unterwegs in Sachen Film >>> <<< on the road making films!
Today: Marta who I met first 2 months ago at the Revela’T photo festival (she is a cool photographer from Poland & Berlin).
She visited me in my darkroom and we shared blueberries, champagne, stories, pictures, ideas and many words from many languages!
The Regenbogen-Kino (Rainbow-Cinema) in Kreuzberg is one of the last completely independant self-run cinemas in Berlin with a history rooting in punky house squatting aera in the 80es. Small and totally lovely with big soft sofas and a hi-tech Beamer. And a 35 mm projector!
I had a show there last Saturday showing my „Ode an Juni / Ode to June“ films – 4 pieces, each about 20 minutes long, super 8 origin, one after the other with a little break between to refill our glasses with summer wine: local Brandenburg cherries with white wine and champagne. Thank you for sharing this evening with me! Next year again …
I placed my Illy coffee pinhole camera under the bamboo trees … a piece of negative film inside, sun shining from above filtered through the softly swaying leaves … and here is what came out!
3 more cameras hidden on tree, post and window of an abandoned house.
Now waiting 4 or more months until it’s time to harvest the pictures!
For some reason I love this picture … People waiting for the next horse race … checking the quotas, the horses‘ history … whatever …
„Hoppegarten“, that’s the name of a quarter in Berlin which is famous for its horse racetrack. I spent a Sunday afternoon with 3 friends and a little kid there, picknicking on the lawn, watching beautiful shiny horses run like devils, betting on the horse with the most beautiful name and losing.
I somehow like this picture: after the sudden summer rain shower. Between two races. These people in red dresses with their sticks … I don’t really know what they’re doing there on the track, looks like they’re checking the grass … looking for shit or holes in the ground?
Heimatgut, heehee … it means something like Home Goods … goods that come from my country … like these typical German coconut chips … anyway: yummy!
Solargraphy is a photographic art of capturing the sun’s path with a pinhole camera. And much time. A very long exposure …. weeks, months.
I did it (together with my friend Gesine): I used a small black film box, a tiny laser drilled hole, a piece of photo paper, some wire to fix it … and 10 months.
10 months is such a long time that the paper doesn’t need to be developed – it would become totally black – the negative images appears on the paper by itself because the altered chemical grains in the emulsion are going crazy with this long exposure time and start to „burn“ the paper!
„Revela’T is an international photographic festival (in Vilassar de Dalt, close to Barcelona) that has become a meeting point for lovers of photography and especially for those passionate about analog photography, who are becoming more and more and come from remote places.
In an era in which digital technology dominates, Revela’T advocates for these other photographic procedures that require a more relaxed look and tempo, as well as for sharing experiences, knowledge, and establishing contact and synergies with other people, institutions and projects.
Revela’T wants to bring together dreamers, non-conformists, the intrepid, the tireless, those who are not afraid to try and explore paths different from the usual ones.“
I was there! And gave a 2 days workshop all about the beauty and magic of super 8 film making and developing. In eco stuff: coffee, vitamin c and washing soda.
Pure fun and beautiful results!
(all pictures me except the last one by Enrique Freaza Viera)
(found in a stairwell in Oranienstrasse, Kreuzberg, Berlin)
The fountain of Yverdon-les-Bains (Switzerland) froze when I set up my Illy coffee pinhole camera and exposed a piece of film for 6 seconds.
Kreuzberg relaxed.
I set up my Illy pinhole camera, my friends and our yard bench.
It’s one of these special nights … I have a film show … outside there’s something between rainy spring and weird summer … in the middle of the week, in the middle of Berlin.
BEGINE, women only bar and show venue. Me … and Kasia who organized it … and Anna, my old graphic arts friend from art school … and Kathrin who dropped in by coincidence, having just woke up and read in the Siegessäule, the queer online magazine of Berlin, about the show.
I loved it! An intimate campfire-ish gathering. That’s what I make films for.
Yes! I have it! The entrance card to 20 times happiness! Swimming in my favourite pool, the Prinzenbad! Get it now before May 1st for an exclusive price, later it will be 100 € I guess. Happy summer swimming!!
It’s like walking on fluffy clouds!
My atelier is in Kreuzberg, Adalbertstrasse. At the corner Waldemarstrasse there’s my favourite pre-summer phenomenon: the pinkest, fattest blossom miracle tree! Only for about a week. Everybody stops for a pink selfie, for a sniff, for a smile, for a chat. I love it!
Every now and then I wear my hippie dress and film on 16 mm.
There’s a new analog festival in town: Analog Résistance! In the middle of the French speaking Switzerland! In Yverdon-les-Bains!
I went there, enjoyed and gave a workshop … and the funny thing is: I rediscovered my long buried French! I was a good speaker 1000 years ago (working as an au pair girl in Southern France, in Nice, when I was 19 …) but after all these year it had disappeared.
But all that disappears comes back in this or the next orbit of the magic spiral … and writing of spirals … I brought my Russian developer tank with me (plus some cameras) and me and the 8 participants rocked the house or rather: the cave in the theater/castle everything took place!
We developed in curcuma, Ovomaltine, Absinth, coffee, beer, pineapple juice …. we had such a fruity funky spicy filmy supertime!!! With amazing results!
„White wine makes me less ivre“ I said to Sébastien, explaing him why I prefer white to red wine (ivre = drunk) … and he understood „White wine makes me less evil“ … which is by the way also true.
The festival will come again. Next time probably not with the focus on super 8 … but hélas: there’s so much analog stuff in the world to explore … stay tuned!
A 9 hours train ride from Switzerland back to Berlin … I love it with a good book and not too crowded … I was lucky today, no delays and missed connecting trains!
Bought some train salad and I must say: it looked weird but tasted good. Fresh green leaves and beetroot with a good vinaigrette. And for the future, dear Deutsche Bundesbahn, think about avoiding plastic perhaps, be hip, try recyclable banana leaves or whatever forks and spoons and wraps!!
I also realized: they relaunched the layout of their „mobil“- magazine: more pages on better, rougher paper, a fresh layout, I really like it! Funky little initials and a bit more … modern. Good!
Winter is almost over … life begins anew!
Come! Thursday in Hamburg, Lichtmess Cinema, 8 pm.
I present 18 short super 8 films made by women worldwide.
Films by women who are my friends, whom I personally know – except for 2, which I know virtually thanks to an interstellar network – from Germany (Berlin, Hamburg), Switzerland, Great Britain and Mexico / Argentina.
The oldest one is from 1987, the newest one was finished only 1/2 years ago …
Super 8 is an extremely sexy material: It is warm-colored, has unbeatable gray and color shades that you achieve get digitally, it is partially mysteriously blurred, has a natural grain, is not 100% plannable and comes – if the filmmaker extends her antennas properly and throws herself fearlessly into the Wabisabi – close to the object, to the action, to the world.
Websites of some of the filmmakers:
www.dagiebrundert.de
www.erikastucky.ch
www.veronikadimke.de
www.helgafanderl.com
www.azulosa.com
www.cherrykino.com
www.gabriele-kahnert.com
www.deborahsp.wordpress.com
www.hannafritz.de
….. wow ….. I love them 🙂
It snows and snows and snows … and the brave blackbird sings and sings and sings …
This winter does not end. It’s late March and still icecold. Snowing. Grey. Depressing.
I fall asleep with my head on the table.
Luckily I am in love with images, film, and pinhole camera boxes, so I grab the tired opportunity and capture my 15 minutes long sleep.
… properly disposed.
Artemisia thuscula, también llamada Artemisia canariensis, o comúnmente ajenjo de Canarias o incienso canario en España o mol en la isla de El Hierro, es una especie de arbusto endémico de las Islas Canarias.
These bushes just grow everywhere on La Palma and the smell is soft and sweet … I heard the taste is bitter, so I guess this plant contains a lot of phenols which means: a possible film developer!!
I collected a little sackfull of leaves, took them home with me, dried them and weeks later developed a PlusX super 8 film stripe in tea made from these leaves! The result is wonderful: sweet and soft black and grey tones!
Spring is finally breaking through …
