Jump directly to the page contents

16 mm film, 82 min. German, English.

Rushing Green with Horses is a collection of brief moments, filmed between 1999 and 2018 on journeys, at home, with friends and alone. They are private gestures that attract my attention, spontaneously filmed beyond narration or documentary: Anton in his apartment in Lichtenberg, Lilian and Nanouk 10 days old, Jón’s 94th birthday, Sofia dancing, James and Robert transport the 16mm projector, snow at Cape Cod, Detel in her atelier, Franz and Sabrina get married, a trip to Detroit, a stormy sea in black-and-white, Alma and Ernie at the Brandenburger Gate. We see the same people at various ages, as a child, as a teenager, as a young woman… sometimes hear someone speaking, hear music, or silence. Somewhere in the middle of the film there is a handwritten sentence that appears upside down before it gets turned around: “A child asleep in its own life”. (Ute Aurand)

Ute Aurand, born in Frankfurt/Main, West Germany in 1957 and raised in Berlin, studied at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (DFFB) from 1979 to 1985. Alongside her own film work she has been curating film programs since 1990 – the monthly “Filmarbeiterinnen-Abend” (1990-1996) and the series “Sie zum Beispiel” (1995–96). She is co-founder of the group “Filmsamstag” (1997–2007) as well as of the series “Großes Kino, kleines Kino,” experimental films for children, Arsenal. She has taught at the Universities of the Arts in Hamburg and Bremen as well as at the HGKZ in Zurich. In 2015 she initiated a Bolex workshop. Her films have been seen at international film festivals.


Erika Balsom on Ute Aurand

[...] Ute Aurand’s is a cinema of intimacy, populated by friends and family, daily experience forms the basis for a practice rich in lyrical beauty. I consider it amongst the most compelling work in experimental cinema today.Unlike many contemporary artists using the moving image, Aurand works within the artisanal tradition, shooting and editing her 16mm films alone. She favors responsive handheld camerawork and a distinctive editing style that is at once energetic, rhythmic and tender. Though this process may be solitary, it is never self-involved; rather, Aurand’s films are marked by a disarming openness. [...]
Aurand’s interest in the small moments that give meaning to human relationships is perhaps best exemplified by her innovative approach to portraiture. [...]
The expanses of time Aurand spends with her subjects are telescoped through montage so as to bring together disparate glimpses of changing lives. [...] She shares with us the feeling that though time’s arrow may bring loss, it is also time that brings tenderness, care, and complexity to our lives.

Erika Balsom
This text was first published on 7 February 2014 on the occasion of the film series „To Be Here: The Films of Ute Aurand“ at Tate Modern London.

Erika Balsom is senior lecturer in Film Studies at King’s College London.

Production company Ute Aurand Filmproduktion (Berlin, Germany). Production, Director, Cinematography, Editing, Sound Ute Aurand.

World sales Ute Aurand Filmproduktion

Films

selection: 1980: Schweigend ins Gespräch vertieft (7 min.). 1982: Umweg (with Ulrike Pfeiffer, 12 Min.). 1985: Paul Celan liest (5 min.). 1987: Feucht-Trocken-Warm-Kalt-Island (with Margarita Albrecht, 30 min.). 1988: Oh! Die vier Jahreszeiten (with Ulrike Pfeiffer, 20 min.). 1993: Detel+Jón 1988-1993 (33 min.). 1994: Bärbel und Charly (with Bärbel Freund und Karl Heil, 35 min.). 1995: Kleine Blumen, kleine Blätter (48 min.), Maria und die Welt (15 min.). 1998: Terzen (50 min.). 1999: Fadenspiele (with Detel Aurand, 8 min.). 2001: Filmmuseum Berlin (21 min.). 2002: Im Garten (with Bärbel Freund, 29 min.), Tulipan (with Bärbel Freund, 1 min.), Für Frau Foerster (with Bärbel Freund, 3 min.). 2004: Halbmond für Margaret (18 min.). 2005: India (57 min.). 2006: Der Schmetterling im Winter (with Maria Lang, 29 min.), Hier ist es zur Zeit sehr schön (with Maria Lang, 55 min.). 2008: In die Erde gebaut (42 min.), Im Park (6 min.), A Walk (4 min.), Zuoz (1 min.). 2009: Kopfüber im Geäst (15 min.). 2011: Paulina (5 min.), Franz (5 min.), Maria (3 min.), Junge Kiefern (43 min.). 2012: Susan (5 min.), Lisbeth (2 min.). 2013: To Be Here (38 min.), Fadenspiele 3 (with Detel Aurand, 9 min.). 2014: Philipps 60. Geburtstag (5 min.). 2015: Sakura, Sakura (2 min.). 2016: Four Diamonds (4 min.). 2017: Lisa (4 min.). 2019: Rasendes Grün mit Pferden / Rushing Green with Horses.

Photo: © Ute Aurand

Funded by:

  • Logo Minister of State for Culture and the Media
  • Logo des Programms NeuStart Kultur