To the Future Turned We Stay
“From the ruins risen newly / To the future turned, we stand... ” – The first verses of the national anthem of the German Democratic Republic paint a graphic picture of the extent to which political changes and ideological turnarounds are inscribed into architecture. The compilation assembles a variety of formal approaches addressing phases of rupture and upheaval: The utopian ideas behind architectural concepts, the negotiations which decide how ruins and their related histories are dealt with in society, and the individual fates of the people who are directly affected by these processes.
Between Flashback and Déjà-vu II
Sofia. A city panorama from an elevated point of view is interspersed with close-up shots of the facade of a high-rise building. Two cameras, two perspectives, an encounter at eye level.
- Bulgarien
- 00:09:00
- Director: Krassimir Terziev
- Production: Krassimir Terziev
- Photography: Krassimir Terziev
- Editing: Krassimir Terziev
- Music: Krassimir Terziev
- Sound: Krassimir Terziev
- Year: 2016
Gagarin's Tree
An interview with philosopher Ovidiu Tichindeleanu engages issues of space exploration, imagination and propaganda in the socialist utopia, the post-communist condition as liberal colonisation, linked – Ovidiu proposes – to other sites of decolonisation through a new historical consciousness. The protagonist's reflection departs from the unstable nature of today's ruins: these are the ruinous future of different pasts, of different messianisms, or modes of conceiving the notion of historical destination in the last decades.
- Rumänien
- 00:22:50
- Director: Mona Vatamanu, Florin Tudor
- Languages: ro
- Subtitles: en
- Year: 2016
- Website
Cinéma Emek, Cinéma Labour, Cinéma Travail
Emek Cinema was a historical movie theatre located in Beyoğlu district of Istanbul. Despite court rulings favouring the safeguard of the architectural site of cultural heritage and multiple protests thorugh several years, it was demolished in 2013 by order of the government. It was a space of millions of individual memories intertwined with narratives of thousands of films. Like embroidery in the making, its architectural features appear, creating its now extinct screen.
- Frankreich, Türkei
- 00:05:15
- Director: Özlem Sulak
- Production: Gaëtan Robillard
- Sound: Tony Houziaux
- Year: 2016
- Europe Premiere
Auto-Portrait
The view of a building being demolished in the back yard triggers a series of associations: Childhood memories, family stories, images, objects and symbols. Urban transformation and personal experience intertwine – the demolition becomes a method of introspection, shaping how one’s autobiography can be told.
- Türkei
- 00:03:45
- Director: Özden Demir
- Production: Özden Demir
- Photography: Özden Demir
- Editing: Özden Demir
- Sound: Özden Demir
- Languages: tr
- Subtitles: en
- Year: 2016
- German Premiere
my castle your castle
The video MY CASTLE YOUR CASTLE investigates the construction site of the Berliner Stadtschloss (the Berlin Castle), a Prussian baroque palace currently being rebuilt on the site of the “Palace of the Republic,” the now-demolished seat of the GDR’s parliament. While significantly damaged during World War II, the Berliner Stadtschloss survived and was only finally torn down in 1950, following a decision of GDR authorities. Kerstin Honeit explores this loaded building site as a place where national hegemonies supposedly transform into identity-generating architectures, and thus appear as spaces which may be conquered and restaged.
- Deutschland
- 00:14:47
- Director: Kerstin Honeit
- Production: Kerstin Honeit
- Photography: Ljupcho Temelkovski , annette hollywood
- Editing: Kerstin Honeit
- Music: Damian Rebgetz, Paul Hankinson
- Sound: Philipp Fröhlich
- Languages: de
- Subtitles: en
- Year: 2017
- Golden Key
Mother They Kicked You off the Pedestal
Essayistisch montierte dokumentarische Aufnahmen, die sich mit Archivmaterial vermischen, zeigen einen jungen Mann, der durch Hoyerswerda läuft und nach einer verschwundenen sozialen Plastik sucht. Als wäre sie ein Denkmal, scheint er sie in Verbindung mit seiner Mutter zu bringen. Doch der Film scheint vielmehr mit Brigitte Reimann zu tun zu haben – eine Schriftstellerin, die in dieser Stadt von 1960-68 lebte. Sie liebte die Stadt und versuchte sie aktiv zu kritisieren. Das architektonische Konzept der Stadt ist der Ausgangspunkt für die Probleme, die sie in ihrem Alltag sah.
- Deutschland
- 00:05:48
- Director: Anna Kindermann
- Production: Anna Kindermann
- Photography: Paul Barsch und Anna Kindermann
- Editing: Anna KIndermann
- Music: Mutter
- Sound: Antonio de Luca
- Languages: de
- Subtitles: en
- Year: 2017
- A38-Production Grant
- Europe Premiere
