The first sections of our 67th festival edition have been finalised. We will honour two female filmmakers, the renowned French director Dominique Cabrera and the Spanish animation artist Isabel Herguera, in a homage to each. We will also honour the memory of director and writer Thomas Heise, who was born in East Berlin, in a lineup of films, an evening event and this year’s DEFA matinee.
Hommage Dominique Cabrera
Dominique Cabrera has devoted herself to various forms of expression, alternating between short and feature-length films, between fiction and documentaries. Her films have been screened at numerous international film festivals and have garnered awards at Cannes, the Berlinale, Toronto, Locarno and elsewhere. Cabrera’s commitment to social issues is central to her documentary work which at the same time consists entirely of personal films. Her Algerian-French background, which made her a so-called “pied-noir”, as well as her day-to-day experiences are dealt with in various degrees of intensity. It is not uncommon for her films to address sensitive issues such as mental and physical illness, death and mortality.
Preceding a master class by Cabrera on 31 October is a screening of Chris Marker’s influential experimental film “La Jetée” (1962).
Hommage Isabel Herguera
Isabel Herguera presented her first feature-length animated film, “Sultana’s Dream”, at DOK Leipzig in 2023. Curator Franka Sachse describes how Herguera’s personal creative style makes her more recent films “visually unique”: “Translucent colour fields [are] set off against porous ink strokes in rich black, unconventional perspectives and an expressive animation.” The composition and mood of Herguera’s films reflect her background in the fine arts. The first part of the homage is dedicated to her short films. The second part brings together films that showcase her role as an inspirer and mentor.
On 1 November, Isabel Herguera will report on the interplay of individual and dialogue-based creativity in a master class using selected making-ofs and documentary clips.
“Thomas Heise (1955–2024): Odds and Ends”
In the section “Thomas Heise (1955–2024): Odds and Ends”, we will pay tribute to the work of the late film director and author Thomas Heise. The programme will include three feature-length documentaries, which all tell of fractured lives and which themselves represent fragments of Heise’s work, which defies categorisation.
On 1 November, we will also host an evening in honour of Thomas Heise at the CineStar, during which renowned personalities of the film industry will reflect on his work. Excerpts from previously unreleased footage that Heise was last working on will be screened.
The DEFA Matinee will present Heise’s documentary “Volkspolizei” (1985) and his DEFA production “Imbiß Spezial” (1990).
You can find more information about the homage programmes in our press release.
Please find the full list of films here: Film List
Foto Credit: f.l.t.r. Dominique Cabrera, Isabel Herguera, Thomas Heise | ©Victor Sicard, ©GM Films/ Inge Zimmermann
