Portrait and Diary with Ute Aurand
Films, whether fiction films or documentaries, often stand for straight and fixed narratives. However, when a film becomes a medium for daily recording, it becomes a diary in which the author actively and consciously chooses which event to record. It can be about the routine of working life, about the preparations for lunch, or the jostling on the train, about a holiday in the house of a relative far away from the hustle and bustle of the city, just like anything else. It's about how a person positions herself, captures and determines her perspectives in her private and social spaces. This practice is known to us as writing: Many people know how to record everyday events of themselves, for personal reflection or for publication in a suitable place. But most people are unfamiliar with a cinematic diary practice. Many questions arise: How can shots of daily events be a film at the same time? How can you determine the images and events you want to capture? How do you position yourself in this work? Is it a fictional or documentary work?
With Film is Her Notebook we explore the posed questions together Berlin-based experimental filmmaker Ute Aurand, who throughout her career has been making films with a portrait approach and diary using the medium of 16mm celluloid film. Together we will watch films, discuss, and work with analogue film material.
---
Ute Aurand, born in Frankfurt/Main, West Germany in 1957 and raised in Berlin, studied at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (DFFB) from 1979 to 1985. Alongside her own film work she has been curating film programs since 1990 – the monthly “Filmarbeiterinnen-Abend” (1990-1996) and the series “Sie zum Beispiel” (1995–96). She is co-founder of the group “Filmsamstag” (1997–2007) as well as of the series “Großes Kino, kleines Kino,” experimental films for children, Arsenal. She has taught at the Universities of the Arts in Hamburg and Bremen as well as at the HGKZ in Zurich. In 2015 she initiated a Bolex workshop. Her films have been seen at international film festivals.
Back
