It was no modest demand being made by a group of 26 signatories when they read out a manifesto at the VIII West German Short Film Festival in Oberhausen in February 1962, calling for nothing less than a radical break with the West German film industry in a statement that culminated with "the old cinema is dead. We believe in the new cinema." In the early 60s, the state of German film was not just artistically desolate, but also economically finished. It was practically impossible for young, critical filmmakers to find their place in the German film industry: as the classic method of getting into film by working as an assistant to an experienced director was stymied by the big age difference between the younger and older generations, this meant they were effectively forced to teach themselves. Peter Schamoni stated that, "back then, there was no way for us to reach the film industry. We had no way of realizing scripts or ideas within existing German film production, so we began to make short films that we ourselves produced." The 26 signatories – directors, cameramen, producers and one actor, not a single one of them a women - were a loosely connected group, which had formed from the DOC 59 association founded by Haro Senft and Ferdinand Khittl in Munich in 1959. Discussed in the press with interest and approval, the film branch itself reacted derisively to the manifesto, giving the young filmmakers the name "Obermünchhausener".

In 2009, Arsenal and Hebbel am Ufer (HAU) presented "LIVE FILM! JACK SMITH! Five Flaming Days in a Rented World", which was curated by Susanne Sachsse, Stefanie Schulte Strathaus and Marc Siegel. Featuring 50 international artists and academics, the event was dedicated to the underground pioneer and queer icon Jack Smith (1932–89). The superstar Mario Montez, who had stood on stage once again for LIVE FILM, and the participating director Ulrike Ottinger received an honorary Teddy award at the Berlinale. And now there's more big news. On the initiative of Jerry Tartaglia and thanks to the passion and drive of many, the Barbara Gladstone Gallery’s Jack Smith Archive is making brand new 16-mm prints available for distribution. Right on time for Camp/Anti-Camp we will be able to present them to the public and hope they will grace many screens in future. (13.4)

Manuel von Stürler's HIVER NOMADE (WINTER NOMADS), has received the 'Great Price for the best Suisse feature film of all sections' at Visions du Réel in Nyon. WINTER NOMADS had its world premiere in this year's Forum program. The award is endowed with 15.000 CHF.

"Written, produced and directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger" – these words and the logo of their production company "The Archers" began all the films made by the unique writer-producer-director duo. Michael Powell (1905 – 1990) started his career in the British film industry during the silent movie era, working with Rex Ingram and Alfred Hitchcock among others. In the 1930s, he made a series of "quota quickies" - low-budget, quickly-made entertainment films. The producer Alexander Korda introduced him to Emeric Pressburger (1902 - 1988) in 1939. The Hungarian had worked as an author for UFA in the 1930s before being forced to flee the Nazis. He escaped to England via France. The duo's first joint works were propaganda films which anticipated their later resourcefulness and predilection for experimentation. Their extravagant work found a rather singular niche in British filmmaking that was more focused on realism. They created opulent, flamboyant and visually stunning films, which were characterized by their twin-kling charm and light-hearted humor, until they parted ways in 1957. Soon after, Powell's career came to a premature end over the Peeping Tom (1960) scandal. Powell and Pressburger's works were rediscovered in the late 1980s thanks to younger directors such as Martin Scorsese and Derek Jarman.

As our contribution to the 7th Polish film festival in Berlin – filmPOLSKA – which is taking place from 12. to 18. April in different cinemas in the capital and Potsdam, we at Arsenal are putting the spotlight on Polish camera operators for the third time running. This year, we are pleased to welcome Bogdan Dziworski and Wojciech Staroń, who will each present their camera and directing work on two evenings. Bogdan Dziworski, who has made well over 40 films, started working as a cameraman and photographer in the mid-1960s, and soon afterwards started directing too. He focuses particularly on documentary in his work, and in the 1970s and 80s, he made films for the renowned Wytwórnia Filmów Oświatowych (Educational Film Studio) in Łódź. He also later worked as a cameraman for a BBC series of films about the former Soviet Union. His photographs have received great acclaim in a series of exhibitions and publications. Dziworski always has a number of projects on the go at once and is also the dean of Radio & TV department of the University of Silesia in Katowice.

Following Entuziazm’s proposal we will be screening SHIWJOT TAKOJ PAREN (Wassilij Schukschin, UdSSR 1964) on April 17th at 7 pm. The film was screened, in addition to three further films by Schukschin, at the International Forum of New Cinema in 1978. In 1964 the film was honored with a Golden Lion at the Mostra in Venice.

REVISION by Philip Scheffner has received the 'Remembrance and Future' Award at goEast Film Festival in Wiesbaden. The film, which was shown in this year's Forum program, reconstructs the circumstances which led to the death of Grigore Velcu and Eudache Calderar in a field near the German-Polish border in 1992, which have not been clarified until today. According to official reports, they were victims of a hunting accident, a tragic mix-up over wild boar. The hunters were never convicted, as the protracted trial failed to pursue many of the most decisive questions and eventually ended in an acquittal. Nearly 20 years later, Philip Scheffner carries out the painstaking investigation that never took place back then. He seeks out the dead men’s relatives in Romania and records the statements they were unable to give until now. As with the other witnesses and different experts he returns to question, he gives them the opportunity to listen to their own statements and reassess them as necessary – unlike standard practice, which elevates statements to fact the very moment they are made. In this way, Scheffner performs a cinematic revision of the case and the medium simultaneously. His diligent handling of material and reports creates a web of landscapes, recollections, case files and German political sentiment all of an increasingly oppressive complexity.

We are accompanying a seminar given by Ulrike Vedder and Alexandra Tacke at the Humboldt University on Working Environments in Literature and Film with a film series that will continue in June and July. The focus of the series are films which observe the upheavals in the world of work, looking at the 20s and 30s on the one hand and the last few years on the other.

Why do we use a camera? Are we researching the social sphere as Robert Flaherty once suggested to Joris Ivens? In CINEMAFIA, Jean Rouch, Joris Ivens and Henri Storck talk about these matters. Other films that deal with these questions are Jean Rouch’s PAM KUSO KAR about rituals in Niger and PAS TOUT by Isabelle Prim and Ludovic Burel, a "family film" that takes place in an abandoned factory. From 1968 to 1970, the Medvedkin Groups used strategies to treat political experiences in a cine-matic manner. LES TROIS QUARTS DE LA VIE was shot by young employees at a Peugeot factory. They received support from Chris Marker and Bruno Muel. (Eléonore de Montesquiou)

Vaginal Davis has spoilt her audiences with silent movies and live music over 40 times. Now she asks: "Is there a new way of seeing music in film?" and launches into a new Arsenal series about film and music. Once a month, the "curatorial mother" will personally present a film and then invite the audience to drinks and music after the screening. Although her selection comprises all periods and genres, they are all from the Arsenal collection – Vaginal Davis is a participant in the "Living Archive" project (p.23). Her opening film is Otto Preminger's PORGY AND BESS (USA 1959), a film version of the eponymous opera by George Gershwin, starring Sidney Poitier, Dorothy Dandridge, Sammy Davis Jr., Pearl Bailey, Brock Peters and Diahann Carroll. (22.4.)