PT/F 2016, D: Salomé Lamas, 125′, Doc, OV with English subtitles, DCP
It is neither a gold rush, nor the prospect of quick wealth, but the hope to alleviate misery is driving people to the mining site La Riconanda, the highest situated settlement in the world. At 5000 meters above sea level in the Peruvian Andes Mountains, workers graft with their modest tools under preindustrial production conditions. The ones above ground are exposed to adverse weather, the ones underground accompanied by the fear of being buried, should the pit cave in. Only the intoxication with coca keeps reality at bay.
Lamas translates the implacability of circumstances into a nearly one hour opening sequence, whose perspective is static but nonetheless streaked by a lot of movement. Similar to a hidden object picture, hundreds of unrecognisable mineros crest a mountain slope, surrounded by darkness, only lit by the glow oft their helmet lamps. The monotony of the maelstrom is attributed with accounts of workers, snippets, jingles and reports of accidents from the miner’s radio station.
This piece of rigorous documentary is followed by the expressive barrenness of images displaying sad attle heaps, unionists meeting in blowing snow and the village community finally meeting in a colourful and noisy celebration.
21 April 20, 10 pm – Schaubühne Lindenfels – € 6,5 (5,5 red.)
Excerpt
GER/AUT 2019, Director: Thomas Heise, Director of Photography: Stefan Neuberger, Montage: Chris Wright, GMFilms, DCP, Originalversion (deutsch), 218′
In a long exchange of letters between Berlin and Vienna, the upcoming deportation announces itself. The images show the meticulous deportation lists of Nazi bureaucracy. When the correspondence falls silent, we hear Marika Rökk’s grotesque Nazi pop song “Mach dir nichts daraus”. HEIMAT IS A SPACE IN TIME is a collage of filmmaker Thomas Heise’s intellectual family’s legacies. A composition of text documents, film records and photographs of four generations. The story is about love, attachment, selfassertion and political ideals – against the backdrop of the political upheavals of the 20th century. Correspondences and diary entries take our eyes – and first and foremost our ears – on a journey extending from German Empire to Weimar Republic, to National-Socialism, to divided Germany up to the present. Archive material and present-day footage are shown. Then, in black-and-white, the camera glides through abandoned placed and rooms estranged by time. Here, home is not just a romantic place, but the matter which sparks inner and outer fights of involved parties. Individual history cannot be separated from community. The film does not seek to retell stories. Instead, it shows how biographies emerge.
In the presence of Thomas Heise
22 April, 4 pm – Schaubühne Lindenfels – € 8 (7 red.)
Excerpt
The GEGENkino team is back!
The next edition of our festival will take place from the 11th to the 22nd of April.
You can expect a very special program this time …
