FACING NEW CHALLENGES

With FACING NEW CHALLENGES, we explore the possibilities of the moving image beyond classic narrative cinema and focus on new tendencies along the border where film meets other media and art forms.

Today is the shortest day of the year but somehow hanging around with you all day makes it seem like the longest. Perverse Decolonization.

Video installation: 31 minutes, 2018
Saddie Choua

Saddie Choua’s video installation is a playful and radical deconstruction of cinematic images of the body. Choua calls her method “meta-documentary” and she brings together central works of film history: Chantal Akerman’s feminist masterpiece “Jeanne Dielman”, Leni Riefenstahl’s exploitation documentaries, and “Black Girl” by the Senegalese director Ousmane Sembène, which can also be seen in our retrospective this year. The work places us in the middle of (film) history as well, creating space for reflection by provoking disruptions with a sense of humor.

The lecture with the Moroccan film historian and curator Rim Mejdi on 15 November at 18:00 has unfortunately been cancelled.

Instead, there will be a discussion between art historian Alexandra Vinzenz and section curator Jan Philipp Possmann on 15 November at 18:00 on interculturality and othering in cinema using the example of Saddie Choua's installation. The discussion will be held in German.

• When and where: The installation can be visited at any time during the opening hours of the Festival-Lounge Heidelberg on all festival days.
• Languages: English and French.
• Completely barrier-free.

Uncensored Lilac

Video work: 30 minutes, 2024
Bassam Issa Al-Sabah and Jennifer Mehigan

Hyper-feminine goddesses cavort in CGI landscapes and dream-like architecture. In this computer-generated video work by Irish artist duo Bassam Issa Al-Sabah and Jennifer Mehigan, mega-femme entities monologue poetically, profoundly, and at the same banally about their deepest desires and fantasies. Their almost brutal hyper-femininity reflects a world in which “hotness” is synonymous with power – global warming is the logical consequence. Visually, the two artists draw on pop culture, computer games, and mythology. They juxtapose female bodies and landscapes – a common motif in feminist utopian literature. The exhibition takes place in Wavehouse, a future server farm for Heidelberg iT and the largest 3D-printed building in Europe. The venue encases the installation as a sculpture, underlining how the digital becomes an analog reality.

On Saturday, 9 Nov, at 4:30pm, curator Lena Reitschuster will give an introduction to the work. This will be followed by a joint tour of the Wavehouse. The introduction will be in German.

• Where and when: Wavehouse, near Karlstorbahnhof: Billie-Holiday-Straße 7, 69126 Heidelberg.
• Opening times: Friday, 8 Nov, 2pm-8pm | Saturday, 9 Nov, 11am-8pm | Sunday, 10 Nov, 11am-8pm
• Language: English with English subtitles.
• Barrier-free access, no barrier-free bathrooms
• Admission: free