Persona non grata

After a television set flies out of an upper floor apartment on the and lands in the backyard, the filmmaker sets off into the West Berlin night. Christoph Doering’s Super-8 film PERSONA NON GRATA is a film about escaping a TV reality that suggests doom and darkness.

Doering is considered one of the most important figures in the West Berlin Super-8 scene of the 1980s. He is a founding member of the multimedia group Notorische Reflexe (1982–1985), and his work encompasses film, video, painting and performance. Today, he sees himself primarily as a painter and presents his paintings under the name C.D. Aschaffenburg.

The Arsenal was able to restore PERSONA NON GRATA and URLAUBSCLIP AFRIKA – a critical commentary on colonial imagery – with funding from the Filmerbe support program. Building on the premiere of these restorations, Florian Wüst has curated a program of Super-8 films from the 1980s, including Doering’s KRAUSE – ODER EIN BESCHRIEBENER FILM IST WIE EIN ERZÄHLTES MITTAGESSEN.

Films:
3302 – Der Taxifilm Christoph Doering West Germany 1979 15 min.
Sax Yana Yo West Germany 1983 6 min.
Berlin/Alamo Knut Hoffmeister West Germany 1979 9 min.
Persona Non Grata Christoph Doering West Germany 1981 16 min.
Urlaubsclip Afrika Christoph Doering West Germany 1984 6 min.
Break
Fragment Video Notorische Reflexe West Germany 1983 12 min.
Normalzustand Yana Yo West Germany 1981 3 min.
Deutschland Knut Hoffmeister West Germany 1980 21 min.
Krause – oder ein beschriebener Film ist halt wie ein erzähltes Mittagessen Christoph Doering West Germany 1988 12 min.