68th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, 30 April – 9 May 2022
Cinema Expanded at the 68th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen
Film as a live and spatial experience, 4-9 May
What is possible in cinema beyond digital projection? With a series of programmes across the sections, the 68th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen explores alternative forms of film presentation – film at the intersection of cinema and museum, art and film, music and performance. From 4 to 9 May, contemporary works by artists who understand cinema as a live, spatial and audiovisual experience are presented, inviting audiences to expand and enhance their experience. The focus also includes analogue film – its projection, production, materials and processes, as well as conversation formats and live performances.
Labs
Since 2018, Oberhausen has annually presented the diverse landscape of international artist labs dedicated to analogue film. 17 works from labs in India, Egypt, Australia, the U.S., Europe, and other countries will be screened entirely un-digitally with analogue projectors, including a programme of works that will be created at a Film Farm Workshop during the festival.
9 May
Performances
The Celluloid Expanded series presents live performances from Canadian artist labs, curated by Erin Weisgerber, all of which have one thing in common: They use the materials and tools of analogue film and experiment with time, temperature, chemicals, printing processes, natural decay through time and weather, and other factors. The section is completed by an Artist Talk with the artists in attendance.
6 and 8 May, Artist Talk on 8 May
Lectures
Introduced in 2018, this section is a forum for artists and filmmakers who are experimenting with alternative forms of presenting moving images. Live, interactive, overlapping and intertwined, this is about experimental formats between projection and performance. This year, Karan Suri Talwar and Harkat (Mumbai) ask "What if I Say 'Prayog' instead of Experimental?" while Léa Lanoë (France) and Maximilian Le Cain (Ireland) present "Two Times in One Space."
6 – 9 May
Podium
The focus of the 2022 discussion series is the intersection of film and art. "Western Canon and Local Heritage: Do Our Oceans Meet?" moderated by Simran Ankolkar (artist and filmmaker) and Karan Suri Talwar, Harkat Studios (Mumbai), asks what is the margin and what is the centre in our cultural practice. What kind of expansion do African filmmakers need and demand?, will be discussed under the title "Larger than Screens", moderated by Marie-Hélène Gutberlet and Annett Busch, curators of the theme program Synchronize. Pan-African Film Networks. Finally, "Expanding the Collection" will focus on how large collections and archives deal with analogue film, moderated by Javier H. Estrada (Camilo José Cela University, Madrid).
Workshops
No less than two workshops during the Festival will deal with analogue film from different angles. While the legendary Canadian Film Farm will conduct a practical workshop with filmmakers during the festival, the results of which will be presented in the cinema on 9 May, the workshop "Analogue Film Technology" is aimed at projectionists and curators. It responds to the growing gap between the need for analogue film technology in archives and in installations or performances in the arts, and the dwindling of the necessary technical knowledge in the age of digital projection. The workshop, led by Lena Martin (Frankfurt/Main), aims to establish quality standards and integrate them into the curatorial practice of a film festival.
Presentation Film Farm: Monday, 9 May
Conditional Cinema
Live Cinema is the focus of Finnish artist Mika Taanila's three-part project Conditional Cinema, which concludes this year. How does Live Cinema respond to global online culture and the decline of physical labor, and finally, the focus this year, to the issue of the obsolete human? Three programmes of films and performances will also be complemented by an artist talk.
5, 6 and 7 May, Artist Talk 7 May.
Morgan Fisher
With Morgan Fisher, Oberhausen is also presenting in one of its six Profiles one of the pioneers of Expanded Cinema in the U.S., who has consistently explored the means and methods of (analogue) moving image production in his works.
5 and 6 May
We would like to thank the Kunststiftung NRW for funding the Labs, Podium, Celluloid Expanded, Lectures and the Workshops sections and the Canada Council for funding the Canadian participation in the Short Film Festival.
Accreditation deadline: April 22, 2022
Oberhausen, 13 April 2022
Press contact: Sabine Niewalda, phone +49 (0)208 825-3073, niewalda(at)kurzfilmtage.de