CLUB OF OPPORTUNITIES
E09: PUMPKINVILLE
A short film and installation deconstructs the myths of tradition and identity as tools of political manipulation.
- Jan 2025

Pumpkineville (15mins, 4K)
a new commissioned film
and installation
at
Steirischer Herbst: Horror Patriae
Curators: Ekaterina Degot,
Pieternel Vermoorte, David Riff
Neue Galerie Graz, Austria
September 19 – February 16, 2025
Pumpkinville, a short film (15mins, 4k) and installation commissioned by Steirischer Herbst 2024 follows Celerist, a noir detective trapped in a surreal world akin to The Truman Show, where a Styrian pumpkin—symbolizing Austria’s “green gold”—remains unaware of its artificial surroundings. Jakub Jansa crafts a satirical allegory of neoliberalism and nationalism, using human-vegetable beings to expose class hierarchies and ideological mechanisms of the Global North. Pumpkineville deconstructs the myths of tradition and identity as tools of political manipulation, revealing how false nostalgia and illusions of stability fuel contemporary nationalist ideologies.
The short film Pumpkineville was created under professional filmmaking conditions with the contribution of a film crew. The film was shot on various locations, including a film studio utilizing a large-format LED wall, allowing for a real-time combination of realistic and digitally generated environments.
Steirischer Herbst (SH) is an annual interdisciplinary contemporary art event that has served as a platform for innovative artistic projects since its founding in 1968 in Graz, Austria. SH is renowned for commissioning and premiering new works, often in collaboration with prominent artists. In the past, it has supported new productions by artists such as Hito Steyerl, John Baldessari. SH also premiered one of John Cage’s final works in 1992. In 2017, the festival presented a film adaptation of Elfriede Jelinek’s novel Die Kinder der Toten, directed by the Nature Theater of Oklahoma, which won the FIPRESCI Prize at Berlinale. This tradition continues in 2024, as SH has supported the creation of Pumpkineville, a new short film by Jakub Jansa, presented at the Horror Patriae exhibition in Neue Galerie Graz.
author: jakub jansa
dop: kryštof hlůže
producer: kristýna kapounová
production company: closer
performance: jan kostiha, jamilya andreyeva, soňa beaumont,
patrik petr, peter hosking, olesia adamovich
editor: sebastian kučkovský
costume designer: karolína juříková
make-up artist: tereza tartusa
dramaturgy: alice krajčířová
music & sound: oliver torr
production assistant: julie sroková
1st ad: max horn
costumes assistant: adéla holušková, valerie jurčíková,
alex pýchová
make-up assistant: markéta němcová
b cam: filip smil
1st ac: jakub volena
2nd ac: tony šmaus
sound recordist: tom richman
lights: ondřej puritscher
lights trainee: lukáš masák
propmaster: henry trung
prop guy: patrick-djouno djakoualno
bts: shot by us
colorist: kryštof melka
graphic design: martin groch
sfx: eliška pitráková
location: autoklub české republiky, fzg studio
walkies: jakub koula - kluci base
extras: emel ameti, barbora gábová, daniel batrla, sergey akentyev,
timur mirzakulov, julia chumakova, tatiana rozenberg



















