Film Screening
“ULRIKE OTTINGER: NOMAD FROM THE LAKE” BY BRIGITTE KRAMER

GOETHE FILMS: Ulrike Ottinger in Asia

Thu, 03/01/2018
9:00 PM TIFF Bell Lightbox Toronto

Series co-presented by Inside Out, MUFF Society & Reel Asian Film Festival

Ulrike Ottinger, the grande dame of German avant-garde film and “nomad filmmaker”, has worked in Asia numerous times in her five-decade career. Combining fact and fiction, Ottinger’s films follow her adventurous curiosity and create a unique poetic imagery. The three films JOHANNA D’ARC OF MONGOLIA (1989), EXILE SHANGHAI (1997) and UNDER SNOW (2011) presented by the Goethe-Institut follow women in Mongolia, exiles in Shanghai, and Kabuki artists in Japan.
 

Ulrike Ottinger: Nomad from the Lake (Ulrike Ottinger – Die Nomadin vom See, Germany 2012, 86 min), documentary directed by Brigitte Kramer, narrated by Eva Mattes, with Irm Hermann, Ulrike Ottinger and others
 
Festival: Berlinale 2012

Ulrike Ottinger’s career begins with her creative roots in her home town on Lake Constance at the German-Swiss-Austrian border. Describing key moments in her life, including the impact of student protests in Paris and her move from painting to filmmaking, Kramer traces Ottinger’s artistic development. Through interviews and film excerpts, this intimate personal close-up portrays one of the most important voices in German film.
 

“Even when I go for a walk, I always see images, I always think ‘I would frame it like…’. That’s why I like going for walks so much.”  - Ottinger on Bayerischer Rundfunk
 
 
Brigitte Kramer (born 1954) is a German filmmaker and journalist based in Berlin. She studied politics and German language and literature in Marburg and subsequently worked as a dramatic advisor at Frankfurt Theatre. Kramer grew up in the same city as Ulrike Ottinger and their paths crossed every now and then – an ideal starting point for the documentary.
 
Ulrike Ottinger (born 1942 in Constance) studied art in Munich from 1959-1961. She lived in Paris from 1962, working as a freelance artist and photographer. She has been living in Berlin since 1973 and is a member of the Academy of Arts and the European Film Academy in Berlin. Ottinger has been a unique and provocative voice in German cinema since her debut in the early 1970s. To date, she has directed 24 films, including feature-length fictions and experimental documentaries. Her films are held up for their radicality, not only of narrative but also of their treatment of sexuality and gender. Ottinger writes her own scripts, frequently operates the camera and even designs the often elaborate sets and lavish costumes showcased in her films. Ottinger has worked in photography throughout her career as an artist. Her other “Asian” films include “China. The Arts – The People” (1985), “Taiga” (1991/1992), “Seoul Women Happiness” (2008) and “The Korean Wedding Chest” (2008). In 2011, Ottinger’s creative output was celebrated in two major solo exhibitions and retrospectives of her films; she also received the Hannah Höch and the Berlinale Special Teddy Queer Film Award 2012. She is currently working on her next film "Paris Calligrammes", slated for 2018.
 
Film co-presented by Hot Docs & POV



 
All GOETHE FILMS are open to audience 18+
 
Part of the Goethe-Institut’s focus on German Film

03/01 | 6:30pm | "Under Snow" by Ulrike Ottinger
03/06 | 6:30pm | "Exile Shanghai" by Ulrike Ottinger
03/08 | 6:30pm | "Johanna d’Arc of Mongolia"  by Ulrike Ottinger