Kasseler Dokumentarfilm- und Videofest

The Ambassador & Me

A son, a father. The father is a Polish ambassador and a national hero. The son accompanies him to work – with his camera. The father works. The son explores the boundaries of family diplomacy.

Born Behind the Stones

A story about two unalike families: The parents of the filmmaker were farmers, before they immigrated to Switzerland from Portugal. Her boyfriend stems from a well-off family of academics. The girl from a simple background finds her prince – the plot of a telenovela. If only things were this easy. A dry family analysis.

Eliane

Eliane was 75 years old and seemed to be at one with herself, as she decided to end her life. Her daughter and a friend speak about this loss, about possible explanations and failures, about fault and self-determination. An attempt to grasp suicide of the elderly.

I would prefer not to

“'I WOULD PREFER NOT TO' is an attempt to paint a cinematic oil-painting of an old man who accomplished and moved a lot for German culture. He was one of the most influential cultural politicians in Germany, founder of the short film festival in Oberhausen and the President of the Goethe Institute. Honoring his accomplishments, I wanted to get to know the person behind all these actions. […]I wanted to be close to this old man and learn from him. Hilmar did not make it easy for me.” (Anna Hepp)

Looking at Looking, Comprehending Comprehension: H

The series “LOOKING AT LOOKING, COMPRENDING COMPREHENSION” translates complex philosophical texts into graphic figures. An unconventional but fruitful confrontation between the sensual world of animations and abstract concepts. This episode of the series deals with Hegel’s definition of the subjective spirit.

The Story of Milk and Honey

In THE STORY OF MILK AND HONEY an unknown narrator guides us through a complex structure of texts, images and music – fragments of an artistic research in Lebanon. A multi-layered narration unfolds, trying to grasp the failure of telling a love story.

Clean Your Room

Mary Poppins is cleaning. But the horrible things, that arise from the corners of the children’s room, will not be able to deal with using a little „Abracadabra“.

Comparing Now and Then

Santiago Alvarez’ film collage to Lena Horne’s song “Now” is a cinematic manifesto of the American civil rights movement. COMPARING NOW AND THEN puts contemporary news images next to historic material from 1965 in a split screen. Where are parallels, where differences? The film is a review, an homage and an appeal at once: We mean action, now!

Deranged

National mourning in North Korea. Aesthetically manipulated, the news images of the mourning masses invite to reflect on the nature of simulation.
"To dissimulate is to pretend not to have what one has. To simulate is to feign to have what one doesnt have. One implies a presence, the other an absence. But it is more complicated than that because simulating is not pretending" (Jean Baudrillard)