Fabian Biasio «AUTOMANIA – from A to B», feature-length documentary
Director Fabian Biasio is stuck in a dilemma: as an urban cyclist, he has a latent hatred of cars. He compensates for his vulnerability with a generous interpretation of the traffic rules. But as soon as he sits behind the wheel of a car, he becomes a driver with heart and soul. He asks himself where this desire comes from and discovers worlds previously hidden from him: "Automania" deals with these worlds - on this side and on the other side of the windscreen. The inner conflict drives the director to search for strategies for safer and more sustainable traffic participation for all.
Julius Lange «FINDING A COMMON SENSE», short essayistic documentary film
Format: 16mm, b&w and/or color
Length: max. 20 minutes
Camera: Arriflex 16s, Bolex H16 Rex 5
Sound: mono, recorded on 1/4" tape w/NAGRA
As the new radical right is gaining acting power in Italy, Antonio Gramsci’s Theory of Cultural Hegemony is offering us a possible explanation and solution.
For the first time since World War II, a post-fascist party has acting and policy-making power in Italy. To find a possible explanation on how conservative narratives -- constantly triggered by societal, cultural, and economic events: such as a possible economic crisis (Frank 2012; Hochschild 2016), the fear of the other (Stichweh 2010), and the threat of losing the identity of our imagined community (Anderson 2006) -- keep on reproducing, Antonio Gramsci’s Theory of Cultural Hegemony (1971) is offering us a way to understand how social movements come to be and how a hegemonial class tries to keep its power. It does so through the establishment of a common sense, making the lower, subaltern class believe to find itself in the best possible of worlds. Gramsci’s fragmented theory explains us, how narratives get created, where to find them, and how they’ll end up into such a common sense, that will continue to repeat them. But Gramsci also offers a way out, by telling how this common sense can be changed through the emergence of new, organic intellectuals and by creating new forms of knowledge. Populist right-wing parties often like to describe themselves as such: as outsider social grassroots movements, like the American Tea Party -- or like Giorgia Meloni from Fratelli d’Italia, who calls herself an underdog. But very often they are orchestrated from neoliberal and big business friendly parties, and are therefore doing nothing else than just repeating the same kind of conservative narratives (Crehan 2016) -- through tax cuts; dismantling of the welfare state; privatizations,...
This is a reflexive and essayistic documentary film about Gramsci’s theory and the emergence of the new Radical Right in Italy.
Simona Koch «SOY JOLI» (span. I am Joli), Documentary, 20 - 30 min.
Jolanda, called Joli by friends, a strong, emancipated woman from the Dominican Republic, has lived in Switzerland for almost 30 years. She works seven days a week as a cleaner to support her two sons and her husband in her home country. Her desire to live together as a family in Switzerland could not be realized and Joli often feels she has failed, especially as a mother. Over the past twelve years, she has carried out her work in various places. Despite her tireless efforts, she lives at subsistence level. Joli is content with two weeks of vacation per year to visit her family. With several employers and substitutes, she can't manage to get more than that. Every day she struggles with pain in her leg, but she is never absent from work. Among her employers, Joli is considered a good soul and a loyal worker. Early in the morning, music and news from her country of origin accompany her to feel a piece of home, otherwise the working days would be even longer than they already are. Despite her rigorous work schedule, Jolanda takes great pride in her work. During breaks and at the end of the working day, she treats herself to a few cans of beer and talks to relatives on the phone. One of her big dreams is to travel to an Arab country.In order to be able to fulfill this wish, she regularly plays the lottery.
She plans to return to her home country for ever in December 2023. This date has been postponed several times. Most of the time due to money issues. Once reunited with her family she wants to finally learn how to play the guitar and get a driver’s license.
Simon de Diesbach: «Limites»
In a forest he has digitized for fear that it will disappear, Simon runs. This forest was his companion as he came of age and gave him support in times of uncertainty. «Limites» is a search in three parts which evokes the relationship between a jogger and a forest to question our relationship with the living world, the limits of matter and those of the digitalization of nature.
«Limites», the experimental documentary film (CH 2022, 7'30") is the first part of a trilogy. «Limites» had its world premiere at the Locarno Film Festival 2022 and was presented in the international programme at Ars Electronica 2022.
Nature here is built from points which can be processed and visualized at the will of the designer. The underlying technique is based on a visual paradox: On the one hand, it allows to reach a form of photorealism and to represent an intact nature. On the other hand it fragments reality into a point cloud, a mere aggregation of undefined and malleable markers, which leaves nature essentially vulnerable. Liquefied in this way, the forest starts to react to the running protagonist – himself is a fluid mass of points, too – its surface shifts visibly over the runner's approach, changes color, changes the size of its grain – our relationship to nature as an apparent, often romantic, construction(s) comes to light.
"Limites" was conceived as the result of an interplay of different imaging techniques: The forest was created with a 3D Laser scanner, the runner was inserted into this digitized environment with the help of a site independent motion capture suit. Actual nature and actual running have been translated into an accurately factual and at the same time highly synthezised representation of an existing place, the Chaney forest in Rossens in the canton of Fribourg. As such, "Limites" preserves the memory of this existing place, but it is not able to save the actual forest from the immanent destruction by a nearby gravel pit. What, it asks, is the role of our audiovisual media in the safeguarding of nature?
The trilogy includes an exhibition of prints produced with the same technique (presented at the 74th Biennale of Contemporary Art of the Museum of Fine Arts of La Chaux-de-Fonds) and a VR-project, which received the Innovation support Cinéforom at the Geneva International Film Festival/Geneva Digital Market.
Jürgen Buchinger: «The Housing Question: An Odyssey», 4-CHANNEL Video installation
Thinking about housing and the economies behind it means to unravel the intricate weaving of company structures or the acknowledgement of statistical evidence. To actively imagine a different way of living in the cities we must also think about what dwelling means to us, what a house is and what it entails, to be living in it. In my work I want to immerse viewers into a topic that affects all of us. To make housing a subject to speculative debate, to questions of how we want our dwellings to be instead of taking the status quo for granted. Mehr von Jürgen Buchinger
Zur Wohnungsfrage: Eine Odyssee, solo exhibition, Ausstellungsraum Klingental, Basel (CH), January 2022 – February 2022
Werkschau, screening, School of Art and Design, Online (CH), June 2021
R.I.P. Altes Haus, screening, öffentlicher Raum, Basel (CH), May 2021
Zur Wohnungsfrage: Eine Odyssee, solo exhibition, Fabrikraum, Vienna (AT), May 2021
Zur Wohnungsfrage: Eine Odyssee, solo exhibition, Mattenstrasse 74/76, Basel (CH), November 2020
Werkschau Kompakt, group exhibition, School of Art and Design, Lucerne (CH), September 2020
Zur Wohnungsfrage: Eine Odyssee, solo exhibition, Walls & Hedges, Basel (CH), August 2020
Colm Molloy: «Known to Services», Mixed Media Video/Documentary
The homelessness crisis in Ireland is the worst in the history of the state. At the same time Ireland has evolved to become one of the most powerful economies in the world per capita.
Known to Services started out as a documentary short exploring homelessness on the streets of Dublin City. However, getting to know the the people and the situation it became a documentation of my personal struggle with what I saw. More about the series
Noemi Müller: «stuckinmymind», Video installation, 2020
A carpet of dark, spheric sounds in a nocturnal forest. Abstract projections turn it into a shining universe.
This piece shows an experimental live music video with Swiss duo mischgewebe and an insider’s view of director Noemi Müller’s intensely personal and emotional journey.
“stuckinmymind” delves into an entangled dream world full of melodies, shining structures and internal conflict. More about Noemi Müller
Marco Egger: «Manifest: Dataismus WIP», analogous and digital art exhibition (augmented reality)
The project is a cooperation between artist Aramis Navarro and filmmaker Marco Egger. Their respective works come together in an exhibition on dataism (big data).
The exhibition “Manifest: Dataismus WIP” can be viewed both in-person and digitally. Each (analogous) exhibit comes with a commentary that explores the artefact on a virtual plane. More about Marco Egger
Victoria Holdt: «Layer after Layer after Layer»
Layer after Layer after Layer is the result of an artistic exploration of materials and a reflection about how we humans handle them. Vaseline: this transparent material appears as a substance in the installation, but also forms the basis of the sound track that features computer-generated voices reading fragments of texts on the subject of provenance and history found on the internet. Vaseline covers the body, protects it without concealing it. Vaseline makes the skin soft while at the same time suffocating it. More about Victoria Holdt
Christophe Merkle: 360 Degrees - About Bourbines & Welsch in VR Episode 1: Le Bonn
Carl Karton, the unexpected witness of an incredible story, has a truly unique experience in the Bad Bonn music club. He is playing cards when his fellow player Patron is suddenly interrupted by the barmaid Olivia on account of a mysterious object. Thanks to his spiderlike eyes, Carl can record everything in 360º vision and 3D sound. The viewer has a choice of viewing the chaotic proceedings from one of the seven angles provided by the seven eyes and ears of Carl Karton. More about Christophe Merkle - «Voll im Film» - «Virtuelle Welten im Bourbaki» - «Filmemacher Christophe Merkle produziert 360-Grad Filme»
Hyo-Song Becker: «Kontrapunkt»
Sarah Bühler: Sleepwalking. By the rythm of the internal clock – a web documentation
Artificial light turns night into day. The electric light bulb transformed our society’s sense of time. The webdoc Schlafwandel takes a look at nights in which people work instead of sleep and examines the biological, economic and social aspects of night work. Short documentary films portray people who live at odds with their internal clock and are nocturnally active. Besides these personal portraits, supplementary components of the webdoc allow users to take a closer look at individual aspects of night work. More about Sarah Bühler / Schlafwandel
Jasmine Rüegg: «Chaossimulator»
You cannot win or lose in the Chaos Simulator - it is all about exploring an enigmatic dream world without pressure to perform. The game world consists of small islands floating in the air which are interconnected via bridges. The player can move around freely and pick their own paths and destinations. More about Jasmin Rüegg
Animation films created as part of the short motion specialisation
Jonathan Müller: «Eduardo Spelterini»
Vor mehr als 100 Jahren zieht der Schweizer Opernsänger und Lebemann Eduard Spelterini aus, um als Luftschiffer die Welt zu erobern. Mit seinen spektakulären Auftritten, atemberaubenden Luftbildaufnahmen und dem ersten Flug über die Alpen wird er zum Popstar seiner Zeit, in der alles möglich schien: Der Sohn aus einfachen Ostschweizer Verhältnissen wird zum gern gesehenen Gast der europäischen Aristokratie. Spelterinis Höhenflug scheint grenzenlos, bis er mit dem Ausbruch des ersten Weltkriegs ein abruptes Ende findet.
Eduard Spelterini wird heute nicht nur als Luftfahrtpionier erinnert, sondern auch wegen der spektakulären Luftbildaufnahmen, die er auf seinen Flügen machte. Die nachgelassenen Fotografien sind von der ETH Bibliothek in Zürich hochauflösend digitalisiert und öffentlich zugänglich gemacht worden. Dieser Grundstock an Bildern gab den Anlass für dieses animierte Porträt einer einzigartigen Lebensgeschichte an der Wende vom 19. zum zwanzigsten Jahrhundert.
Kurzfilm Animation, 2021, 16’00“
Support: SRF / Gabriela Bloch Steinmann, Zürcher Filmstiftung, Kanton St.Gallen, Kanton Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Gemeinde Kirchberg, Dorfkorporation Bazenheid, Thur Kultur, Stadt St.Gallen
Produktion: Zeitraumfilm / Ines Meyer Döring
Ausgezeichnet mit dem Förderpreis der zeugindesign-Stiftung
Franziska Moltenbrey: «Insectum»
Insectum – Einschneidende Ereignisse ist eine Trilogie animierter Kurzfilme, welche
das Thema des Insektensterbens behandeln. In jeweils ca. 2 Minuten wird das Leben eines Insekts und dessen unerwarteter Tod gezeigt. Als wachsende Serie von Porträts gefährdeter Tiere sollen diese kleinen Vignetten die Vielfalt und die Schönheit dieser Tiere zeigen aber auch auf die Zerbrechlichkeit ihres vom Menschen immer stärker beeinträchtigten Ökosystems hinweisen. Die CutOut-Animationen sind mit Linoldruck auf Graspapier entstanden und in eine Umgebung eingebettet, welche als Schattentheater inszeniert wurde. Die Produktion beruhte auf möglichst nachhaltigen Arbeitsprozessen und einer sorgsam ausgewählten Verwendung von Materialien.
Gabriel Möhring: «IOA»
IOA is about a desperate speaking machine living a miserable life under a despotic singing teacher.
Rahel Landolt: «Flirt»
While being hung up to dry, a shirt and a dress start to take an interest in each other, pushing the shirt’s owner on a path to happiness. Zeitraumfilm
