News from the German Film Scene

Entitled Provoking Reality: Mavericks, Movements, Manifestos, the festival will be presenting a major themed programme to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Oberhausen Manifesto. The focus is on the films made by the Manifesto’s signatories, whose works have been collected and restored for the festival programme.

What is more, the Short Film Festival places the Oberhausen Manifesto in the context of its time. Five movements from five different countries will be presented: the Balázs Béla Stúdió from Hungary, which was founded in 1959 as a field for experimentation outside the realms of official cinema; the New American Cinema Group led by Jonas Mekas, which in 1961 called for a radical change to US cinema; the Japanese “Eiga geijutsu no kai” (film art society), which in 1964 sought to reinvent documentary cinema; the Groupe des Trente from France, which made a stand for short films with their manifesto in 1953; and the Swedish group led by museum founder Pontus Hultén, which made a name for itself by combining visual art and experimental film.

Besides the programmes of film, the Short Film Festival will stage a panel discussion about the temporary groupings of filmmakers, artists and intellectuals who have used manifestos, challenging statements and declarations of intent to make their point, and their relevance to the present day. Further programmes of the 58th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen are dedicated to the artists Linda Christanell, Vera Neubauer, Ilppo Pohjola and Roee Rosen.