Children, Childhood, Cinema

Oberhausen has been showing short films for children for 30 years now. But who still remembers the details of his childhood? That feeling of boundless joy, oblivious to the rest of the world, or the experience of powerlessness? Rather than a retrospective, to celebrate this anniversary curator Marcel Schwierin has put together five programmes that remind the adult viewer what it was like to be a child. Belying the still widespread cliché of the carefree days of childhood, the programme opens up a more ambivalent vista on this formative period in every person's life. The selection of films shown range from Uli Versum's 'Faszinierendes Puppenhaus' (1987), in which a doll's house becomes the stage for an existential childhood drama, to Herz Frank's 'Ten Minutes Older' (1978), a look at children on their first visit to the theatre, to 'Brats' (1930), in which Laurel & Hardy can be seen in double roles as both fathers and sons.

The curator:

Marcel Schwierin, freelance curator and filmmaker.

He has curated events including the Werkleitz biennials and publishes an Internet database for experimental film and video art: cinovid.org. Oberhausen 2005 "The Fallen Curtain".

Programm:

Opening: Line of View, 3 May, 19 h

Par 10 minutem vecaks (10 Minuten älter), Herz Frank, UdSSR 1978, 10 min

Summer Lightnings, Victor Alimpiev, Russia 2004, 2 min 30 sek

Why Don't You Love Me? (Phoenix Tapes #4), Christoph Girardet & Matthias Müller, Germany 1999, 8 min 30 sek

Milk of Amnesia, Jeffrey Scher, USA 1992, 5 min 40 sek

Mother, Father, Mother 4 May, 12.30 h

Mother's Day, James Broughton, USA 1948, 22min

Land of Mist, Suvi Andrea Helminen, Denmark 2003, 26 min

WASP, Andrea Arnold, Great Britain 2003, 23 min

Teacher Can You Here Me? 4 May, 17 h

Babies on Parade, Universal-International Newsreel, USA 1950, 1 min

Dva Zakona, Vefik Hadzismajlovic, Jugoslawia 1968, 10 min

Außenseiter, Medienprojekt Wuppertal, Germany 2004, 14 min

Summer Lightnings, Victor Alimpiev, Russia 2004, 3 min

Gay or Not, Wai Yee Chan & Yee Nam Lou, China 2004, 22 min

Upside-Down or Phantomas in the Province, Veniamin Tronin, Russia 2005, 20 min

The Oral Thing, Bj?rn Melhus, Germany 2001, 9 min

Girls Girls Girls 5 May 12.30 h

Toward Emotional Maturity, Knickerbocker Productions, USA 1954, 11 min

Einwicklung mit Julia, Ulrike Rosenbach, Germany 1973, 5 min

Pancia - Frauchen, Iwona Siekierzynska, Poland 1995, 15 min

About a Girl, Brian Percival, Great Britain 2001, 10 min

Masha, Dana Goldberg, Israel 2005, 10 min

Leonie Saint, Jana Debus, Germany 2006, 13 min

In a Material World 5. Mai 17 Uhr

The Little Match Seller, James Williamson, Great Britain 1902, 3 min

Eine Million Kredit ist normal, sagt mein Großvater, Gabriele Mathes, Austria 2006, 22 min

Station, Martin Brand, Germany 2005, 15 min

One Black/One White, Hung-Chih Peng, Taiwan 2001, 3 min

Rabbit, Run Wrake, Great Britain 2005, 9 min

Magnificent Ray, Sarah Miles, Great Britain 2000, 23 min

Size Does Matter 6 May 12.30 h

Yozhik v tumane (Igel im Nebel), Yuri Norstein, UdSSR 1975, 11 min

Brats, James Parrott (Laurel & Hardy), USA 1930, 20 min

Faszinierendes Puppenhaus, Uli Versum, Germany, 1987, 9 min

L'outil n'est pas toujours un marteau, Sylvie Laliberté, Canada 1999, 9min

Kshy, Tra, Ghya, Amit Dutta, India 2004, 22 min

Contact: Stefan Hahn