In this year, too, we want to continue to examine the political
potential of cinema as well as its involvement in the formation of a
cultural memory, its representation of history and its function as a
vehicle for collective commemoration.
Accordingly, we’re really happy to have Prof. Dr. Marcus Stiglegger—film scholar and cultural scientist from Berlin – coming to our festival on Apr 24, 2016 and present his recent findings on cinematic representations of the Shoah.
Also, we are glad to be able to screen the Oscar and Golden Globe winning and really outstanding film »Son of Saul« by László Nemes, after the lecture.
Watch the trailer here and read more about this section of our festival below:
Lecture: Auschwitz Cinema. Cinematic Contemplations on the Holocaust by Marcus Stiglegger
Oscillating between the ban of creating images of the intangible and the demand for rememberance, cinematic accounts of the events during National-Socialist occupation proceeded sluggishly at the beginning and were followed by several tentative phases. Eventually, at the end of the 1970s, a cinematic way of representation comparable to Auschwitz literature had been established, a form which evolved a distinct iconography of genocide and concentration camps. The power of those images exerts its influence until the present day. Their iconic character superimposes historical events – even more so: the simulation of those events is being equalled with the actual events. In his lecture Auschwitz Cinema, film scholar and cultural scientist Marcus Stiglegger will, with a focus on the myth-making, present essential tendencies of cinematography, its narratives and its imagery of a fictionalised holocaust. With a cursory look and starting from the post-war period, he will examine a search for orientation in the 1960s, scandalous experiments in the 1970s, the forming of an iconography in the 1980s as well as consider the time after the paradigm shift following Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List (1994). Based on different filmic examples, Stiglegger will talk about the contemporary discourse on holocaust, also coherently incorporating marginalised films like Love Camp 7 (1969), Salon Kitty (1976) oder Tras el cristal (1987) into the discourse instead of blocking them out.
Following the lecture: Saul fia (Son of Saul)
(HU 2015, D: László Nemes, A: Géza Röhrig, Levente Molnár, Urs Rechn, 107’, OV with English subtitles, BluRay)
Rather than trying to stay on top of things, this film directly throws oneself into the gear of a monstrous death factory and therein foremostly focuses on a single, tiny cog only. Over the entire time, all events remain committed to protagonist Saul and his perception. Thereby, Son of Saul pursues an interplay which on the one hand declines explicit representations, though on the other hand provides exactly those pictures that—according to Claude Lanzmann, director of »Shoah«— were not permitted to exist. Ultimately, the most horrible thing is what we do not or only insufficiently see and perceive: blurred takes that have to be completed with the help of our fantasy, cheered by a fussing cacophony of death consisting of screaming, shooting and the infinite clatter of the machinery of annihilation.
24 April, 8 pm – UT Connewitz – € 8/6 (red.)
Here’s the second part of our section on young African cinema since two films surely aren’t enough to illustrate the vividness and creativity of contemporary African cinema.
Therefore, in our AFRICAN OUTLINES
programme on Apr 30 we will screen a bunch of films (short and long)
from different African countries that will show you the wide range of
topics and styles to be found in the cinematic landscape of Africa—from
political, post-colonial films to animated experimental films to sci-fi
flicks and beyond.
We’re also very happy to have
media-ethnologist Claudia Böhme at our festival to give some context to
films and introduce us to different strands of African cinema.
Hope y’all had a sunny day! See you soon in the screening hall!
Young Africans: Short films and lecture by Claudia Böhme (University of Trier)
Hand-drawn and puppetry animation, a documentary and a scenic contribution show landscapes of childhood, places of longing and unhuman urbanities which youths not only pass through as vulnerable beings but furthermore critically look at the adult world. For Patient, Guillain and David, there is nothing to lose and everything to win…so get the fuck out of their way. Theo Anthony’s documentary »Chop My Money« accompanies the three children strolling about on the streets of Gomas, talking about their biographies and dreams and about what it means to be a gangster. Soundtrack by Dirty Beaches. »Yellow Fever« shows the effects of Eurocentric ideals of beauty spread by mass media and advertising on African women, while the dream-nightmare-clash »Walk With Me« tells the story of a young Ugandan girl wishing to be a ballerina. »The Goat« supplements the compilation with a tale of a male circumcision ritual through which one becomes a man and that is to cure of homosexual desire.
Chop My Money (CD 2014, D: Theo Anthony, OV with English subtitles, 13’)
Yellow Fever (UK/KE 2012, D: Ng’endo Mukii, OV with English subtitles, 7’)
Walk With Me (DK/UG 2015, D: Johan Oettinger, Peter Tukei Muhumuza, no dialogue, 12’)
The Goat (SA 2014, D: John Trengove, OV with English subtitles, 13’)
Introduction by Claudia Böhme (University Trier)
Claudia Böhme works as media-ethnologist and actress. Her thesis deals with the establishment of a video film culture and an associated industry in Tanzania and processes of cultural negotiation initiated by that. During several years of field research at Dar es Salaam, she accompanied the work of filmmakers and film institutions. Her lecture will introduce us into the history of African filmmaking and give an overview of diverse regional and national film productions along with their distribution and reception. In addition to that, it will be about new developments and movements of »African Cinema«, trends of trans-nationalisation and about the question of boundaries of reception. Lecture in German language.
30 April, 10pm – Schaubühne Lindenfels
6,5/5,5 (red.) euros // 9/8 (red.) euros for a combined ticket for both screenings
Necktie Youth
(ZA/NL 2015, D: Sibs Shongwe-La Mer, A: Sibs Shongwe-La Mer, Bonko Khoza, Colleen Balchin, 86’, OV with English subtitles, BluRay)
The suicide of a young woman named Emily, who has streamed her decease live on the internet, is on the mind of a group of mid-twenties. No matter if white or black, nobody can escape from the feeling of one’s own insignificance. Director Sibs Shongwe-La Mer knows what he is talking about: his script and characters are inspired by his own biography and the events happening in his immediate environment. In his debut feature, he consistently plays the lead as the young man September, whose best friend Jabz was being with Emily. They all belong to a post-apartheid generation in South Africa, searching for their own place, willing to create their own identity and grandiosely failing in doing so. Rich, middle-class offspring, whose inner solitude and emotional distance is superimposed by coke, parties, image and eccentricity. With the help of toughness and by being real, they are caught up in a vortex devouring any relevant communication on a personal level. They want to be away from the street at all costs, but they are not. They are living in mansions, they are bored in mansions and every once in a while they also hang themselves there. Omnipresent images of poverty and impoverishment are scrutinised in stylish monochrome pictures. They are an inventory from the inside of a maniac world. Despite of all their accusations, a melancholy attachment resonates in them, a regret and a profound wish for change.
30 April, 10 pm – Schaubühne Lindenfels
6,5/5,5 (red.) euros // 9/8 (red.) euros for a combined ticket for both screenings
Let’s continue with GEGENkino day three: on April 23 at UT Connewitz we will show the films Twaaga (by Cedric Ido) and Crumbs (by Miguel Llansó) in a double feature as part of our section AFRICAN OUTLINES.
At GEGENkino 2016 we will have a focus on post-colonial topics and on young African cinema. We want to open up a discourse about cinema from African countries, it’s aesthetics, show it’s diversity and try to prove that there’s even more to African cinema than Nollywood and Afrofuturism only.
We hope to get you interested! More announcements are about to come.
Twaaga
BF/FR 2013, D: Cedric Ido, A: Sabourou Bamogo, Harouna Ouedraogo, 30’, OV with English subtitles, DCP
1987. Burkina Faso in the year of the assassination of the anti-imperialist president Thomas Sankara. The two brothers Albert and Manu struggle along, each of them in his own way. The older Albert is part of a gang that is commissioned to bully a Lebanese dealer. Whereas Manu is still a child, loves comics and, in his recently tailored superhero costume, lives in magical world in which emancipation movements matter only if they help him to understand the mythologies of his mighty role models. That way he frolics through the dusty streets of his home town until he has to realize that with an own personal suit, you also have to claim your own destiny.
Crumbs
ET/ES 2015, D: Miguel Llansó, A: Daniel Tadesse, Selam Tesfaye, 68’, OV with English subtitles, DCP
The genre: post-apocalypse-science-fiction. A word as long as the hero’s journey undertaken to find Santa Claus. He is walking through different landscapes, sometimes sparse and desolate, sometimes green and lush. The hero is armed with western pop culture goods that become charged and turned into sacred artefacts. At home in the bowling alley, his girlfriend follows a mysterious voice from deep below while an extraterrestrial flying object reigns over everything. A lot of things come apart. Solely the altar for Michael Jordan—as always—seems to provide religious refuge. Spaniard Miguel Llansó, who has been living in Ethiopia for many years and whose passion belongs to experimental and punk attitudes in film and music, makes use of marvellous peculiarities of the imagination, the beauty of the countryside and the strong presence of his actors. Out of that, he creates a surreal, cinematic bastard full of humour and self-irony.
23 April, 9 pm – UT Connewitz – € 6,5/5,5 (red.)
It’s April Fool’s Day – only this is for real!
We will team up
IfZ and the Cry Baby crew for this year’s GEGENkino and bring you a
night full of love, lust and luscious lascivities with a whole bunch of
illustruous guests. Check the details below!
22 Apr 2016, Institut fuer Zukunft – GEGENkino & Cry Baby present: DESIRE WILL SET YOU FREE
Information about the ticket pre-sale will be online soon.
GEGENkino & Cry Baby (Institut fuer Zukunft) present DESIRE WILL SET YOU FREE
DESIRE WILL SET YOU FREE—this stands for two different things this night: the party motto and the title of the new film by Yony Leyser being screened. Ezra, an US-American writer, comes to Berlin. Because of David Bowie. Here, he meets Sasha, a Russian immigrant working as an escort. Both of them are drifting through the queer subculture and the excessive underground of the city, doing their job or seeking. With its many playgrounds for marginalised cultures, the city of Berlin becomes the main character of the film. Afterwards, following the film screening and a Q&A with director Yony Leyser, we make room under the main floor dome of IfZ to present an after-show line up that will hit you like a wrecking ball. We are bringing out a heavy-hitting special guest (surprise!) and a program to satisfy both your disco playground and forward-thinking electronic needs. As a producer, singer, performer and visual artist, L.A.’s Abyss X is inspired by CGI art and future club music. Her honest lyrics and soulful voice blend seamlessly with catchy and complex neo-pop beats, creating her own energizing style of R’n’B. The Berlin-based newcomer Ziur’s rippling, cavernous compositions resemble the playful and neurotic daydreams of a club serial killer. Just coming off a European tour with Peaches late last year, they will surely be an act to watch out for in 2016.
22 Apr, 9 pm – Filmscreening: Desire Will Set You Free
(DE 2015, D: Yony Leyser, A: Yony Leyser, Tim Fabian Hoffmann, Chloe Griffin, 92’, OV with German subtitles, BluRay)
Director Yony Leyser will be present.
[There will be a re-screening of
the film on May 1, 9:30pm at Schaubühne Lindenfels, especially for
those who can’t make it to the first screening since it might overlap
with our screening at GRASSI Museum the same day.]
11 pm – After-Screening-Party:
~ Special Guest DJ-Set ~
Abyss X (S H A M E) – live
Ziúr (Boo Hoo)
Zacker (No No No!)
Claire
CAST +BBE (Cry Baby)
XVII (IfZ)
Film & Party: 15 euros (Party only: 15 euros)
Hey there, all you lovely GEGENkino friends,
it’s about time to lift the veil, finally, and reveal the programme of this year’s GEGENkino festival. So, let’s start with the opening film:
For the 3rd edition of GEGENkino we are happy to be able to screen the L.A. Sunset Strip trip movie Tangerine by Sean Baker as
the opener for the festival. A Christmas film in the sun, completely
shot on an iPhone and with hyper-fast dialogues like coming from
amphetaminized brains and tongues.
Don’t miss it, and stay tuned for more announcements!
Looking forward to see you all (again).
Oh, and merry Easter, merry
Pessach and a merry GEGENkino!
Tangerine
(US 2015, D: Sean Baker, A: Kitana Kiki Rodriguez, Mya Taylor, Karren Karagulian, 88’, OV with German subtitles, DCP)
“Out here, it’s all about our hustle. And THAT’S IT”, Alexandra tells her best friend Sin-Dee Rella. Both are struggling along as transsexual sex workers and are deeply connected to their neighbourhood in Los Angeles—the area around the intersection of Santa Monica and Highland, notorious for its drug scene and prostitution milieu. Sin-Dee is just back from prison and at a meeting in the donut shop she’s being told by Alexandra that her pimp and lover Chester cheated on her during her absence—with a white cis woman. Henceforth, “No drama!” becomes the motto of the both. But: humming dub step basslines and Sin-Dee’s furious vendetta tell another story. Filmed entirely on an iPhone the luscious, Californian sun-drenched pictures evolve into a composition of a realist subculture study and uninhibited post-modification. There’s a lot of solitude on the streets of L.A.. Tangerine puts up resistance though, and with an enchanting attitude tells of everyday hopes and dreams, of allies and solidarity.
21 April, 9pm – Luru-Kino at the Spinnerei – € 6,5/5,5(red.)
