Focus

Focus

The Connection II – Films that heal

The films in the Focus section THE CONNECTION II expand on the important topic of the connection between plants, humans and other animals. While the emphasis in 2021 was on filmic approaches that allow us to adopt more-than-human perspectives, the upcoming festival will be all about healing. Films that heal by determining the essence of ›natureculture‹ relationships or offering other helpful symbiotic solutions where the natural world returns to the preserve of capitalist thought.

Tarot will be a source of inspiration and serve as an unusual curatorial tool. We will abandon familiar thought processes and play with the change of perspective that occurs by chance when cards are drawn. We will make use of unpredictability for new thought-provoking ideas and a joint discussion about film that relates specifically to us.

Standing for high-quality discourse, the Focus section will undertake a reassessment of the subject of healing in film history. Films as a remedy in uncertain times – Who draws the cards?

Curators:

Previous Focus topics have included:
THE CONNECTION: Between Plants, Humans and other Animals (2021)
After Reunification 1990 | 2020 (2020)
Image Traps (2019)
In Control (2017)
Comfort (2015)
Excess (2013)
NOW WHAT – Films about Getting out of Here (2011)
Freedom (2009)
Music (2007)
Money (2005)
Kiss-proof: who’s kissing who, when and why? (2001)
Uncanny Pleasure (1997)
The Subversive Power of Laughter (1993)
The Female Machine Saboteurs (1991)

ES
2021
Short film
7’
OmeU

Fascinated by artificial insemination, Luiza Gonçalves sets out to investigate banana trees: Why do so many of them grow in […]

US
2019
Experimental
14’
OFe

In 1995, Barbara Hammer released her filmic autobiography Tender Fictions. She deconstructs the genre and keeps her version fragmentary and […]

Andenborstengürteltier

Angela Christlieb

AT
2020
Music video
1’
OF

The opening track of the eponymous album by Viennese underground combo Blueblut lasts just 41 seconds. Accompanied by minimalist percussive […]

SE
2002
Experimental
3’
OW

»My work has three main characteristics. One is my interest in the relation between animals and humans. In my Animal […]

Birds

Pleix

FR
2006
Music video
3’
OW

»These are not dogs« could be a title loosely adapted from Magritte. Man’s best friend is liberated from the force […]

Biting the Dust

NEOZOON

DE
2021
Short film
13’
OmU

A found-footage film about Christian ideas of life after death. Do Christians and their beloved animals get reunited in the […]

Black Rose

Hye Rim Lee

NZ
2021
Animation film
5’
OW

Since 2001, Lee has developed and refined her animated character TOKI as part of her ongoing TOKI/Cyborg project. TOKI, the […]

Cat

Margaret Salmon

GB
2018
Silent film
3’
OW

Cats are self-sufficient creatures; they decide themselves which kind of relationship they want with people. And in #Cat# it’s a […]

Cow

Andrea Arnold

UK
2021
Documentary
94’
OFe

»I kept saying involuntarily during the edit: ›I’m seeing you, Luma. Don’t worry Luma, we see you.‹ I’m not sure […]

Die Wirkung des Geschützes auf Gewitterwolken

Juliane Jaschnow, Stefanie Schroeder

DE
2017
Short film
31’
OmeU

»In Europe, the tradition of weather control has been documented for centuries«, as this film says. »Firing cannons is supposed […]

Dots

Ann Oren

DE
2019
Short film
5’
OFe

Dots is a part of Ann Oren’s video journals, a short square-format video series delivering a response to media culture, […]

Everybody

Jessie Mott, Steve Reinke

US
2009
Animation film
4’
OF

People’s over-preoccupation with perceived or slight flaws in their appearance can cause great distress. We see the animals in Everybody with […]