We take it for granted that auteur film shows the imprint of its creator’s personal style and position. But the creator haunting the film – not as a discreet interviewer or commentator, but as a singing ghost or a substitute protagonist, that is part of the “Avi Mograbi method”. The guest of our 2021 homage explains how and why he uses it.

Polnisches Institut
29 October, 11:00

How many films can be composed from the same material? We are introducing the renowned editor Mary Stephen, juxtaposing her own cut with that of the director – “Odoriko” versus “Nude at Heart”, director’s cut versus editor’s cut. Where, between menial craft and creative co-authorship, does she see her role?

Polnisches Institut
28 October, 11:00

With the division of Germany, Hitler’s empire finally disappeared from the map. But in the new states, the old Germans lived on: perpetrators and onlookers of the mass murder of Europe’s Jews. For both the GDR and FRG, dealing with the Holocaust became a moral touchstone – a standard by which they measured themselves and their neighbour. In our Retrospective, we look at German-German alternating and counter views, at films about guilt, at images of “Jewishness” that show “Germanness”. 

Two weeks before the festival starts, we give an introduction into this year’s programming of the Retrospective. We will show two documentary portraits – Mendel Schainfelds zweite Reise nach Deutschland (BRD 1972, 43 min) by Hans-Dieter Grabe and Dawids Tagebuch (DDR 1980, 27 min) by Konrad Weiß – and discuss them with the filmmakers, who will be joining the event. 

The Preview is moderated by film historian Ilka Brombach (Film Museum Potsdam). The event will take place in German language.  
Zeitgeschichtliches Forum
12 October, 19:00 
Free entry

Public historians Tabea Georges, Vivien Gidde, Linda Graul, Anna Kokenge and Irmgard Zündorf and media researcher Judith Keilbach present news reports from East and West Germany that reveal how the Eichmann trial in 1961 was instrumen- talized in media reporting by the ideological opponents of the Cold War.

Polnisches Institut
27 October, 18:00
Free entry