Films are collaborative works, created by directors, screenwriters, producers, editors cinematographers, actors, sound editors and many more. For this month's Magical History Tour, we are showing films that make this collective work visible and take it as their very theme. But it isn't just collectives, groups or film factories that highlight the plurality of cinema. The ensemble film is at once a collaborative work of a plural nature and a subversion of classical norms, creating hugely dynamic worlds rendered in cinematic patchwork that take in character mosaics that branch off in all directions, multilayered relationship structures and deliberately de-centered group portraits – complex universes characterized by fantastic acting ensembles, star-studded and egalitarian in equal measure.

As part of the "German festivals on tour" programme organized by the Goethe Institute in Brussels, two Forum films will be screened at BOZAR on April 27: Antoine Barraud's LES DOS ROUGE (PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST) from this year's and ICH WILL MICH NICHT KÜNSTLICH AUFREGEN (ASTA UPSET) by Max Linz from last year's programme.

Antoine Barraud will be present to introduce his film.

As part of the "German festivals on tour" programme organized by the Goethe Institute in Brussels, two Forum films will be screened at BOZAR on April 27: Antoine Barraud's LES DOS ROUGE (PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST) from this year's and ICH WILL MICH NICHT KÜNSTLICH AUFREGEN (ASTA UPSET) by Max Linz from last year's programme.

Antoine Barraud will be present to introduce his film.

When it comes to Ivan Mosjoukine (1889–1939) the use of the superlative is appropriate. He was an actor, screenplay writer and director, but above all he was one of the great stars of the silent movie era. Key features were his penetrating gaze, his immense screen presence and incredible versatility that enabled him to go from one mood to the next in no time at all. His very physical acting made him a virile hero, but one that also had boyish charm and could develop a soft sensibility. Whatever the material, he always found the appropriate expression, and was a master of grand gestures, as well as fine, subtle facial expressions. Mosjoukine (also written Mozzhukhin, Mosjukin), who was born in Tsarist Russia, studied law as his father wanted for two years before joining an acting troupe. He launched his screen career in 1911 and soon became a predominant figure in Russian cinema, as brilliant in comedy as he was in serious works. In 1915, he signed a contract with the producer Joseph Yermoliev (or Ermolieff) who guaranteed him 10 long features per year. He was able to choose his screenplays and directors himself, and his collaboration with Yakov Protazanov was particularly fruitful. In the 20 films that they made together, Mosjoukine often played a romantic hero eaten up by his demonic passions. After the 1917 Revolution, Yermoliev moved his studio to Yalta in Crimea, and in 1920 the whole troupe emigrated to Paris. The newly-founded “Ermolieff Cinema”, which became Albatross Films in 1922, moved into the former Pathé studios in the Paris suburb of Montreuil-sous-Bois. France’s film industry, which was still recovering from the upheavals of the First World War in the early 1920s, profited greatly from the Russian emigrants' creative, and also financial, potential. Mosjoukine soon became a superstar in France too. He not only wrote and co-wrote screenplays, but also directed two films which both captivate with their meditative wit and pleasure in experimenting. Abel Gance originally wanted him to give him the main part in his monumental Napoleon, but Mosjoukine refused on the grounds that the role could only be played by a Frenchman. Hollywood also took an interest in Mosjoukine and, at the height of his success in 1926, he went to the US with a lucrative five-year deal with Universal in his pocket. However, his guest performance was a disaster. The only film in which he played (Edward Sloman's "Surrender") was a flop with critics and public alike. Back in Europe, Mosjoukine made films with the Russian exiles in Berlin but was never again able to tap into his former success. Sound brought a final end to his career. With his heavy Russian accent, the roles available to him were limited and his screen presence was not the same in talkies. Mosjoukine died of tuberculosis in 1939, in poverty and aged only 50, having starred in over 100 films.

We will show a selection of seven films mostly from his French phase, including the two that he directed himself, and two Russian films from the 1910s. Eunice Martins will accompany all the films on the piano.

Ecuador is a small country with big ambitions located in the northwest of South America, flanked by Columbia and Peru. Since President Rafael Correa came to power in 2006, it has benefitted from an unparalleled boom and this is also true for the cinema. The country was one of the last on the continent to introduce a film law and to start providing state funding for the film industry, which was long overdue. A small but stable production sector has now emerged in Ecuador, with recent films receiving numerous international awards. There is no lack of talent: This has been shown in the past and each new work continues to prove it. Ecuador’s filmmakers have mastered a wide range of expressions and are as comfortable with experimental film, as they are with the auteur perspective (EL GRILL DE CÉSAR, RUTA DE LA LUNA) or the thriller genre (QUITO 2023). Most find their material in social reality (MEJOR NO HABLAR DE CIERTAS COSAS, NO ROBARÁS …) or in recent Ecuadorian history (CON MI CORAZÓN EN YAMBO). However, their colleagues in other areas of culture, such as literature, art and music, display much more evidence of dealing with global themes and forms.

Montage is one of cinema's most important causal instruments of style and so elementary that its significance is easily forgotten. Montage gives structure to space and time, creates continuities and breaks and can have a dynamic and rhythmic effect. The Soviet avant-garde filmmakers were quick to recognize and explore the value of montage. However, the film language that was so seminal and continues to shape our watching habits today was developed in Hollywood – découpage classique, which evokes a flowing continuity of movement. The editing is as unobtrusive as possible and gives the impression of a light and effortless, seamless narrative.

Cinemascope – rarely has another cinematic term aroused more expectations in the cinemagoer. As the curtain opens slowly at the beginning of a showing, it reveals an ever-growing screen that the walls of the cinema seem hardly able to contain. Expanding images, spectacular expanses, breathtaking proximity, visual wealth – bigger than life or just unnecessarily oversized? Billy Wilder found sober words for this technological innovation that Twentieth Century Fox unveiled with the epic costume drama The Robe in 1953: "An ideal format for filming the life of a dachshund!" Fritz Lang's remark in Godard's Scope film "Le Mépris" is also unforgettable: "Cinemascope is fine for snakes and coffins, but not for people." The films of our Cinemascope retrospective hail from five decades and there is not one dachshund to be seen and only a few snakes and coffins. They impart a sense of the immense scope (!) there is for different artistic approaches to the over-sized 2:35:1 aspect ratio and its impact on the use of space and narrative strategies.