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THE FUTURE OF FILM CULTURE (online discussion)

Thursday, 29 April (4:30 - 6 p.m.)
This panel will take place as livestream on the LICHTER YouTube-Channel.
This panel discussion will be in english.

With the Zukunft Deutscher Film/Forum Europe Initiative, the LICHTER Film Festival offers a forum to discuss the pressing questions about the future of film and cinema and the related cultural-political, structural and aesthetic themes and issues. A European perspective is always to be included within this discussion.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting measures taken, the global transformation of film and cinema culture has accelerated even further. An already difficult situation, particularly for independent and artistic films, has been exacerbated. The “crisis-within-a-crisis” has revealed a clear need to reconsider former models of evaluation and distribution (as well as the production and financing) of films.

In particular, an ongoing change to the media landscape and the reception habits of audiences appears to threaten the existence of (art house) cinemas. Now and in the future, substantial societal debates regarding the potential consequences and ramifications of this transformation need to take place.

As part of the LICHTER Film Festival and in a Europeans online exchange of ideas, we would like discuss the following questions provoke thoughts about this topic:

  • What is meant by “film culture” and is this an elementary part of society?
  • How do we preserve the cinema as a cultural venue? Or, what venue does the cinema of the future need?
  • What conceivable forms can the coexistence of the film evaluation and digital streaming take?
  • What films does the cinema of the future need?
  • What discussions are necessary on a European level?

The Panelists

Johanna Koljonen

Johanna Koljonen (Participation Design Agency; Nostradamus Report; Göteborg Film Festival), Sweden

Johanna Koljonen (Participation Design Agency, founding partner) is an experience designer, media analyst, writer and broadcaster.

She is the editor of the Nostradamus Project, which looks into the near future of the screen industries, and lectures internationally on that topic as well as on experience design, participation safety and Nordic Larp.

In 2011, she received the Swedish Grand Journalism Award in the Innovator category.

She serves on the board of the Swedish Film Institute.

Laura Houlgatte

Laura Houlgatte (UNIC – International Union of Cinemas, CEO)

Laura joined UNIC in March 2015 as a European Affairs Executive and was appointed CEO in August 2017. A graduate of the Strasbourg Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po), she worked for the Red Helmets charity in Paris and French Embassy in Dublin before moving to Brussels in 2011. She then worked for the British Council and the Federation of European Publishers.

Laura topped Celluloid Junkie's list of the Top 50 Women in Global Cinema in 2020 and featured on Politico's list of Women who Shape Brussels in 2018.

Martin Hagemann

Martin Hagemann (Filmuniversität Babelsberg Konrad Wolf; Producer zero fiction film; Board of German Film Academy)

Martin Hagemann was born 1958 in the Rhine-Ruhr area in Germany and entered the filmindustry during his university studies (History, German Literature). Since 1989 he produced and co-produced numerous independant fiction- and documentary-films for the international market, amongst them films by Hal Hartley, Béla Tarr, Alexandr Sokurov, Peter Bogdanovich, Ra’anan Alexandrowicz, Roger Spottiswoode, Eddie Berger, Susan Gluth and others.

In 2010 he took up the professorship "Film- and TV-Producing" at the Filmuniversity Konrad Wolf in Potsdam-Babelsberg, where he is currently Vicepresident for International Affairs.

Martin Hagemann is member of the board of the German Film Academy and serves in different film funding commissions and regulatory boards of the German film industry, he lives in Berlin.

© Alexander Janetzko / Berlinale 2019

Carlo Chatrian

Carlo Chatrian (Berlinale, Artistic Director)

Carlo Chatrian is the Artistic Director of the Berlin International Film Festival.

Born in 1971, Chatrian studied literature and philosophy and also holds a degree in film studies, with a thesis on the films of Jacques Rivette. While at university, he started attending film festivals as a natural counterpoint to his studies, and soon after began programming for the Alba Film Festival, followed by the Festival dei Popoli and Visions du Réel.

At the end of the 1990s he focused on documentary as a genre, a language and a way to compose and shape reality, and held workshops with filmmakers such as Johan van der Keuken, Frederick Wiseman and Errol Morris. In 2003 he began working for the Locarno Film Festival where he curated retrospectives on Japanese animation, Ernst Lubitsch, Vincente Minnelli and Otto Preminger.

Between 2013 and 2018, Chatrian was Artistic Director of Locarno where he enjoyed programming popular films for the 8,000 viewers in the Piazza Grande as well as auteur films for an even more cinephile audience. He had the pleasure of presenting awards to masters of cinema such as Michael Cimino, Werner Herzog and Agnès Varda. He honoured the French Nouvelle Vague with tributes to Anna Karina, Bulle Ogier and Jean-Pierre Léaud, and German cinema with “Beloved and Rejected”, a retrospective of post-war West German films, as well as with special awards to Armin Mueller-Stahl and Mario Adorf. In addition, during his six editions at Locarno, filmmakers from East Asia (Lav Diaz, Hong Sangsoo and Wang Bing) and the American actress Brie Larson were recognised and received prizes.

Alby James

Alby James (Producer for film and television, theatre director, screenwriter, script consultant and trainer)

Alby recently set up a new production company, Dramatic Encounters, to develop and produce feature films and series based on original concepts and adaptations of books that reflect the diversity and lives of black and multi-cultural communities without the stereotyping that has dominated screen work for far too long.

He first worked very happily as a theatre director for 15 years after university and progressed into film, television and radio drama through opportunities presented by the BBC. He became focused on writing and producing film and drama series through working in South Africa in the mid-90s where there was a great need to train and develop a large number of people and projects from the majority black population to provide entertainment and drama for television and theatrical screenings suitable for all people in this now non-racial, post-apartheid nation.

His successes there led to him working with emerging writers, directors and producers in the UK and Russia, as well as with the Berlinale Talents Programme and World Cinema Fund, to enhance the presence of global filmmakers’ work in cinema. He is also very active behind the scenes helping to rid systemic racism from the structures in the arts and media worlds that are so important for a healthy society.

Sonja Heinen

Sonja Heinen (European Film Promotion, Managing Director)

Sonja Heinen is the Managing Director of European Film Promotion (EFP), a pan-European network
dedicated to the promotion of European movies worldwide.
As Head of the Berlinale Co-Production Market for twelve years and Project Manager of the
Berlin-based World Cinema Fund (2003-2016), she has been a driving force behind the international
co-productions of films and funding films from developing countries. Before joining the Berlinale, she
worked as a producer and project coordinator for Gemini Film and International West in Cologne.
She started out at the Filmstiftung NRW in Düsseldorf, where she became Assistant to Executive
Director Dieter Kosslick and especially responsible for international contacts, organizing the Co-Production Meetings and developing the International Co-Production Market Cologne.

Lysann Windisch

Lysann Windisch (MUBI Germany; NEXT WAVE - DFFB, Head of Programme)

Lysann Windisch managed several art house cinemas in Munich and Berlin for more than 5 years, while also programming and organising festivals and film events with a focus on Eastern European film. In 2018 she joined the Chinese-European producers association "Bridging the Dragon" as festival and relationship manager.

Since 2019 she has been running the international NEXT WAVE training program at the German Film & Television Academy Berlin (DFFB), focused on innovative exploitation strategies in the film market.

She mentors for the CICAE training program in Venice.

Since 2020 she has overseen the marketing activities of MUBI Germany while being in charge of the project MUBI GO.

STORYTELLING BEYOND STEREOTYPES

Friday, April 30 (4:30 - 6 p.m.)
This panel will take place as livestream on the LICHTER YouTube-Channel.

The HessenFilm-sponsored survey Diversity in Film has shown that, whether in front of or behind the camera, German films do not reflect the reality of society. Women, people of color, people with disabilities and members of the LGBTIAQ+ community are not only under-represented, but are often depicted as incorrect stereotypes. So what exactly are stereotypes and why do we see them in the cinematic context so often? How do they influence the way in which we view the world?

In relation to this year's LICHTER-Theme ''Change'', the HessenFilm and Media invites you to a panel on the topic of stereotypes in film and series. Together with filmmakers from the areas of screenwriting, casting, directing, and producing, the actress Lara-Sophie Milagro discusses how film narrations can distance themselves from stereotypes and contribute to a diverse film landscape.

Moderator: Lara-Sophie Milagro

Participants: Raquel Kishori Dukpa (Jünglinge, was in „Futur 3“ and the series "Druck", Producer, Author und Casting); Dieu Hao Do (Berlin Asian Film Network), Tyron Ricketts (Panthertainment, Actor), Burhan Qurbani (Director "Berlin Alexanderplatz")

The Panelists

© Florian Mag

Dieu Hao Do

Dieu Hao Do is a Chinese-German writer-director.

His films explore new perspectives on historical memory of the American War in Vietnam.

His directing studies at the Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF led him to think, speak and act critically of racism.

With the goal of empowering new BIPOC voices for storytelling, he leads film workshops and engages as a mentor.

He is an active member of the non-profit initiative BERLIN ASIAN FILM NETWORK (BAFNET), which has been committed to differentiated representations of Asian German realities in film and television since 2012.

Burhan Qurbani

Burhan Qurbani, born in 1980, is a graduate of the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg.

While still a student, he won various prizes for his short films, including the German Film Critics' Award 2008 and the Middle East International Film Festival's "Black Pearl" as "Best upcoming filmmaker of the year 2008".

His diploma film "Shahada" premiered in the competition of the 60th Berlinale 2010 and was awarded with many national and international prizes.

He is best known for his two feature films "Wir sind jung. Wir sind stark." as well as "Berlin Alexanderplatz".

Raquel Kishori Dukpa

Raquel Kishori Dukpa (*1994) grew up in Berlin-Kreuzberg. She studied in Hildesheim with a focus on film, queerfeminist theory and popular culture.

Since 2016 she is part of JÜNGLINGE and participated as casting director, in the production, as well as in the research of their joint debut film "FUTUR DREI".

Raquel develops and produces various feature film and series projects together with Faraz Shariat and Paulina Lorenz in a joint collective.

She is the editor of the catalog "I See You - Gedanken zum Film Futur Drei" (published by edition assemblage) and was the author of the sixth season of the youth series "DRUCK" (ZDF/ funk).

© Kasimir Bordasch

Lara-Sophie Milagro

Lara-Sophie Milagro, Berlin native, grew up in Berlin and Bremen, studied acting in London and New York (Goldsmiths College, RADA, Stella Adler School of Acting) and singing in Berlin (UdK).

She has performed at the Residenztheater Munich, Staatstheater Kassel and the Münchner Kammerspiele. Collaboration with directors such as Frank Patrick Steckel, Antoine Uitdehaag and Julia Wissert.

As a writer / director she wrote and / or directed "Heimat, bittersüße Heimat" (Ballhaus Naunynstrasse, '11), "Satoe" (Staatstheater Mainz, Nationaltheater Mannheim, '13), "Dauerkolonie Berlin" (Ballhaus Naunynstrasse, '18), "Winterzeit" (HAU Berlin, '18), "Auf Noahs blutigem Regenbogen tanzen wir" (Gorki Theater Berlin, '20) and participated in all these productions also as an actress.

She has also appeared in numerous film and television productions, including Tatort Weimar (ARD, '18), "Dogs of Berlin" (Netflix '18) and "Das Geheimnis des Totenwaldes" (ARD, '20) alongside Matthias Brandt and Karoline Schuch.

She is also a voice actress, most recently for the Netflix production "His House" ('20) and the Arte film "Les Heritieres" ('21). In 2021, she will star in and direct the Label Noir / HAU co-production "Emmett, Tief in meinem Herzen."

Tyron Ricketts

Tyron Ricketts is the Founder and Managing Director of Panthertainment.

With 60 entries at ImdB, Tyron is the most successful black actor in Germany.

After producing and hosted the hip-hop programme “Word Cup” on Viva TV from 1995 to 2000, he began to combine entertainment and political messaging with short film projects such as “Afrodeutsch” (Sundance) and the transnational anti-racism music project Brothers Keepers. With the group Mellowbag, Tyron achieved chart-topping success as a musician with the album “Weltenreiter”.

He continued his career as an actor with movies like “Bunte Hunde” and “Kanack Attack”. He also acted in numerous TV series, including “Soko Leipzig”, “Dogs of Berlin”, and “Die Inselärztin”.

For the German government, he implemented integration programmes such as Respekt 2010 and Heimat Almanya.

Tyron moved to New York in 2015 and conceived social media strategies against racism for Harry Belafonte. Tyron returned to Germany in 2017.

Based in Berlin, he produces films and series with a focus on People of Color for the global market.

PANEL: THE HOUSE OF FILM CULTURE

Friday April 30, 2021 (starting at 7pm)
The panel will take place as a livestream on our LICHTER YouTube channel.
This panel discussion will be in German.

To kick off the festival, LICHTER presents an almost visionary concept for a House of Film Cultures. A house that translates the cultural space of cinema into the future through its diversity of use and architecture. It will be a home for festivals, a venue for film premieres and award ceremonies, a platform for filmmakers, a media education center for children and young people, and a playground for initiatives and projects. Even more: a research laboratory of immersive techniques and narrative media.

Film has long since become a carrier of knowledge and a way of life, and has differentiated into a multitude of multi-perspective film cultures through video games and video art. With the advance of digitalization, moving images are increasingly moving into space, erasing the boundaries between the film world and the audience and transporting them directly and immediately to other places.

The House of Film Cultures wants to curate all current expressions of film, complement them with concerts, exhibitions and diverse event formats, and explore their future as a research laboratory. The House of Film Cultures sees itself as a place of encounter, exchange and learning.

Film and moving images are by far the most influential cultural form of our time. It's just that people don't find each other in their film experiences as often as they used to. The crisis of cinema is above all a crisis of public space. As a place of gathering and discussion, this is of great importance for a democratic society. Without social spaces of discourse and reflection, without collective experiences, it is in danger of losing its foundation. That is why a comprehensive reinterpretation and reinvention of the cultural space of cinema is needed! That is why we need a house of film cultures! A cinema of the future!

On this Friday, April 30, there will also be a panel on our concept: Starting at 7:00 pm, film critic Rüdiger Suchsland, actor and director R.P.Kahl and Viennese architect Gabu Heindl,talk about a future House of Film Cultures, its necessity and possible shape. Be part of it!

Participants: Gabu Heindl (http://www.gabuheindl.at); Rüdiger Suchsland; R.P. Kahl

Panelists

© Katharina Gossow

Gabu Heindl

Gabu Heindl is an architect, urban planner and university lecturer in Vienna. With her office Gabu Heindl Architektur she is responsible for several cinema (re)constructions and concepts, among others conversion Filmmuseum Wien, Stadtkino im Künstlerhaus Wien as well as the Filmmuseum Collections. 2013-2017 she was chairperson of the board of the ÖGFA - Austrian Society for Architecture. Currently she teaches at the Architectural Association in London and as a visiting professor at Sheffield University. Numerous publications on urban planning, public space, including some texts on cinema(spaces). Current book: Stadkonflikte. Radical Democracy in Architecture and Urban Planning, Vienna 2020. www.gabuheindl.at

R.P. Kahl

Born on November 08, 1970 in Cottbus. He studied at the Academy of Dramatic Art 'E. Busch' Berlin, branch Rostock and works since 1990 as an actor for film, TV and theater.

In 1995 he switched behind the camera. In 1997 he produced the award-winning feature film 'Silvester Countdown' by Oskar Roehler. Together with Luggi Waldleitner's Roxy-Film he produced his feature film directorial debut 'Angel Express' in 1998. With Torsten Neumann, Kahl developed the project 99euro-films with the compilation films '99euro-films' (2001) and 'Europe - 99euro-films 2' (2003), as well as the documentary 'Mädchen am Sonntag' (Hessian Film Award, 2005). 2010 World premiere of his feature film 'Bedways' at the Berlinale. In addition, he creates music videos and theater productions. In 2017, Kahl's experimental feature film 'A Thought of Ecstasy' has its international premiere in the official competition of the Tallinn Black Nights, categorized as an A-film festival. Currently, the performative documentary 'School of Women' (working title 'Women's Day in New York') is in the making and will premiere in 2021.

Since 1999, Kahl has also increasingly devoted himself to performances and video art works in various contexts of visual art, theater and film with presentations in museums, galleries, theater and opera houses.

Since 2001, he has held teaching positions at various colleges and universities. In 2018, he takes on an artistic professorship at the Berlin Media University and founds the Berlin Film Institute there in 2020. In 2020, Kahl follows an appointment as professor at the SRH University Berlin School of Popular Arts. He was a member of the selection committee of the Berlinale (Shorts) for over 10 years and has worked for the program selection of Filmfest Oldenburg since 2001. Since 2013 he has been a member of the board of the German Film Academy, since 2017 as one of the three executive chairs of the board. In 2013 he was a BKM scholarship holder at Villa Aurora Los Angeles.

Rüdiger Suchsland

Rüdiger Suchsland is a journalist, author and director. He studied history, philosophy and politics. Since then he has worked as a freelance journalist and critic. In addition, he occasionally teaches and contributes to books. The thematic focus of his work is film, theory, pop culture and Asia. Since 1997 he has been an editor at the Internet magazine artechock. Since 1998 he works for various film festivals, participation in international juries. Since 2004 in changing functions on the board of VDFK(Association of German Film Critics). Since 2014 also film director.

PANEL: THE GERMAN FILM AND ITS FUNDING

Saturday, May 1, 2021 (4 p.m.)
This panel discussion will take place on our YouTube channel.

Moderator: Rüdiger Suchsland
Guests: R.P. Kahl (Vorstand Deutsche Filmakademie); Eric Golub (u.a. Kreativpartner von York Fabian Raabe); Ronny Trocker („Der menschliche Faktor); Katinka Narjes („Nixen“)

Rüdiger Suchsland discusses the german film and its funding system with R.P. Kahl, Eric Golub, Ronny Trocker and Katinka Narjes.

Rüdiger Suchsland

Rüdiger Suchsland is a journalist, author and director. He studied history, philosophy and politics. Since then he has worked as a freelance journalist and critic. In addition, he occasionally teaches and contributes to books. The thematic focus of his work is film, theory, pop culture and Asia. Since 1997 he has been an editor at the Internet magazine artechock. Since 1998 he worked for various film festivals, participation in international juries. Since 2004 in changing functions on the board of VDFK(Association of German Film Critics). Since 2014 also film director.

R.P. Kahl

Born on November 08, 1970 in Cottbus. He studied at the Academy of Dramatic Art 'E. Busch' Berlin, branch Rostock and works since 1990 as an actor for film, TV and theater.

In 1995 he switched behind the camera. In 1997 he produced the award-winning feature film 'Silvester Countdown' by Oskar Roehler. Together with Luggi Waldleitner's Roxy-Film he produced his feature film directorial debut 'Angel Express' in 1998. With Torsten Neumann, Kahl developed the project 99euro-films with the compilation films '99euro-films' (2001) and 'Europe - 99euro-films 2' (2003), as well as the documentary 'Mädchen am Sonntag' (Hessian Film Award, 2005). 2010 World premiere of his feature film 'Bedways' at the Berlinale. In addition, he creates music videos and theater productions. In 2017, Kahl's experimental feature film 'A Thought of Ecstasy' has its international premiere in the official competition of the Tallinn Black Nights, categorized as an A-film festival. Currently, the performative documentary 'School of Women' (working title 'Women's Day in New York') is in the making and will premiere in 2021.

Since 1999, Kahl has also increasingly devoted himself to performances and video art works in various contexts of visual art, theater and film with presentations in museums, galleries, theater and opera houses.

Since 2001, he has held teaching positions at various colleges and universities. In 2018, he takes on an artistic professorship at the Berlin Media University and founds the Berlin Film Institute there in 2020. In 2020, Kahl follows an appointment as professor at the SRH University Berlin School of Popular Arts. He was a member of the selection committee of the Berlinale (Shorts) for over 10 years and has worked for the program selection of Filmfest Oldenburg since 2001. Since 2013 he has been a member of the board of the German Film Academy, since 2017 as one of the three executive chairs of the board. In 2013 he was a BKM scholarship holder at Villa Aurora Los Angeles.

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