RO/CZ/F/BG/GER 2018, D: Radu Jude, A: Ioana Iacob, Alex Bogdan, Alexandru Dabija, 139′, OV with English subtitles, DCP
The film’s title are words that have been uttered in the Romanian cabinet in 1941. Words that discoursively initialised the ethnic cleansings led by collaborative prime minister Ion Antonescu. Radu Jude’s film orbits around this sentence, comments on it, traces and alienates it. At the very beginning, actor Ioana Jacob steps into the frame, introduces herself as theatre directress Mariana Marin and slipts into her role. She plans a publicly arranged reenactment that is well-researched and that is to counteract a present, selective historical amnesia by addressing the Romanian involvement in the holocaust.
Emerging from that is not a simple, historic holocaust plot but a multilayered story located in the present time, that by using documentary aestehtics connects a past present with a present past in a metafictional manner. As artistic principles, Brecht and Godard shimmer at the horizon. The film faces its sensitive topic with a script full of wit, straightforward and elegant camera work, and a playful sense of irony without losing track of flawed humanities. “I DO NOT CARE IF WE GO DOWN IN HISTORY AS BARBARIANS” is full of dialectic moments and entertains to the point where it turns uncomfortable.
19 April, 10 pm – Schaubühne Lindenfels – € 6,5 (5,5 red.)
Trailer
Panelists:
Heide Schlüpmann studied philosophy in the 1960s, inter alia in Frankfurt/Main. She is a passionate cineast since 1970. Lecturer for film since 1977, from 1991-2008 professor of film studies at Goethe University Frankfurt/ Main. Co-founder of Kinothek Asta Nielsen e.V., which documents, archives and promotes women’s historical and present film work.
Simon Rothöler is a junior professor of media technology and media philosophy at Ruhr University Bochum and co-founder as well as editor of the journal CARGO Film/ Medien/Kultur. His most recent publication is the book “Das verteilte Bild. Stream – Archiv – Ambiente“.
Gabriele Stötzer is an artist, filmmaker and writer. Besides running a private gallery in Erfurt, she also works as a photographer, performance- and videoartist. Co-founder of “Frauen für Veränderung“ (Women for Change) and coinitiator of the first occupation of a Stasi district administration in December 1989.
Moderated by:
Dennis Vetter is a film critic, independent scholar, curator and festival organizer. As a co-founder and programmer of Berlin Critics’ Week, he keeps visiting festivals internationally, focusing on documentary cinema, Asian cinema, queer cinema and experimental film.
20 April, 6 pm – Schaubühne Lindenfels – Free entrance
Gabriele Stötzer in conversation with Claus Löser
Against official GDR doctrines, there was an artistic minority who did not conform to the aesthetic and political norms of the state socialism of that time. Among other things, an independent film scene established itself within this counter culture. In particular after Wolf Biermann’s expatriation, this scene began to redefine itself. Intending to show at least a part of those positions, Karin Fritzsche and Claus Löser founded ex.oriente.lux. ExperimentalarchivOst, an archive that collects and catalogues a multitude of the dissident works of that time. Part of the archive are the Super 8 works of Gabriele Stötzer, who is not only known for her cinematic art but also works as a multimedia artist in different genres. Stötzer was also a political activist. Because of her signature against Biermann’s expatriation, she was accused of “defamation of state“ and detained in Hoheneck prison for a year. In December of 1989, Stötzer mobilised for the occupation of the Stasi headquarters in Erfurt to prevent the destruction of files located there.
Since the 8th of March 2019, her various works are exhibited at Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst Leipzig (GfZK) as a walk-in archive over the course of a year. This exhibition functions as starting point for the early evening. Gabriele Stötzer herself will give a tour around the archive, along with practising archivist, curator and film scholar Löser. Following that, they both grant us an insights into the ideas and methods of ex.oriente.lux. and comment on selected examples.
Talk and lecture in German
21 April – Free entrance
5 pm: Talk inside the Stötzer archive at GfZK
6 pm: Lecture inside the library of GfZK
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 …
