"Fiktionsbescheinigung" – Digital Debates

The event took place from June 16 to 19 in the digital space. You can find the recordings on the event pages to each event. The recordings to Kevin B. Lee's and Biene Pilavci's lecture are going online in the next days. The interactive Zoom discussion on June 19 about Strategies and prospects took place in form of a workshop and was not recorded. 

Creating spaces, sharing spaces

June 16, 7:30 pm

The cultural sector in Western European countries likes to think of itself as open, progressive and international. But discrimination is part of everyday life here as well, neither stopping at the barriers blocking off a film set nor at the doors of the rehearsal spaces of prestigious theatres. Diversity officers are often no more than fig leaves. What does this mean for cultural workers of colour? What alternative approaches are they developing? And how can cultural spaces and institutions be transformed so that they more accurately reflect the heterogeneity of society?

A panel in English with Jemma Desai and Olivier Marboeuf, moderated by Katarina Hedrén

A self-determined and ongoing process of intervention 

June 17, 8 pm

The contributions to “Fiktionsbescheinigung. 16 Cinematic Perspectives on Germany” function as suggestions for how to counter the white German gaze with diverse, intersectional perspectives. All of the films have one thing in common: their own visual and textual practice of testimony from within, not from the margins. The curators explain their motivations and ask how aesthetic and social strategies can engage with each other.

A panel in English with Karina Griffith, Jacqueline Nsiah, Biene Pilavci, Enoka Ayemba and Can Sungu, moderated by Matthias Dell

Double Agency: Fraught positions in postcolonial film analysis

June 18, 7:30 pm

Analytical film practices help to shed light on the problematic legacy of Western images in their colonialist gaze towards peoples and cultures. How is it then that these practices themselves warrant decolonization? What affordances and dilemmas do these tools present filmmakers and media practitioners of colour in examining their own relationship to colonialist media practices? These questions are considered through examining three cases that represent different strategies: reenactment, recutting, and reframing.

A lecture in English with Kevin B. Lee

Film as empowerment: “Dancing Alone” 

June 19, 3 pm

In “Dancing Alone,” director Biene Pilavci closes in on her own family and the experiences of violence and dysfunction that shaped her childhood. In her lecture she asks how the film came to be an instrument of empowerment, as well as offering guidance for how to talk to the subjects when making a documentary, on camera and editing economy, dramaturgy and communication in front of and behind the camera. She also reflects on the filmmaker’s relationship with the audience, who were often disturbed and felt helpless upon viewing her film. 

A lecture in German with Biene Pilavci – recording coming soon

Strategies and prospects 

June 19, 8 pm

What should an actor do if they are offered a role that reproduces stereotypes? How can films by Romani directors achieve greater visibility? How can cinema portray the experience of having to flee one’s home country? What connections exist between German-Turkish and Turkish cinema? These are just some of the questions that will be asked in this discussion. Eight actors, festival organisers, filmmakers and scholars talk about their professional practices, strategies and insights and invite participants into breakout rooms to share their experiences and debate their positions.

Interactive Zoom discussion with Ömer Alkin, Thelma Buabeng, Hamze Bytyçi, Sun-ju Choi, Djamila Grandits, Sheri Hagen, Mateja Meded and Lima Sayed in English and German, with sign language interpretation, hosted by Benita Sarah Bailey.