Film Screening
Chamisso's Shadow: Chapter 2 - Chukotka and Wrangel Island

Sat, 21.07.2018
Regent Street Cinema

In this second section which consists of two parts, Ottinger’s ongoing journey takes her to Chukotka located in the Far Eastern region of Russia.

Part 1: Chukotka 2.15 PM
Part 2: Chukotka and Wrangel Island 7 PM

Ottinger establishes links to the ancient and recent histories of the surrounding islands, where the stories of characters as disparate as Roman Abramovich and Charles Cook are interlinked in the fabric of the islands’ memories. A recurring motif within the film is the logbook, on which Ottinger says “The logbook of imagination that accompanied me on my journey and the logbook of reality that I encountered turn into a new creation: a spatial, poetic, and cinematic reality.” These new creations also allow for a temporal fluidity as demonstrated by this section’s engagement with the Yupik people. Known as Russia’s Inuits from a small village called Novoye Chaplino, they perform dances taking inspiration from moments from their everyday life.

Germany 2016, colour, 192 + 156 mins., DCP, With English subtitles. Screenplay, Direction and Camera: Ulrike Ottinger.

This screening has been organised by the Birkbeck Institute for the Moving (BIMI), the Centre for Research and Education in Arts and Media (CREAM), the Goethe-Institut und LUX. With support from the Open City Documentary Film Festival and in association with the German Screen Studies Network.