Screenings

The documentary feature film traditionally constitutes the center piece of the Kassel Dokfest. More than 40 films will be presented during this years festival (2014) in the cinemas “Gloria” and “Filmladen”. This section shows documentary films with a total running time of more than 65 minutes; one focus lies on film productions from German-speaking regions.

The final program in 2014 has been selected from more than 487 submissions. The criteria, which influence the selection, are the political, social and cultural relevance of the topics as well as the artistic handling of this topic in the submitted work. Next to more classical forms of presentation, the Dokfest is open for the introduction of innovative formats, which show alleged boundaries of the genre, the might and the power of manipulation of images. Furthermore low or no budget productions, works by up-and-coming artists as well as new projects of well-known filmmakers at the Kassel Dokfest receive special attention during the selection process:because accompanying documentary works-in-progress continually is as important to us as offering a platform for the perspectives of bold and extraordinary projects.

A viewing committee, consisting of four people with different professional backgrounds (since 2009), is responsible for the selection of this section. Next to their interest in the political and cultural happenings of the world and their curiosity towards courageous and unconventional (life) stories, this group of four is unified in a cinematic obsession for documentary film in all its topical and aesthetic forms as well as their pleasure in passionate discussion about the best documentary films for the Kassel film festival.  

Every year the committee members take part in several national and international film festivals and other meetings of the film industry. Here the aim is to get an overview of the newest productions and foster contacts with filmmakers, before the main viewing process of the yearly submissions starts in the late summer months. 

Obviously, the selection is only able to show a part of the increasing abundance of documentary work every year, trying to none-the-less cover a broad spectrum of topics and forms and reaching an equally broad audience during the festival days.

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Forty-three is the cross sum of four-hundred-eightyseven. That is of course mathematically wrong. But with regard to the feature films program of the 31st Kassel Dokfest not actually so wrong. The call for documentary works of 65 minutes or longer has been followed this year by 487 filmmakers. During the festival, 43 feature films will be presented in Filmladen and Gloria Cinema.
Considering the new record number of works submitted, it is worth noting that the festival is remarkably being noticed abroad and an increasing number of international productions reach us. In the selection process, the members of the committee have to be open minded to be surprised, overwhelmed, impressed, irritated, but also unsettled by the unbridled amount of issues, perspectives, and modes of film work displayed. And then it’s a question of finding a representative selection of this rich collection – a number that should represent a good profile of all of them, preferably.
Each film is the product of a unique sequence of pictures, language, sound and music.
At the same time there are connections in the multifaceted artistic inventories of what moves the world politically, socially, and existentially – locally, but also globally.

The Political affects all continents: from courageous activist women in Egypt to the unmasking of medial power in the Estonian political circus (and not only there) and large-scale autonomous self-administration right in the middle of Caracas. Economic crises are dissected in microcosms in Germany and Russia. Schooling is observed to identify reasons for the continuing conflicts in the Middle East. Stories and facts of both world wars are detected, sometimes meticulously, sometimes with the assistance of theatre pedagogues. THE FOREST is an extraordinary illumination of the escalation forms ‘crisis – conflict – war’ in Southeast Europe in the second half of the 20th century. In very personal approaches political issues reveal social realities – here in the reflective search for ground after the experience of alienation (GAZE), there rather humorously lightweight (TITOS BRILLE). Local issues are discussed with the topics political asylum, modern city planning and East-West German recent history. The existential element unfolds when having to deal with illness, abuse and death. Apparent trivialities like a shopping street in Mexico, love trouble in New York or sexual phantasies of elderly people hit the viewer with brilliant storytelling through fabulous images and montage.
And what about art itself? Most different odes are dedicated to it – from an intense portrait of a musician over a breathtaking look inside THE GREAT MUSEUM to the experimental questioning of creative processes, their influences and relevance of art.
While Michel Gondry is occupied with translating complex thought into drawing, Olivier Peyon’s HOW I CAME TO HATE MATH helps us comprehend how the all-encompassing, order-creating power of mathematics came about. However, a curated film program can and must never be a logical sequence of a static mathematical formula.
Both, we and the filmmakers are excited to experience six enlightening festival days and a curious and critical audience to whom we wish pleasure and astonishing moments in the creative classification of the individual films.

The feature films section is especially indebted to one of the founding members of Kassel Dokfest, Irmhild Scheuer, for her work in over 30 festivals. We salute her for her tireless engagement and unbroken passion. And we are grateful that we can still count on her rich experience and caring work for the whole team, the filmmakers and the audience in future, because she will still be our adviser and a vital part of the new section DokfestGeneration. Here’s to Imi! 

24 programs of short and mid-length documentary and experimental films are being presented this year (2014) at the Kassel Documentary Film and Video Festival. The 6 members of the selection committee had the task of capturing the themes and trends in contemporary film production from around 2,000 films submitted. The result is a program ranging from observational documentaries to abstract animations, personal essays to queer political music videos to artistic-activist field tests. From films sighting places to family portraits, an incredible diversity of filmic examination of reality.

 In many respects, these films invite you to question positions held, to change your perspective. This happens decidedly in MADE IN GERMANY where the topics of fleeing, migration and belonging from the oftdiscussed borders of Europe is brought right to the heart of local society. The revolutions and upheavals of recent years which are closely related accompany us too. LATE REVOLUTIONS takes a look at the lesser observed secondary stages of resistance and enquires into whether the revolutionary outbreaks are something lasting. CONFLICTS takes a second look at the conditions under which pictures of global crisis emerge. Overall it is shown that mass production of pictures is still accompanied by critical reflection about power, manipulation and control. Between the programs in:formation, FROM PRESUMABLY WELL INFORMED SOURCES and PRESUMPTIONS OF THE REAL a lively spectrum of critical strategies is created between deconstruction and appropriation. Two programs are concerned with questions of Ecology from quite different perspectives, climate change and the coexistence of man and nature (CLIMATIC ADVERSITY, BARGAINING ZONE). Group dynamics on a local and personal level are thematised by three further programs: DOMINANT RELATIONSHIPS devotes itself to the self-actualization of the individual in a group, SHARED MISERY to the care and ambivalence towards others and in I, YOU, HE, SHE, IT intimate emotional bonds are traced.

 Manifold relationships manifest themselves not just in space, but also in time – a dimension which can have a particularly direct effect on films as material-less time capsules: in a ghostly way, they flutter over the projection screen, bringing memories into the present and projecting possible futures. In ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE PRESENT memories crystallize in places and in objects which are laid bare, layer by layer by the filmic medium. In other places a tomorrow is planned in order to create GREAT EXPECTATIONS whose dubious idylls always unfold when one turns one’s back too decisively on the omnipresent past. The upholding of memory in contrast is the subject of THE GHOSTS I CALLED where once again, historic migratory movements determine personal stories and the schemes of the past leave their transcendental traces in the personal odysseys of the protagonists.
 It also gets ghostly in PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A DEAD MAN: here the dead and those who will become it get their chance to speak. And the forgotten, which forces itself to the surface with all its might is the subject of HARD TO TELL.

One of the declared aims of the Kassel Dokfest is the presentation of regional works next to the works of international filmmakers and artists – on equal terms. This years festival program (2014) includes 53 fictional, animation or documentary films of filmmakers from Northern Hesse. Therefore this section is not limited to the genre of documentary but open for all genres. The predominantly short works are shown in special compilation programs as well as part of the regular program. 

The screenings offer an important platform for the filmmakers to present their work to a broader audience and to network with film professionals – this is especially important for younger filmmakers in the region, who often have their festival debut in Kassel.

Not only does this create a space for new experiences, where up-and-coming talents can prove themselves in front of an interested audience and international critics but this also results in a unique forum of exchange, leaving its footprint in the region and even Europe. The commitment to the region – approximately 10 per cent of all shown works are from Northern Hesse – is very important for the Kassel Dokfest. The last years have shown that local talent and regional works must not be shy in comparison to others and that the festival can serve as a stepping stone to national and international recognition.

Since 2001 the Kassel Dokfest awards the “Golden Hercules”, endowed with 3,000 € to extraordinary film productions from Northern Hesse. The competition is open to all formats and genres presentable on a big screen. Films are accepted, whose director’s place of residence is in Northern Hesse or who are enrolled in the University of Kassel, the Kassel College of Fine Arts or a comparable institution in Northern Hesse or works that were realized and produced in Northern Hesse. The local Newspaper “Die Hessische/Niedersächsische Allgemeinen” (HNA) was the sponsor for this prize from 2001 to 2007. Since then the prize is sponsored by the Machbar GmbH, an agency for corporate communication with its head office in Kassel.

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Film program from Northern Hesse (Golden Hercules) 2014: One of the declared aims of the Kassel Dokfest is to present regional works next to the works of international filmmakers and artists – on equal terms. The festival program includes 53 fictional, animation or documentary films of filmmakers from Northern Hesse. The commitment to the region – approximately 18 per cent of all presented works are from Northern Hesse – is very important for the Kassel Dokfest. The last years have shown that local talent and regional works are by all means able to compete and that the festival can serve as a steppingstone to national and international recognition. Proof positive of this is Jan Heise’s film ES GEHT AUCH ANDERS, produced last year as part of competition “Not without my mobile! Is my behavior wrong? Or: The correct use of my mobile in the cinema!” for the 30th anniversary of the Kassel Dokfest, and which won one of the three awards. ES GEHT AUCH ANDERS received an honorable mention as part of the initiative ‚Next Generation Short Tiger’ and Jan Heise was invited to personally present his work. The initiative is jointly organized by German Films and the German Federal Film Board (FFA) during the Cannes Film Festival to present the creations of German talents in short film to an international audience.