70th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, 1-6 May 2024
Longing for Freedom from Contradiction
A conference on the political situation of cultural institutions today and a series of discussions on “Why Festivals?” at the 70th Oberhausen Festival
documenta, Berlinale, Hamburger Bahnhof, Museum Folkwang, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Ruhrtriennale, UdK – the list could be continued indefinitely. Cultural institutions and universities are increasingly facing a dilemma between calls to take a stance in political debates and accusations of censorship, boycott calls and protests as soon as they do so. The International Short Film Festival Oberhausen is responding by organising a conference on 1 May to address the issue of own and social demands on the cultural sector. Participants include practitioners and theoreticians, writers and scientists; a keynote by art theorist Bazon Brock will open the proceedings. From 2 to 5 May, a series of discussions on the question of “Why Festivals?” will follow.
In recent years, confrontations with sexism, racism and other forms of misanthropy have led to a critical examination of the programmes and attitudes of cultural institutions. By today, however, these demands seem to have fallen into a trap. The term “cancel culture”, originally introduced by right-wing actors, is being used more and more frequently. Where events are postponed or cancelled due to political considerations, accusations of censorship lurk. Calls for boycotts and protests arise against collaborations with people or institutions because of their positioning. This causes uncertainty for everyone involved. Where collective organisation and scandalisation are increasingly used to exert pressure on individuals and institutions, the idea of criticism threatens to turn into conformism. Does the greatest danger for critical discussions about how to deal with political issues within the cultural sector come from the cultural sector itself?
1 May 2024
Conference: Longing for Freedom from Contradiction. Culture and the Public 1
Venue: Eisenlager, Zentrum Altenberg, Oberhausen
13:00 h
Keynote by Bazon Brock
13:30 h
Panel Cultural Theory
Bazon Brock, art theorist
Sara Rukaj, writer
Lea Wohl von Haselberg, film scholar and festival director
Moderated by Ute Cohen, writer and journalist
16:30 h
Panel The Cultural Scene
Sergio Edelzstein, curator
Ruth Herzberg, writer
Andreas Hoffmann, managing director documenta
Ronya Othmann, writer and journalist
Moderated by Ute Cohen, writer and journalist
19:30 h
Panel at the Festival Opening Ceremony
Lars Henrik Gass, festival director
Alexandra Schauer, sociologist
Rüdiger Suchsland, film critic
2-5 May 2024
Podium series: Why Festivals? Culture and the Public 2
With the transformation of film culture and cinema in the last two decades due to the establishment of the internet as a mass medium and the digitalisation and economisation of all areas of life, film festivals are confronted with numerous new tasks and challenges. The cinema as a venue for film festivals and public discourse has been pushed to the sidelines of society; economic conditions are deteriorating rapidly in the wake of the great pandemic and armed conflicts. This raises the question of what remains of the original universalist self-image of film festivals and whether and how film festivals can continue to fulfil their mission. Oberhausen investigates this question in four panel discussions.
Film festivals are a universalist project that was associated with the hope of overcoming social particularisation and political division through cultural understanding and artistic progress – through something that concerns everyone. This project has clearly fallen into crisis. With the transformation of film culture and cinema in the last two decades due to the establishment of the internet as a mass medium and the digitalisation and economisation of all areas of life, but also due to the intensification of social distribution struggles, film festivals are simultaneously confronted with numerous new tasks and challenges. The cinema as a venue for film festivals and public discourse has been pushed to the sidelines of society. Identity politics and culturalisation, the translation of political and economic conflicts into standards of lifestyle and world view in the field of culture, are social challenges that have recently affected film festivals in particular in terms of their self-image and mission. At the same time, the economic conditions for film festivals are deteriorating rapidly in the wake of the great pandemic and armed conflicts. Under these changing conditions, the question arises as to what remains of the original self-image of film festivals and whether and how film festivals can continue to fulfil their mission.
Venue: Festival Space, Oberhausen
2.5. 10 h
Are festivals still a universalist project?
Harald Kimpel, art scholar
Andreas Kilb, film critic (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung)
Ariel Schweitzer, film critic (Cahiers du Cinéma)
Lea Wohl von Haselberg, film scholar and festival director
Moderated by Dunja Bialas, film critic and film curator
3.5. 10 h
What legitimizes festivals?
Martina Genetti, film curator
Daniel Hadenius-Ebner, Vienna Shorts
Keiko Okamura, film curator
Heinz Peter Schwerfel, art critic and festival director
Moderated by Dunja Bialas, film critic and film curator
4.5. 9:30 h
International Style
Moritz Baßler, literary scholar
Susanne Heinrich, writer and filmmaker
Marco Müller, film curator and festival director
Moderated by Ulrike Sprenger, literary scholar
5.5. 9:30 h
The politicization of culture
Alexander Karschnia, theatre producer, writer and theorist
Benjamin Moldenhauer, film critic
Shahrzad Eden Osterer, journalist (Bayerischer Rundfunk)
Lars Henrik Gass, writer and festival director
Moderated by Dunja Bialas, film critic and film curator
Admission to both events is free, with the exception of the Festival opening ceremony on 1 May 2024.
Deadline for Festival accreditations: 25 April 2024
https://www.kurzfilmtage.de/en/visit/#c3193
Oberhausen, 27 March 2024
Press contact: Sabine Niewalda, T +49 (0)208 825-3073, niewalda(at)kurzfilmtage.de