Avantgarde Now! and Then! sixpackfilm from Vienna
In previous editions, we have selected film initiatives or associations whose work we showcase through curated film programmes. These included evenings featuring experimental 16mm works self-developed and produced by Distruktur and Labor Berlin (2022), an evening dedicated to the pioneering work of Kino Armata in Pristina, Kosovo (2023), and a screening of feminist 16mm films from Asta Nielsen Film Archive in Frankfurt am Main (2024).
We are continuing this thread with sixpackfilm from Vienna, a distributor of artist films. Together with managing director Dietmar Schwärzler, we have curated four programmes to showcase their work as a film distributor and archive. In doing so, we are shining a spotlight on an aspect of international film and festival work that is usually behind the scenes and therefore not visible or accessible to the general public. sixpackfilm was founded in 1990 as a non-profit organisation. The primary aim of their work is to raise public awareness of Austrian artistic film and video production. This is achieved through distribution, rental, and the conception and organisation of events both in Austria and abroad. Following their festival run, all works enter the distribution catalogue, which now comprises more than 2,400 titles. The catalogue features historical classics of the Austrian avantgarde – such as Valie Export, Mara Mattuschka, Peter Weibel, Maria Lassnig, Ashley Hans Sheirl, Ursula Pürrer or Kurt Kren – alongside more recent names such as Johann Lurf, Martha Mechow, Kurdwin Ayub, Jan Soldat, Selma Doborac or Lukas Marxt.
The full programme comprises four parts, which will be presented in the presence of Dietmar Schwärzler and additional filmmakers: on 17 September, a loop of short films exploring the tension between public and private spheres, screened at Milieu Kino located in Rabet park, on 18 September, two short film programmes – one historical, focusing on the Austrian avant-garde, and one featuring contemporary works – at Luru Kino; and finally, on 19 September, also at Luru Kino, a programme of films by Viktoria Schmid in her presence.
| Thu 17 September 2026 Milieukino at the Rabet | |
| 5 PM | Outside in the cinema: short films from sixpackfilm TAPP UND TASTKINO AT 1968, D: VALIE EXPORT , 2’, File EIN SCHLAUCHBOOT UND AUSTERN AT 1985, D: Ashley Hans Scheirl, Ursula Pürrer, 5’, File ASTOR PLACE US 1997, D: Eve Heller, 10’, File CROSSROAD US 2005, D: Phil Solomon, 5’, File SCHWERELOS AT 2016, D: Jannis Lenz, 9’, File |
| Fri 18 September 2026 Luru Kino | |
| 6 PM | Structure, Bodies, Rebellion ARNULF RAINER AT 1960, D: Peter Kubelka, 7’, 16mm START AT 1973, D: Ernst Schmidt jr., 11 sec, DCP HALLO AT 1964, D: Ernst Schmidt jr., 12 sec, DCP DIE KLEINE MASCHINE AT 1977, D: Ernst Schmidt jr., 38 sec, DCP DAS HAPPENING AT 1969-1979, D: Ernst Schmidt jr., 11 sec, DCP 10/65 SELBSTVERSTÜMMELUNG AT 1965, D: Kurt Kren, 5’, DCP DIE GEBURT DER VENUS AT 1970-1972, D: Moucle Blackout, 5’, DCP COUPLES AT/US 1972, D: Maria Lassnig, 9’, DCP REMOTE…REMOTE… AT 1973, D: VALIE EXPORT, 10’, DCP KUGELKOPF AT 1985, D: Mara Mattuschka, 6’, DCP ROUGE ET NOIR AT 1993, D: Linda Christanell, 10’, File SEX AND CRIME AT 1984, D: Ursula Pürrer, Ashley Hans Scheirl, 3’, File GEZACKTES RINNSAL SCHLEICHT SICH SCHAMLOS SCHENKELNÄSSEND AN AT 1985, D: Ursula Pürrer, Ashley Hans Scheirl, 4’, File TV-AQUARIUM AT 1970, D: Peter Weibel, 2’, File ABBILDUNG IST EIN VERBRECHEN AT 1970, D: Peter Weibel, 2’, File ZEITBILD (CLUB 2) AT 1979, D: Peter Weibel, 3’, File GLEICHZEITIG NACKT AT 2024, D: Ursula Pürrer, Ashley Hans Scheirl, 3’, DCP In presence of Ursula Pürrer and Dietmar Schwärzler |
| 8 PM | Found Footage, Cakes and Sex EVERYONE DESERVES A SLICE OF THE PIE AT 2025, D: Sasha Pirker, 17’, OV with english subtitles, DCP DER ANGRIFF DES ALFRED EDEL AUF SICH SELBST AT/DE 2025, D: Jan Soldat, 15’, OV with english subtitles, DCP FOLLOW BACK AT/DE 2025, D: Rom Sheratzky, 23’, OV with english subtitles, DCP BLEIFREI 95 DE/AT 2025, D: Emma Hütt, Tina Muffler, 24’, OV with english subtitles, DCP In presence of Ursula Pürrer and Dietmar Schwärzler |
| Sat 19 September 2026 Luru Kino | |
| 6 PM | Light, colour, time – the films of Viktoria Schmid
ROJO ZALJA BLAU AT 2025, 10′, DCP NYC RGB AT/US 2023, 7′, DCP KATHARINAVIKTORIA 2(021) AT 2021, 1′, DCP A PROPOSAL TO PROJECT IN SCOPE AT/LT 2020, 8′, DCP W O W (KODAK) AT 2018, 3′, DCP A TAMA FOR EKTACHROME AT 2016, 1’, DCP A PROPOSAL TO PROJECT IN 4:3 AT 2016, 2′, DCP IT’S A DANCE AT 2014, 2′, DCP KATHARINAVIKTORIA AT 2011, 1′, DCP ACHTUNG / HALLO 35 AT 2010, 2′, 35mm GOLAN AT 2012, 2’, 16mm FOODFILMS AT 2010, 8′, 16mm In presence of Viktoria Schmid and Dietmar Schwärzler |
Milieukino at the Rabet
Admission is by donation – feel free to bring your kids and their friends along.
It’s that time again! After a year’s break, we’re delighted to once more welcome Vienna’s impressive Milieu Kino as a mobile venue, so that we can bring a touch of GEGENkino magic to the east of Leipzig too. For three days, from 16 to 18 September, we’ll be in Rabet Park: there, you can fully immerse yourselves in the charm of this unique venue. Milieu Kino – Austria’s smallest cinema – is a project by Max Kaufmann, who conceived it and spent years bringing it to completion. The auditorium is housed in a lorry that has been specially converted. In a single simple step, the rear of the loading area transforms into a foyer with a ticket office and bar. With its neon lettering, poster display cases and 15 upholstered folding seats inside, this modern travelling cinema has everything you’d expect from a traditional cinema – there’s even a 35mm projector, which we’ll of course be using.
Each day begins at 3 pm with programmes for children, followed at 5 pm by screenings for slightly older audiences. This time, we’re showing three historic 35mm prints – we’ve put together a programme for you that, set in bustling Rabet, deliberately ties in with the venue and is aimed at different generations, designed to delight young and old alike: monster adventures, charming Soviet animations, coming-of-age stories, noise, pop music and city life.
SOWJET ANIMATION MOVIES FOR CHILDREN
SU 70s, 10’, File / SU 70s, 30’, File
These two Sowjet animation films are regarded as milestones in the art of animation. Using delicate techniques, the director creates immensely atmospheric, endearing characters and evokes profound emotions. In the first movie we are screening, a hedgehog walks through the forest one evening to visit the bear. They want to drink tea and count the stars together. On his way, he meets the owl, a dog and a beautiful white horse. Unfortunately, he doesn’t see very well and falls into the river. But he is rescued and eventually sits by the campfire, where the bear talks his ear off. And the hedgehog thinks back to the white horse in the mist. The other movie meanwhile, recounts difficult memories of war and loss in loosely connected episodes with a melancholic atmosphere. Numerous characters appear and disappear, including a little wolf who finds a human baby.
BERLIN SUBWAY / PUNK / NEW WAVE MILIEU MOVIE
DE 80s, 100′, German OV, 35mm
West Berlin in the late 1980s: In search of a rock star, young Sunnie travels across the city on the SUBWAY underground and encounters a wide variety of social milieus.
KAIJU MONSTER MOVIE
GB 60s, 80′, DF, 35mm
This movie transposes the popular kaiju genre from Japan to the UK. Off the Irish coast, treasure hunters capture a giant sea creature – and turn it into a tourist attraction in London. That is, until its mother picks up the trail.
Outside in the Cinema: Short films from the sixpackfilm archive
TAPP UND TASTKINO / EIN SCHLAUCHBOOT UND AUSTERN / ASTOR PLACE / CROSSROAD / SCHWERELOS
AT/US 1968-2016, D: Valie Export, Ashley Hans Scheirl, Ursula Pürrer, Eve Heller, Phil Solomon, Jannis Lenz
Starting from the relocation of the cinema into public space, a programme of short films featuring works from the collection of the Viennese film distributor sixpackfilm explores the boundaries between public and private, visible and concealed. Valie Export’s TAPP- UND TASTKINO ironically and provocatively makes “tangible”what voyeurs seek to touch through watching. In a public performance, Export straps a box – a miniature cinema auditorium, open at the front and back – to her bare breasts. Passers-by are invited to visit the cinema… In ASTOR PLACE by Eve Heller, we look through a shop window mirrored on the outside onto the square of the same name in New York City. Passers-by walk past. Unaware that they are being watched, they look into the camera before moving onsoon. An arrangement of asymmetrical gazes that gains in complexity on the big screen. Ursula Pürrer and Ashley Hans Scheierl’s EIN SCHLAUCHBOOT UND AUSTERN is queer DIY cinema: punk women on the New York subway, home-movie snippets and the sexually surreal. The programme is shown as a loop.
NEW YORK PUNK / NEW WAVE MILIEU MOVIE
US 1980, D: Allan Moyle, A: Tim Curry, Trini Alvarado, Robin Johnson, 111′, engl. OF, 35mm
The movie follows two teenagers who run away from a hospital, wander through early 1980s New York City and find themselves amidst punk, new wave and pirate radio.
| Wed 16 September 2026 Milieukino at the Rabet | Admission: Free donation |
| 3 PM | Sowjet cinema for children FILM 1 SU 70s, 10’, File FILM 2 SU 70s, 30’, File |
| 5 PM | BERLIN PUNK / NEW WAVE MILIEU MOVIE Germany 80s, 100′, German OV, 35mm |
| Thu 17 September 2026 Milieukino at the Rabet | Admission: Free donation |
| 3 PM | KAIJU MONSTER MOVIE GB 60s, 80′, German version, 35mm |
| 5 PM | Outside in the Cinema: Short films from the sixpackfilm archive TAPP UND TASTKINO AT 1968, D: Valie Export, 2′, File EIN SCHLAUCHBOOT UND AUSTERN AT 1985, D: Ashley Hans Scheirl, Ursula Pürrer, 5′, File ASTOR PLACE US 1997, D: Eve Heller, 10′, File CROSSROAD US 2005, D: Phil Solomon, 5′, File SCHWERELOS AT 2016, D: Jannis Lenz, 9′, File |
| Fri 18 September 2026 Milieukino at the Rabet | Admission: Free donation |
| 3 PM | Sowjet cinema for children FILM 1 SU 70s, 10’, File FILM 2 SU 70s, 30’, File |
| 5 PM | NEW YORK PUNK / NEW WAVE MILIEU MOVIE US 80s, 120’, english OV, 35mm |
FINDING WORDS | The unadorned, humanistic documentaries of Nurith Aviv
Nurith Aviv’s documentary cinema adopts the most unadorned form imaginable, allowing people to speak in static medium shots. This is by no means fashionable in contemporary documentary filmmaking. Whilst many essayistic works unfold their reflections through commentary, montage and image-sound dichotomy, Aviv relies on the power of conversation, on bodies that express themselves through speech. Her camera observes thoughtfully – and listens. In calm, static shots, she allows language to become an event – as the bearer of memory, history and identity.
Born in Israel in 1945 and living in Paris since the 1970s, Aviv is France’s first trained female cinematographer – and perhaps even the world’s first, as she herself cautiously suggests. Following close collaboration with female directors such as Agnès Varda and Ruth Beckermann, she developed her own body of documentary work, which consistently explores the social and cultural imprints of language in all its facets. Whether it is the blank spaces in Jewish life and language in post-war Germany (VATERS LAND), the search for a new linguistic home in D’UNE LANGUE À L’AUTRE, the stories of first names in PRÉNOMS, sign languages in SIGNER, or the silent gazing in SON PORTRAIT, MON PORTRAIT: Aviv is always interested in people who have things to say and bring them up. It is precisely in its formal simplicity that her cinema unfolds a form of radicalism – a quiet GEGENkino.
| Sun 13 September 2026 Schaubühne Lindenfels | |
| 21:00 Uhr | LOSS FR/DE 2002, R: Nurith Aviv, 30’, OmeU, DCP FROM LANGUAGE TO LANGUAGE FR/DE/IL 2004, R: Nurith Aviv, 55’, OmeU, DCP |
| Mon 14 September 2026 Schaubühne Lindenfels | |
| 21:00 Uhr | SIGNING FR/IL 2018, R: Nurith Aviv, 60’, OmeU, DCP HER PORTRAIT, MY PORTRAIT FR 2026, R: Nurith Aviv, 15’, ohne Dialog, DCP |
| Tue 15 September 2026 Schaubühne Lindenfels | |
| 21:00 Uhr | GIVEN NAMES FR 2026, R: Nurith Aviv, 82’, OmeU, DCP |
Kamal Aljafari (born 1972) is a Palestinian filmmaker. He has taught at The New School in New York and at the German Film and Television Academy in Berlin. His achievements have been recognised with fellowships at the “Film Study Centre – Radcliffe Institute” at Harvard University and, most recently, at the “Institute for Ideas and Imagination” at Columbia University. He has directed a total of twelve short and feature films. A FIDAI FILM won the Grand Jury Prize at Visions du Réel in 2024. WITH HASAN IN GAZA received the Europa Cinemas Label Award at the Locarno Film Festival in 2025.
Making visible what seems to be missing from dominant narratives or is difficult to detect in them is a constant feature of Kamal Aljafari’s work. With his two most recent feature films, we are giving space to the subversive act of making the invisible visible. His works push the conceptual and formal boundaries set by conventional film aesthetics – they explore new territory in a political cinema, demanding, in the face of reality, a form of “cinematic justice” that goes far beyond objective historicism and didactic documentaries on social issues. In doing so, an artistic subjectivity preponderates here, whilst the idea of cinema as an instrument of colonisation and oppression is deconstructed. At the same time, we see how Aljafari explores the potential for reappropriation of found footage and dives head first into a wide variety of archival materials, always accompanied by a precise, rigorous sound design. His cinematic practice functions as an act of resistance. To enable a deeper immersion into the visual and conceptual worlds of the films, his long-standing collaborator and producer, Flavia Mazzarino, will be present.
| Sat 12 September 2026 Luru Kino | |
| 6 PM | WITH HASAN IN GAZA PS/DE/FR/QA 2025, D: Kamal Aljafari, 106’, OmeU, DCP In presence of Flavia Mazzarino (Producer and collaborator of Kamal Aljafari) |
| 8 PM | A FIDAI FILM PS/DE/QA/BR/FR 2025, D: Kamal Aljafari, 78’, OmeU, DCP In presence of Flavia Mazzarino (Producer and collaborator of Kamal Aljafari) |
POOR IMAGES
A poor image is an underrated image, and a counter-image needs an original image. A relationship. Something that is worth the friction. From the very first minute, GEGENkino has embodied our interest in rebellious, uncomfortable, non-conformist, experimental and sensual attempts to take a stand, to advance film as a language in motion, and to explore new experiences with spaces and light, sounds and music, materials and arrangements.
With this year’s thematic focus POOR IMAGES, we are offering a number of (extremely subjective) perspectives on artworks for which perfection is an abomination. We are turning our senses to these impure and flawed forms of imagery, which are, paradoxically, both marginalised and dominant. Our inspiration and source was Hito Steyerl’s essay “In Defence of the Poor Image”. In it, she pointedly describes, in just a few pages, the political, aesthetic, social, commercial and global conditions of poor images, which are reproduced, edited and exchanged, downloaded, ostracised and consumed permanently. Permanent consumption is all well and good, but when does a cluster of pixels actually become an image, or a mobile phone video a film? Where do the elitist logics of quality, canon and taste drive their nails into the flesh of unbridled, hierarchy-free creativity?
The popularisation of affordable VHS technology in the 1980s and the first, clunky mobile phone cameras were connected with waves of democratisation in filmmaking. New opportunities for participation and global networking suddenly opened up, and the divides between artistic vision, production, technical craftsmanship, marketing, presentation, archiving and curation seemed to have been bridged once and for all. Every now and then, one or another power dynamic was disrupted as well. Until the self-digesting killer capitalism had once again juddered most things out. So, finally, 8K. Pure. Visual. Perfection. Deep pore immaculacy. We’re in a pretty poor state. Let’s make the best of it!
| Thu 10 September 2026 Luru Kino | |
| 9 PM | DRINKING AND DRIVING CA 2026, D: Avalon Fast, Jillian Frank, C: Avalon Fast, Jillian Frank, Ethan Hawksworth, 105’, english OV, DCP |
| Sat 12 September 2026 Luru Kino | |
| 2 PM | DRY LEAF DE/GE 2025, D: Alexandre Koberidze, C: David Koberidze, Irina Chelidze, Giorgi Bochorishvili, OV with english subtitles, 186’, DCP |
| 6 PM | KAMAL ALJAFARI | History without images, images without history WITH HASAN IN GAZA PS/DE/FR/QA 2025, R: Kamal Aljafari, 106’, OV with english subtitles, DCP In the presence of Flavia Mazzarino (Producer and collaborator of Kamal Aljafari) |
| 8 PM | KAMAL ALJAFARI | History without images, images without history A FIDAI FILM PS/DE/QA/BR/FR 2025, R: Kamal Aljafari, 78’, OV with english subtitles, DCP In the presence of Flavia Mazzarino (Producer and collaborator of Kamal Aljafari) |
| Sun 13 September 2026 Luru Kino | |
| 3 PM | FRAUEN IN BERLIN DDR 1981, D: Chetna Vora, 142’, OV with english subtitles, DCP Introduction by Tobias Hering. He is a curator and writer and has carried out long-term research into Chetna Vora. |
| Wed 16 September 2026 UT Connewitz | |
| 9 PM | IF PIGEONS TURNED TO GOLD CZ/SK 2026, D: Pepa Lubojacki, 110’, OV with english subtitles, DCP |
| Thu 17 September 2026 UT Connewitz | |
| 8 PM | Die Kunst des ugandischen Live Dubbing | VJ Emmy begleitet EATEN ALIVE IN UGANDA FORGET THE DIRECTOR, THIS IS EMMY’S CUT! UG/DE 2026, D: Marion Desmaret, 11′, OV with english subtitles, DCP EATEN ALIVE IN UGANDA UG 2026, D: Nabwana I.G.G., C: Alan Hofmanis Ssali, Isaac Newton Kizito, Mwebaza Faridah, 55′, OV with live commentary File |
| Fri 18 September 2026 Luru Kino | |
| 10 PM | PAST FUTURE CONTINUOUS IR/NO/IT 2025, D: Morteza Ahmadvand, Firouzeh Khosrovani, 80’, OV with english subtitles, DCP |
| Sun 20 September 2026 Luru Kino | |
| 7 PM | Ordinary Errors: everything about yourself AND WE ALL SHINE ON US 2006, Michael Robinson, 7’, no dialogue, DCP 2020 AT 2021, Friedl vom Gröller, 2’, no dialogue, DCP POV MEMORY SG/AZ 2023, Igor Smola, 13’, OV with English subtitles, DCP S/T CA 2007, Claudio Caldini, 3’, silent, DCP I CHANGE I AM THE SAME US 1969, Alice Anne Parker, Shelby Kennedy, 1’, no dialogue, DCP I WOULD RATHER BE A STONE HR 2024, Ana Hušman, 24’, OV with English subtitles, DCP EXTRA TERRESTRIAL US 2004, Rhyne Piggott, Ben Russell, 11’, no dialogue, DCP SUPERMAN XK 2002, Sokol Beqiri, 3’, no dialogue, DCP, Lender: Kontakt Collection, Vienna F1GHTING LOOKS DIFFERENT 2 ME NOW Mesa Grande Reservation/US 2022, Fox Maxy, 11’, English OV, DCP |
