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14th International Short Film Festival Berlin 1998

In 1998 the motto was "Sex & Madness". The festival took place at Balazs, Im Eimer, Meinblau, Kino Central, CinemaX Colloseum, Haus der Kulturen der Welt (opening) and Kino in den Hackeschen Höfe.

In 1998, interfilm founder Heinz Hermanns was joined by Alexander Stein and Matthias Groll. Both are still active at interfilm today. In 2000, interfilm Berlin Management GmbH was founded and the office moved from Urban- & Oranienstrasse to Tempelhofer Ufer. In 1998, the festival was held completely  in Berlin-Mitte for the first time.

230 films from 25 countries are shown in 36 program blocks.

An international jury awards five prizes worth 10,000 DM. Of 820 films submitted, 90 are shown in the competition and 40 alone in the "eject" program - the "long night of deviant film". A hundred more films and videos - in all formats' - were researched independently of the free call for entries in England, Italy, Holland, Denmark and at German short film festivals. They are spread over more than 20 programs - from country programs to historical animations to a soccer special, from documentaries, seminars and video programs to the German premiere of a very unusual feature film about Hitler.

In addition to the programs, interfilm 14 organized a "Long Night of Unusual Film" at Galerie Meinblau.

A jury awarded five prizes worth a total of 10,000 marks.

At the last festival, the motto was "Myths and Magic". It was shown that occultism, superstition and mass delusion - often subliminally - shape our everyday life. In the theme "Evil and the Drive" (1995), we asked to what extent horror in the form of egoism, violence and war is normality, and what kind of man indulges in the animalistic and the absurd. In 1993 the festival was dedicated to "Science and Fiction". The wide spectrum of films submitted demonstrated how science and futuristic world concepts go beyond man's imagination, and how mankind's fears of the future, dreams and nightmares are articulated.

This year's theme "Sex and Madness" springs directly from social life: sexuality occupies us every day! Sex, love and security are on the one hand the most beautiful thing in the world, but can also turn out fatal by wrong dosage and end in hate and alienation. But sex should not only be understood under the aspect of love, lust and passion, but also - analogous to the English term 'sex' - as a confrontation with sexuality, which all too often appears in the form of the opposite sex as the natural enemy of one's own sex. The films trace the confrontations with the idiosyncrasies and conflicts of people with each other in very diverse ways.

It is not far from sex to madness - at the latest since Freud and Jung we know about their close interconnectedness. Madness - and lust - are in every human being and everyone is in an eternal struggle with himself. Right after birth the trouble about personal identity and interpersonal insanity goes Ios. Conflicting drives and needs make latent schizophrenic. The only question is how to address the inner conflicts, and what emerges from the forces of struggle. Besides the quite normal madness, today's reality is characterized by a medially exaggerated "lust for madness": Through the exaggeration of the "usual," through the "flight into the extreme," the meaning of madness and meaning merge into the norm. Pleasure and suffering collide in the festival's film programs, as do "bodily pleasure" and destruction.

The eccentric exaggeration of reality, psychotraumatic abysses and all manner of cruelty are vividly explored. Sexuality and madness are on the one hand social taboos, on the other hand they are - probably for this reason - staged with mass appeal. Madness haunts us: camera-equipped helicopters chase after fugitive murderers, hostage-taking is perfectly staged, and murder and assassination are box-office hits in the live version - long live catastrophe. disproportionately and as if through a magnifying glass, the media present sex in abundance. The nation's sex life is on public display. Television cameramen invade beds and swingers' clubs to be present at the sex act itself. Conversely, there is an almost exhibitionistic need in talk shows, gazettes and magazines to communicate personal inadequacies, relationship delusions and positional struggles and make them a public message. Whether the breasts are too big, the tail too small, whether sex with hamster, dog or chicken is better with or without Viagra - a "normal relationship" is taboo in the media shredder.

We will present the subject differently than the visual media can with feature film format and reality documentation: the short film is characterized by very personal and anecdotal perspectives. In contrast to television and feature films, the short film is less commercial and economically far more independent, ranging from subversive directness to poetic fantasy. The creative diversity of this medium will be on full display in the 36 festival programs. The multiple faces of the battle of the sexes correspond with the rich language of different film formats and aesthetic categories. The 25 countries represented guarantee a further richness of facets. Many films deal with the subject in amusing or ironic ways. Others treat issues such as rape and child abuse very seriously and sensitively. Some works take the child's perspective and others address consumerism, the "stronger sex" and sex education. The eternal dilemma between man and woman leads again and again to the question, ab man and women fit together at all. The answers presented on the screen are diverse, but clear. We have put together an exciting program in the four Berlin cinemas and wish you entertaining excitement!

Program   

Wettbewerb
Animated Battle of the Sexes
Bodygames
Longing & Delusion
Lust & Last
Passion, Desires & Extremities
Consumption,
Lust & Gluttony
Film Phantasies
Encounters of a Strange Kind
The other Glance

Video ultra
Manpower
Powerwomen
II Futuro e Obsoleto

Länderkurzfilmprogramme
Holland
Neuseeland
Dänemark
Irland / Nordirland England / Schottland

Historische Kurzfilmprogramme
Early American Sexfilms 1915 -1950
Sex in Early American Cartoons 1928 -1965
The Birth of Betty Boob Sex and Insanity Show 1930 -1933 American Ecucational Films of the 70ees
The Teenage Sex Show

Dokumentarfilmprogramme
Human Remains & Stripped and Teased
Voyeur

Sonderprogramme / Specials
Erotic Tales
Black Blood
Fußballfilme / Soccer

Spielfilm
The Empty Mirror (Dt. Erstaufführung)

Eject

Seminare
INTRO - Analyse des pornografischen Films
Widerwärtigkeiten: Einblicke in das Negative (Der Splatterfilm)

Awards

1st prize
Voucher for subtitling worth DM 5,000 made possible by cover picture

2nd prize
Film material worth DM 2.300 made possible by Fuji

3rd prize
Voucher for a long weekend with cultural program and Sunday jazz brunch (2 persons) worth DM 1400 made possible by Forum Hotel

4th prize
Technical equipment worth DM 800 made possible by Foto Braune

5th prize
Film material worth DM 500 made possible by interfilm