German Experimental Film of the 90’s

German experimental film of the 90’s
MIC and the Goethe Institute, Wellington proudly present this extraordinary programme. Show casing German experimental film made from 1990-1995, this is a pure cinema experience to be savoured. Includes work by Kirsten Winter!

AUCKLAND:
Tue 26 (prog.1) & Wed 27 Oct (prog.2), Wed 3 Nov (prog.3); 7:00pm
Kodak Theatre, Production Village, 27 Napier St. Freemans Bay.

HAMILTON
18 (prog.1), 19 (prog.2) & 20 October (prog.3)

The Studio, Collingwood St.
Ph 834 8800 x8437 for times.

Dates in Wellington, Dunedin and New Plymouth to be announced.

PROGRAMME ONE
Das Monument, The Monument ,1990, Laus Georgi, Luttz Stuzner
The Monument is the filmmakers reaction to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and to the reunification of the Germanys. The Monument suggests that not everything built for eternity will last forever.

Die Kreuzung, Crossroads, 1991, Raimund Krumme
In Crossroads a person arrives at a junction and does not know which way to go. Perspectives continually change, yielding assemblages of line drawings. Raimund Krumme, born in 1950 became famous for his minimalistic line drawings.

Deutschland Halluzination/German Hallucination, 1990, Oliver Becker
In German Hallucination the manic tempo of reunionisation becomes frozen through an adroit reversive aesthetic. Incidents appear as if they are considered from a great distance. A rapid montage creates an hallucinatory whirl of pictures.

Zeitverlaufe/Timeslips, 1990, Ulrich Lindner
A high-wire artist balances diagonally across the screen, his movements appear certain. Various images of paper falling, glass spheres rolling, and a curtain blowing are juxtaposed with the tightrope walker’s appearances.

Sleepy Haven, 1993, Matthias Muller
Matthias Muller is considered to be one of the most talented short-filmmakers in Germany. Ocean going steam ships lie in port at the beginning of the film, where continual fade in and outs leaves the screen breathing heavily. Sleepy Haven uses found and new footage to produce an erotic film.

Ah Pook Is Here, 1994, Philip Hunt
Philip Hunt studied animation in London where he currently lives. This is an experimental film based on texts by William S Burroughs. Ah Pook the Destroyer, last god of panic, is debating with his alter ego in the scattered remains of a burnt out cosmos.

Flamethrowers, 1990, Various
This film is a collaboration of the American artist Owen O’Toole, the filmmaker’s co-operative: Alte Kinder (Matthias Muller) and the film group Schmelzdahin.
The original material of this film triptych was an almost burnt print of Pather Panchali by Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray. Owen O’Toole sent the film to the members of Alte Kinder and asked them to react on it artistically. This was the beginning of a transatlantic co-operation of filmmakers.

Crofton Road, 1990, Gerd Cockell
Crofton Road uses photography as a medium to strip individual images of a street, houses, and tube tunnels in London. The images are reconstructed into collage-like flows of movement via the camera.

Give Aids the Freeze, 1991, Cathy Joritz
Give Aids the Freeze is an animation (scratchfilm), which reminds people to protect themselves against aids. It uses humour and irony to entertain when tackling this difficult yet essential subject matter.

Gardine Sing Sing / Curtain Sing Song, 1993, Johannes Przygodda
Przygodda collected curtains and glued them on blank 35 mm film, including the sound track. With consistent structures, different tones and rhythms sing and glitter across the screen.

Clocks, 1990, Kirsten Winter
An award winning abstract animation based on the work of 37 year old composer and pianist Elena Kats-Chernin. The film is devised with the intention of making a listener out of the viewer.

PROGRAMME TWO
Alpsee, 1995, Matthias Muller
Reminiscent of filmmaking and realities of the fifties Alpsee explores a world of primal instincts, complex and intense emotions. Using analogy and synecdoche, it stages a boy’s coming of age, between the painful stages of infant dependency and maturity.

La Reprise, 1995, Klaus Telscher
Klaus Telscher was one of the leading German experimental filmmakers for almost 20 years. In La Reprise a photographer enters the Villa Noailles, Hyeres, a building of classical modernity. It was here that Man Ray made his film Les Mysteries dy Chateau du De and Luis Bunuel conceived the script for L’age d’or. Searching for traces of history with his camera, the photographer unexpectedly finds human life in the villa.

PROGRAMME THREE
Sisom, 1995, Christoph Janetzko
Sisom is the Thai word for the colour orange and the colour of the robes the monks wear. The film shows the daily activities of the Buddhist monks of Wat in the grounds of the Temple Monastery. A unique restrained drama is created by blending the image and sound montage created by the composer Makin Fung Bing Fai. Synchronic original sounds, trivial noises and compositional elements create a ‘poem’ that on first sight seems to reflect reality, but after a while reflects a different world.

Far, Far Away, 1995, Bjoern Melhus
Far Far Away is the story of Dorothea, called Dorothy who’s solitary life is shared with her beloved dog Toto in Sasnak. Her world is interrupted by the world of American children’s television, which floods into her room every day. Attempting to escape into this land beyond the rainbow with the help of a little radio telephone, she manages to create a virtual telebody with whom she can communicate. Her other half begins to free itself, reproduces and disappears through a storm into the world of American TV news. Making new friends quickly she Dorothyises the complete airways.

Afterbirth, 1995, Caspar Stracke
Caspar Stracke’s friend Lucas committed suicide leaving a script that he used for this film. After Birth came out of his previous film After Vanyusha, his way to deal with the guilt of his friends death. Compact editing and a dazzling compendium of optical printing techniques serve as a foil to the narrative structure. Characters arise from the dream state of the creative filmmaking process. They descend into, and emerge out of a found script which gradually changes into a diary.