Detail

Pinoys in Berlin 1988

Raymond Red // Philippines // 1988 // 03:21 min

Documentary, Experimental

The spirit of Manila meets the Mauer. Made during a visit to Berlin by artists and filmmakers from the Philippines this lively short promotes good international relations and sheer creative fun as the film makers inspect and improve what was at the time the cities most iconic landmark. Kinetic undercranked camera work captures shots of (and over) the wall and a rare glimpse of 1980s street art as it happened. The legacy of the Goethe Institute international program that promoted Super 8 film in Manila and was responsible for the visit is still going strong today! A group of Filipino artists explore divided Berlin in the 1980s, enlivening the Wall with their creative interventions. A look at rare street art and international encounters.

Krause oder ein beschriebener Film ist halt wie ein erzähltes Mittagessen

Christoph Doering // Germany // 1988 // 12:35 min

Experimental, Live Action

Inventive meta-cinematic piece that balances many intelligent ideas with a refusal to take itself too seriously. Krause magnificently depicts the radical potential of moving image production while simultaneously highlighting it's limits as a source frustration and technological anxiety. We can't help but sympathise with our hero as he becomes evermore antagonised by 80's era phone systems, CRTs, out of sync sound (not to mention the constraints of genre theory) but ultimately we are left to wonder - what on earth would he have made of Tik-Tok?

Berlin / Alamo

Knut Hoffmeister // Germany // 1979 // 10:30 min

Documentary, Experimental

The first of three films by Knut Hoffmeister and the earliest, sees the overkill of the Hollywood version Battle of the Alamo transposed onto time lapsed Berlin with the Ammis and die Bullen strutting and swaggering just like John Wayne.Pork and beans become currywursts, the spit and sawdust of the saloon a chic Schöneberg wine bar; such point-blank metaphorizing reflected by the title is repeated, rapid-fire throughout, never fails to hit target.

BEC

Udo Penner // Germany // 1986 // 12:00 min

Experimental

Insomniac drift through a chiaroscuro nightscape; a film of missed connections, intimacy and isolation. The anarchy and grunge of Kreuzberg replaced here by slick Neo-Noir angles and New Wave beauty shots (filmed in fabulous downtown Bielefeld!). Cruising leatherboys, nighthawks at the diner, neon signs and dark allies build tension - or is it just desire? that ultimately seems to just slip away into night.

Zentri-Fuge

Centrifuge

Katarina Peters // Germany // 1985 // 05:00 min

Experimental

Agency afforded by the compact portability of the Super 8 Camera explored here in guerilla constructivist camera technique. Like Dziga Vertov's Kino Eye with a terrible case of the head-spins, we are cast through the air and as the ground looms forward we smash into it again and again. The cobbles and the concrete resemble reconnaissance photography on a hundred Kamikaze flights. Who needs a Steadicam when we have the Zentri-Fuge?

Normalzustand

Yana Yo // Germany // 1981 // 03:39 min

Music Video

Set to a thumping punk track, fast intercut imagery locates brutality and control in filmed, refilmed and found images of the Military, State and consumerism. Direct scratching onto film and kinetic hand held shots make this representative of Super 8 film making that seeks to transpose the tension and malcontent of the moment directly onto the film material.

Geile Tiere im Dschungel

Knut Hoffmeister // Germany // 1980 // 04:30 min

Experimental

Four minutes of high octane glam and a unique and vivid glimpse of a distinct time and place in the city's history. As the Geile Tiere tune-up, dress-up and let rip on the cramped stage of Berlin's legendary Dschungel club, the lo-fi characteristics of Super 8 are pushed to their limits. The results, both lurid and lavish give the privileged sense of being momentarily in the very centre of a scene that even in 1980 was accessible only to the few.

Bad Blood for the Vampyr

Lysanne Thibodeau // Germany // 1984 // 20:30 min

Live Action

If death for a 1980s Berlin vampire is as we are told 'but a dream' then and life is a series of skits, parodies and guest star cameos! Like any good horror spoof, this draws blood from a wide variety of sources. From Herzog's Nosferatu, Tony Scott's The Hunger and 1930s Universal horror to it's contemporary Cinema of Transgression this is clearly the work of cineastes and culture junkies as much as cine film makers. Blixa Bargeld, Tura Satana, Vampira, Bela Lugosi (back from the dead yet again!) and Heino impersonators pop up everywhere like whack-a-mole ghouls. The humour doesn't entirely get in the way of the gore here, so watch out, even plastic fangs can bite! .

Zitrusfrüchte II

Citrus Fruit II

Uli Versum // Germany // 1985 // 06:00 min

Experimental, Live Action

Like a citrus fruit that hangs up high - tangy and yet somehow quite intangible... Mr Uli Versum guides us through a boldly individual vision that seems to defy any attempt at simple definition. A reflection on method acting histrionics? A drama school tutorial on how to never allow oneself to be upstaged by a piece of fruit? A possible companion piece to Hollis Frampton's 'Lemon'? Some accomplished lighting and sound prove great effort went into realising this unique short that, for whatever it may lack in clarity, makes up for generously with it's zest!

Alaska

Oswald Berends // Netherlands // 1982 // 20:13 min

Documentary, Experimental

Static vignettes, gazes and glances of a nighttime city that seems to slowly revolve around it's somnambulist inhabitants. Another fine example of the Super 8 format affording glimpses into scenes and subcultures normally invisible to most. The high contrast of the stunning monochrome cinematography and a remarkable soundtrack that drifts in and out like the radio of a distant passing car evoke the drowsiness of an hour far passed bedtime yet where, for some, there remains time to wait.

Breshnev Rap

Knut Hoffmeister // Germany // 1983 // 04:30 min

Experimental

A montage of monochrome public shots of Soviet life, many looking as they filmed surreptitiously (perhaps another an example of Super 8's discrete portability) play against a funky soundtrack and speeches by the titular premier. The low contrast, washed out look of the film stock, possibly the Soviet Svema, sublimely captures the rain and smog of 80's Moscow. Although it's final layer of irony may only be accessible to Russophones this short film is great fun totally of it's time. Apparently Brezhnev's lips (or his ghost – he had in fact passed a way a year before the film was made) were provided by one of Bad Blood for the Vampyr's directors! .