sam zanimljiv javni razgovor u sklopu programa Istarski Multiverzum: Kultura bez cenzure u Sveučilišnoj knjižnici u Puli, koji je vodio Ivan Kraljević.

Odmah jedan disclaimer. Iako imam pozitivan odnos prema arhivi, pokušavam gledati naprijed koliko je to moguće. No tijekom razgovora dotaknute su teme cenzure iz perioda mog rada u Hrvatskoj, koje su me podsjetile na vrijeme pred odlazak u London 1999. kao i na prve godine prilagodbe.

Iste godine razgovor sa mnom vodio je Milivoj Djilas za Feral Tribune.

Neki moji vršnjaci tada nisu bili svjesni oblika cenzure koje je provodila vlast na čelu s Franjom Tuđmanom. To je vrijeme u mnogočemu postavilo temelje neredu, neradu i neukusu koje osjećamo i danas.

Godine 1998. za svoj drugi album Ponte Rosso potpisao sam ugovor s Arkzinom, tada političkom i kulturnom platformom bliskom Feral Tribuneu. Arkzin (urednik Dejan Krsic) pokreće izdavačku kuću Carnival Tunes (urednik Boris Popović) i tako dolazi do naše suradnje.

No Arkzin, kao i Feral, bio je u nemilosti “državotvornih” medija. Ta izdanja su se sustavno ignorirala, uključujući i moj album, kao i kasnije stvari Carnival Tunesa (Lunar, Boxer i dr.).

Iako je moj odlazak u London prije svega bio vođen znatiželjom i željom za iskustvom, ne mogu reći da nije bio i olakšan tadašnjom klimom, koja je bila nepoticajna za dugoročno stvaralaštvo.

U tom smislu dijelim intervju za Feral iz 1999., kao i njegov transkript na stranicama Arkzina, kao dokument vremena koje, paradoksalno, ne prolazi.

Do slušanja,
Zhel

arkzin.net/carnival/zhel/feral.htm

06/04/2026

LAST CALL, TODAY, 6th April at Close-Up Cinema at 20h

RED STATES, BLUE STATES (Zhel, 2010) screens as part of One Minute Vol.5, curated by the inimitable Kerry Baldry, whose tireless dedication to short-form artists’ moving image has made this series one of the most vital ongoing projects in British experimental film.

Since August 2024, Close-Up has been presenting the 12 volumes of One Minute in reverse order, a retrospective that invites you to trace the evolution of the project backwards through time. I have been part of it since Vol.4, back in 2010.

My own contribution in the vol.5, ‘Red States, Blue States’, draws on found footage from Paul Thomas Anderson’s ‘There Will Be Blood’, recomposed into a vertical split screen. A dialogue with Daniel Day-Lewis’ character becomes something else altogether: colour and sound moving up and down between two states, red and blue, in what appears to be a loop but is in fact a continuous flux. A formal enquiry into the political geography of the United States, expressed through framing, colour and restless movement between two conditions.

The film is held in the British Film Institute archive alongside other volumes from this series. Rewatching it recently, I found it still very much alive. It feels right to carry on screening it.

Close-Up Cinema, London
6 April, 20h.



https://www.instagram.com/reel/DWZLuKnDTcM/?igsh=Mjh4NWE3MDdlejhp

01/04/2026

Jon Stewart is right. Social media is not free speech. Algorithms decide what gets seen, not people. In addition, monetisation tied to views is a rigged system. Platforms control reach, then reward what they’ve already chosen. If we are being shown ads, we should be monetised too. Every post is a building block. Good or bad, it feeds the system media platforms profit from directly, while they place ads around our attention and turn it into billions. So pay creators by default, not only when the algorithm decides to push them.

To conclude, media platforms should be regulated. They use manipulative methods to capture our attention and shouldn’t be left to operate as opaque systems shaping what we see and value.