Cinema and Death – An Evening in Honor of Hartmut Bitomsky

“Something always remains,” is one of the quotes from the essay film Staub (Dust, 2007), in which Hartmut Bitomsky explores the almost invisible eponymous particles that make up dust. It can be unsettling but perhaps also comforting to think that it does not disappear completely. And when the projector’s light hits grains of dust, the fleeting reality of cinema is revealed. This eye for the inconspicuous and the ephemeral is found not only in Bitomsky’s films about dust, streets, or factories, but also in those that explore the nature of cinema itself.

For the essayist Bitomsky, the cinema was a place that demanded analysis and close observation. A director, film critic, and teacher, he influenced both those who make films and those who write about them. The German Film Critics Association and the Arsenal Film Institute dedicate this event to Hartmut Bitomsky, who passed away on September 24, 2025. Featuring memories and reflections from Manfred Blank, Michael Baute, Christian Petzold, Wilfried Reichart, Lee Anne Schmitt, Katharina Wyss, and others—moderated by Anne Küper. (Anne Küper)