Directors Lounge Screening. Björn Speidel About the Depths of the Plateau

Björn Speidel | About the Depths of the Plateau

Directors Lounge Screening

Thursday, 28 February 2019 | 9pm 21:00 | Z-Bar

With his experimental films, the Berlin based filmmaker Björn Speidel explores the relationship between image and imaging surface. For several years, he has investigated the image’s depth by the use of stereo 3D.
The screening will include the first presentation of the „Video-Harp“ as a world premiere. … read more

Directors Lounge Screening
Johnny Welch
Arcane Rhythms

Thursday, 25 October 2018
21:00
Z-Bar
Bergstraße 2
10115 Berlin-Mitte

Johnny Welch, filmmaker and photographer from Sydney, Australia lives in Berlin for more than 3 years and is an active member of Labor Berlin. Since coming to Berlin, his work has become more strongly connected with the aesthetic of analog film, with the possibilities of optical printing. Even if edited and projected digitally, analog compositing seems to allow him to create a richer image of high density and depth.

Based on black and white techniques (mostly), the films seem to explore sheer blackness, instead of a black and white aesthetic. Strongly connected with punk music, dark wave and electronic noise, the filmmaker achieves a stunning quality of deep black color with his films. Experimental techniques of emulsion lifts and cracks, combined with black ink, sometimes with an additional tint of red or toning with blue, are combined with dark images of male and female characters. The driving rhythm of the sound track enhances the impression of blackness. Another connection is Aleister Crowley, a controversial figure, and a British occultist from the beginning of the 20th century who inspired a number of important artists and filmmakers like Kenneth Anger and even Fernando Pessoa. Welch’s film Aurum (super8 / digital) from 2018 is a contribution to Crowley’s Liber 777, a book related to occult or cabalistic games with numbers. For Johnny Welch, the occupation and meditation with occult theory may be a search for liberating ideas, or it may even be used as a release from the haunting personal messages once ago sent by peers. (Discharge Working I and II, 2017/18).

For the viewer, the work has an attracting, maybe haunting quality, tinted with a stunning black color. The black sun (in Aurum) for example is an amazing symbol without the need of occult references, and it is a beautiful image interwoven with blackness of painted film material that may stay in the mind of the viewer as a striking image on its own account.

The artist will be present and available for Q&A after the screening. Curated by Klaus W. Eisenlohr

Artist Link:
https://www.johnnywelchfilm.com/

Links:
Directors Lounge  http://www.directorslounge.net
Richfilm  http://www.richfilm.de/currentUpload/
Z-Bar  http://www.z-bar.de

Directors Lounge Screening
Laurence Favre
Digging the Archive
Thursday, 27 September 2018
21:00
Z-Bar
Bergstraße 2
10115 Berlin-Mitte

Laurence Favre from Switzerland and living in Berlin, works with photography, film and video on projects. She creates narratives concerned with collective and individual memories, and how they relate to archives or individuals. Found material, 8mm found footage, was a reason for her to visit places, talk to and interview people. In the case of a hospital in South-Africa, a Swiss mission during the time of racial segregation, the construction of a collective memory become problematic, however,  the collection of different stories and divert personal memories may become even more important. The box with films from a missionary working at the hospital, a personal archive in itself, for Favre became a starting point to visit the former hospital in Shiluvane, to find people who were working in the mission or share memories.

Favre’s background in sociology informs her research, her art project shifts towards contemporary ethnographic research with experimental forms that do not attempt to construct an “objective reality”. And she is a member of Labor Berlin. On a first step, she converted the original 8mm films to digital, and created a narrative from it, by repeating images, inverting them, by mixing letters found in real archives with personal comments she writes, in a way her subjective version of the archive. During her first visit, she also collected interviews with local people who used to work at the mission.

And she shoots 16mm (non-sync, in color and in b/w) for her new project: A series of portraits mixed with passages of landscape and combined with fictive letters to the late doctor of the mission by former members of the mission who live in South Afrika. At this screening, Laurence will present “Nwa-Mankamana” the film from 2013, an edited reel called “Shiluvane Talks” and excerpts of “Lettres au Docteur L” as work-in-progress.

The artist will talk about the different facets of working with archives that she became engaged in, and she is looking forward to discuss her work.

Artist Link:
http://lrncfvr.net/
https://dafilms.com/director/9946-laurence-favre

Links:
Directors Lounge  http://www.directorslounge.net
Richfilm  http://www.richfilm.de/currentUpload/
Z-Bar  http://www.z-bar.de

CONTEMPORARY ART RUHR, MEDIA ART FAIR, 1 – 3 JUNE 2018

IN AN ALIEN LAND  by  Angela Christlieb and Maria Niro

Montages reveal a journey over time and space, as the film builds to evoke a hovering state of hallucinogenic like pictures of the subconscious.  The protagonist, moving simultaneously between space and time, is at once in an imaginary dream and at other times in a state of reality. The camera, both observational and voyeuristic, follows her on her journey as she crosses waters. We are lulled into a dream state by the film’s lush colors and its Super-8 film like quality. Then the story pivots as architecture and landscape become actors and interact with one another, the protagonist makes it to her final destination; New York City in the midst of a political crisis. Turmoil has overtaken the beautiful landscape and we are at once awakened into reality. The film is accompanied by a sound collage consisting of a minimalist musical element which build with electronic noise, fragments of shortwave radio, and then live sound of human protests.
The film is a collaboration between filmmaker and artist Angela Christlieb based in Vienna and who also stars in the film, and the New York artist, filmmaker, cinematographer Maria Niro. The concept came about during Christlieb’s visit in New York in the fall of 2016, during the presidential elections in the USA.

IN AN ALIEN LAND will be screened as part of the DL program at the contemporary art ruhr video lounge presented by Directors Lounge.

Find the complete program soon here.

Credits: Angela Christlieb and Maria Niro, Directors, producers, editors and sound design | Soundtracks: Hallicrafters (Eric Hubel, Algis Kysz), Chris Janka.
“Secretly sharing the landscape of the living” by Martin A. Smith.

DIRECTORS LOUNGE SPECIAL ON FLYING VISIT AT BAIZ

VIVEK BUDAKOTI (INDIA) PIED PIPER

Seen through the prism of Bertolt Brecht, the film Pied Piper is a satirical folklore of a simple laundryman, Chunnilal, who is rumored to have acquired his beloved donkey’s brains in a freak accident. Charming millions with his asinine conscience that refuses to let go, Chunnilal soon rises to become the most popular hero of his time whom the establishments starts to fear. Laced with black humour, the film mirrors the current socio-political status in India ranging from extreme disappointment to almost juvenile hopefulness.

www.piedpiper.magiclantern.co.in

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“Pied Piper” was shown in German premiere at the 10th Berlin International Directors Lounge.

TRT: 1:52:54
 

Location:
BAIZ, Schönhauser Allee 26A, 10435 Berlin, Wednesday, April 18, 7:30 pm

Directors Lounge Screening
Txema Novelo
Double Feature
Thursday, 22 February 2018
21:00
Z-Bar
Bergstraße 2
10115 Berlin-Mitte

Double Feature
*Déjalo Ser*
+ *Tercer Ojo, Tercer Mente, Tercer Mundo*

Txema Novelo from Mexico City is joining us for a Berlinale special to present a double feature of his new film „Déjalo Ser“ together with compilation of music videos that he created for alternative rock musicians in Mexico. Since Novelo started creating super-8 films for a punk music label he has managed in Mexico City. In the following years, he expanded his creative production in an exponential curve, with making his own films, with exhibitions of drawings and installations.
Novelo’s production at the same time stays faithful to his own spirit, and you could truthfully say, spiritual search for life, art, music and an alternative way to look at the world, which at the same time is mixed with irony and a good portion of humor.

“Déjalo Ser” is the story of a Rock Mexican band, who’s lead singer is suffering from a lack of inspiration. After a mysterious meeting with a foreign singer, the band embarks with her on a journey to Oaxaca in search of a mysterious psychoactive medicine. A trip inspired by Antonin Artaud exile into Mexico, a search for a primitive, deeper and purer reality.

Shot on Super 8mm with sync dialogues, this guerrilla style road movie, plays homage to George Kuchar’s films and transgression cinema in a unique Mexican way. Produced by LE FRESNOY under the tutelage of invited artist and film legend Bela Tarr, ‘Let it be’ has accomplished in the first six months of its completion a special mention at the Morelia International Film Festival, and a selection for international competition at Clermont Ferrand 2018 in France.

“Tercer Ojo, Tercer Mente, Tercer Mundo” (Spanish for: Third Eye, Third Mind, Third Word) is a selection of recent videos for musician, Novelo has supported for many years. They are shot in different formats of super-8, 16mm, 35mm film and digital video and in one way or the other make reference to avant-garde films. The films, and the music, are inspired by a desire for life and identity in a world of media domination, capital and crime, without ever taking things too seriously. They are full of iconographical quotes to rock and pop of the era that rock music still had a promise, and if it was the three minute fame promoted by Velvet Underground (or Andy Warhol), or when music was “my religion”. On the other hand, to the German audience and between the lines, they also show, a great deal of Mexican life and urban culture from the perspective of contemporary youth. Their relation to nature and Mexican popular culture, and the reality of urban live become the backdraft for audiovisual imaginations.

Artist Link:
http://www.txemanovelo.com/
https://issuu.com/txemanovelo

Links:
Directors Lounge  http://www.directorslounge.net
Richfilm  http://www.richfilm.de/currentUpload/
Z-Bar  http://www.z-bar.de

Directors Lounge Screening
Marissa Rae Niederhauser
Unbinding Spell
Thursday, 30 November 2017
21:00
Z-Bar
Bergstraße 2
10115 Berlin-Mitte

Marissa Rae Niederhauser, dancer, artist and filmmaker from Seattle, United States, lives in Berlin for two years, now. Her films vary between radical body expressions, and transcending body-nature relations, the complications of desire, and the search for love while counteracting the (male) role expectations.

Her work as an artist is based on modern and contemporary dance. After learning ballet at an early age, she studied dance at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle. Through documenting her early dance pieces, she learned how to edit video and moved from there to her own performances for the camera, while still frequently performing live dances. Though she does not have a formal training in visual arts, her process of working with video is surprisingly similar to visual artists working with performance and video. Like many artists, she often works alone or with only a small crew (camera/sound person) instead of big dance productions. Influences by artists like Ana Mendieta, Carolee Schneeman and Charlotte Moorman are becoming obvious in the pieces which have performance quality, while others are structured as dance choreography.

Marissa Rae Niederhauser will present a program of video work, all conceived and edited by herself. And she will be available for Q&A after the screening.

Artist Link:
www.marissa-rae-n.com/
http://marissaniederhauser.blogspot.de/

Links:
Directors Lounge  http://www.directorslounge.net
Richfilm  http://www.richfilm.de/currentUpload/
Z-Bar  http://www.z-bar.de

We are proud to present a special program curated by our comrade Bryan Konefsky, founder and mastermind behind Experiments In Cinema, at the  contemporary art ruhr, 27-29 Oct. 2017.

Select moving image work from Experiments in Cinema, a festival designed to bring the international community of cinematic experimentalists to Nuevo Mexico to inspire a new generation of media activists to participate in shaping future trends of cultural representation.

Artist list: Deborah Kelly, Kyra Clegg, Paul Tarragó, APOTROPIA (Antonella Mignone + Cristiano Panepuccia), Ruth Hayes, Dianna Barrie, Allan Brown, Guli Silberstein, Richard Ashrowan, Caryn Cline, Linda Fenstermaker and Reed O’Beirne, Kristen Lauth Shaeffer, Ian Haig, Natasha Cantwell, Patricia McInroy, Salise Hughes, Ra di Martino.

Detailed info: Directors Lounge at the Contemporary Art Ruhr 2017

www.experimentsincinema.org 

 

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C.A.R. Video Lounge | the complete EIC program:

Deborah Kelly, LYING WOMEN, 4 min, 2016, Australia
Kyra Clegg, Shadow Show, 4.25 min, 2015, Scotland
Ruth Hayes, Copper Perforation Loop Triptych, 3.5 min, 2016, USA
Dianna Barrie, Last Train, 12.5 min, 2016, Australia
Guli Silberstein, Cut Out, 4.5 min, 2014, UK
Richard Ashrowan, Five Angels, 5 min, 2016, Scotland
Caryn Cline, Linda Fenstermaker and Reed O’Beirne TRI-Alogue, no. 2,
3 min, 2016, USA
Kristen Lauth Shaeffer, 349, 3.25 min, 2015, USA
Ian Haig, Analogue, 2 min, 2016, Australia
Natasha Cantwell, The Solar System (In Luncheon Meat), 1 min, 2013, New
Zealand
Patricia McInroy, Stopped in Time, 2.5 min, 2016, Cuba
Salise Hughes, The Swimmer, 4 min, 2012, USA
Ra di Martino, A Short History of Abandoned Places, 10 min, 2012, Morocco

________

pictured: “Copper Perforation Loop Triptych” by Ruth Hayes and “A Short History of Abandoned Places” by Ra di Martino

Kulturwerk des bbk berlin at C.A.R. Video Lounge

Directors Lounge is pleased to present a selection of animations created by our partner Medienwerkstatt Berlin at the contemporary art ruhr, 27-29 Oct. 2017.

Since 2009, the artist run media workspace of the bbks´s Kulturwerk supplies infrastructure and media knowledge for visual artists to realise media art works.

In order to initiate cooperation and to share knowledge the media workspace is creating an expert-pool. Regulary meetings on media and art support media artists in Berlin and help networking between them. Themes are media borderlands and a critical understanding of new media. Also there is a wide offer of workshops at the Bildungswerk open for all visual artists in Berlin that are looking for support in their media work.

www.medienwerkstatt-berlin.jimdo.com

Detailed info:

Directors Lounge at the Contemporary Art Ruhr 2017

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C.A.R Video Lounge | the complete Medienwerkstatt Berlin program:

Maria Felix Korporal Eine Katze hat sieben Leben | A Cat Has Seven Lives 07:32 min
Laurent Bebín (Carbon Cream) weit weg | far away 00:50 min
Petra Lottje Fragen an den Mond | Questions to the Moon 04:46 min
Herbert Liffers Pendel | „Pendulum“ 03:12 min
Lina Walde In circles 02:35 min
Heike Hamann WG | WG (flatsharing) 03:00 min
Darko Aleksovski Texturen | Textures 01:17 min
Sandra Becker Mont Royal 02:20 min
Marissa Rae Niederhauser Heiligtum|Zuflucht | Sanctuary 02:42 min
Weronika Skonieczna Nein I No 00:21 min
Karen Thastum (Tura Ya Moya) Eis 02:00 min
Anett Vietzke & Veronika Bökelmann Rückzug | Retreat 05:00 min
Rosanna Chizhova Selbstportrait | SelfPortrait 05:00 min
Lioba von den Driesch heute wird morgen gestern sein | tomorrow today will be yersterday 02:00 min
Betty Böhm Nocturne  03:00 min
Helen Anna Flanagan Trance 02:13 min
Juliane Ebner Landstrich | Stretch of Land 09:00 min

_____________

pictured: “Eine Katze hat sieben Leben” by  Maria Felix Korporal /  “Mont Royal” by Sandra Becker

Directors Lounge Screening:
Crooked Beauty
Films by
Ken Paul Rausenthal

Ken Paul Rosenthal, filmmaker from San Francisco will present his films at Lichtblick, Berlin

Lichtblick-Kino
Kastanienallee 77
10435 Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg

Crooked Beauty (2010, 30 minutes)
This internationally acclaimed poetic documentary chronicles artist-activist Jacks McNamara’s transformative journey from psych ward inpatient to pioneering mental health advocacy. It is an intimate portrait of her intense personal quest to live with courage and dignity, and a powerful critique of standard psychiatric treatments. Poignant testimonials connect the fissures and fault lines of human nature to the unstable topography and mercurial weather patterns of the San Francisco Bay Area.

In Light, In! (2013, 12 minutes)
A haunting, visual essay about the awkward and angry junctures where our culture struggles to manage its emotional distress. Images recycled from 1950’s-era educational films are accompanied by original compositions by world-renowned cellist, Zoe Keating.

Director Bio
Ken Paul Rosenthal is a cinema artist and mental health advocate whose current work explores the geography of madness through the regenerative power of nature, urban landscapes, home movies, and archival footage from social hygiene films. His films are visually sensual, emotionally intelligent works of art that also function as tools for personal and societal transformation. His films, Crooked Beauty and In Light, In! have collectively won eighteen awards, screened in sixty film festivals, and been presented in person at dozens of peer support networks, universities, mental health symposium and community events worldwide.

http://www.lichtblick-kino.org/
http://directorslounge.net
http://www.kenpaulrosenthal.com