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.

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

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
Costume Assistants: Adéla Holušková, Valerie Jurčíková, Alex Pýchová
Make-up Artist: Tereza Tartusa
Make-up Assistant: Markéta Němcová

Dramaturgy: Alice Krajčířová
Music & Sound: Oliver Torr
Production Assistant: Julie Sroková
1st AD: Max Horn
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