SURVIVAL KIT 2 film programme presents video works of 10 Berlin based artists and film makers. Three main thematic directions mark the film program: migration as a global survival strategy and the connected integration problems, situation in the post communist countries and inner strength and belief as help in the hard time.
Isabell Spengler’s Artist Talk with Film Excerpts Surviving Hollywood
Between 1996 and 2004 I lived in Los Angeles for about 6 years. I was working as a film editor on some rather boring publicity clips for a multi-media institution founded by George Lukas and as a creative assistant for a rich designer in Beverly Hills. The gap between the aesthetics and intent of the films I made in my free time and the kind of pro- ducts I earned my living with, was quite large. (Isabell Spengler)
Open Studio of New Belgrade Chronicle: Gazela Settlement
Tanja Ostojic, 2006, 6’
Open Studio of New Belgrade Chronicle is a TV series consisting of short programmes. It portrays citizens of Belgrade and is mostly focused on alternative values and marginalised persons and groups, who have restricted access to the media, and are often excluded from the decision-making processes that determine their lives and their future. (Tanja Ostojic)
Naine - a woman
Eléonore de Montesquiou, 2009, 15’
Olga is in her fifties. She has both Estonian and Russian passports, by nationality she is Russian, and she speaks only Russian. She was born in Narva (now Estonia) and lives in Ivangorod (now Russia), two cities facing each other on either side of the river Narva.
Our Pride and Glory
Meggie Schneider, 2009, 13’
The old heroes of the Soviet era observe the day-to-day life in the Ukrainian village of Buryn, which is growing apart from its past. Until now, the old role models in the province have not seen any real competition. But on the radio voices call for the victims of the Holodomor famine to be honoured in place of the World War II guerrillas.
Critical Review on Icelandic Power Structures
Nina Lassila, 2009, 15’
I the performative arts project for Reykjavik Arts Festival 2008 Nina interviewed the Icelanders about their future prospective an searched for “power” in Iceland. The answers are surprising when we look from today’s perspective... After the screening there will be meeting with directors!
Rien ne vaut que la vie, mais la vie même ne vaut rien
Brigitta Kuster & Moise Merlin Mabouna, 2002/2003, 24’
The video has been produced to a big extent in a home for asylum seekers in Zerbst, Saxonia-Anhalt. Its interest lies in the narration of circumstance of life, all participants are thereby actors in their own movie.
Sans Papiers
Brigitta Kuster & Moise Merlin Mabouna, 2004, 14’
The video portrays illegalised people in one of the major deportation jails in Germany, Berlin-Köpenick. Interviews with the detainees give testimony to the differences among those termed Sans Papiers and shed light on conditions of life and treatment when caught in the bureaucratic circles of control structures.
Shedding Details
Laura Horelli & Gerhard Friedl, 2009, 25’
After the screening there will be meeting with directors and a discussion on the subject of migration together with invited Latvian representatives!
Passing Drama
Angela Melitopoulos, 1999, 66’
The video ‘Passing Drama’ reflects the acoustic image of my family history. It tells the refugee story of my Greek family that came to me across three generations as a fragmentary and fairy-tale-like image. Flight as the fundamental motif of the story became the videographic theme of narrative, history and memory. (Angela Melitopoulos)
After the screening there will be meeting with director!
I Will Arrange Everything. It Will Be The Best Film Ever.
Gitte Villesen, 2010, 45’
The film is part of her long-term initiative constructed around Gittes encounters. The protagonists are three Gambian women from consecutive older generations and the relatives of Sarr. They tell about their lives and struggles, intertwined with their special knowledge on “juju”, the belief system that governs the social and political sphere in Gambia, including the position of women.
After the screening there will be meeting with directors!
New York Memories
Rosa von Praunheim, 2010, 89 min
20 years after his successful documentary “Survival in New York”, Rosa von Praunheim returns to the city, in which he had the most exciting time of his life. Rosa meets his former protagonists – three German women who have arrived in New York in 80ies. They tell about their struggles to find their place in the metropolis. Rosa remembers his own experiences in the wild seventies, when New York City was characterized by sexual liberation and eccentric individuals, and recollects the big changes in the eighties when AIDS started to take its toll.
Supported by: Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen (ifa), Culture Department of Riga City Council, Department of Science, Research and Culture of the Berlin Senate, Pro Helvetia, Swedish Arts Council, EU House in Riga; Thank you: Arsenal - Institute for Film and Video Art (Berlin)
Curated by: Agnese Luse (LCCA)