The popular scientific educational film DIE GESCHLECHTSKRANKHEITEN UND IHRE FOLGEN (Germany 1919/20) was the first film created by the Medicinal Film Archive at the UFA Department for Cultural Film. The film provided information about syphilis and gonorrhea, was publicized as a "scientific" film, and was supposed to be shown to every high school student before graduation. With images often intended to act as deterrent which still cause consternation today, it was hoped that audiences could be made aware of the consequences of these diseases and the difficulty in finding a cure. The deterrent created and the often brutal way in which patients were directed ends up debasing them in the process. As such, the film provides images of eugenics and racial cleansing. (Hans Hirnsperger)

"I was asking for something specific and perfect for my city, / Whereupon lo! Up sprang the aboriginal name. / Now I see what there is in a name, a word, liquid, sane, unruly, musical, self-sufficient, (…) / The mechanics of the city, the masters, well-form'd, beautiful-faced, looking you straight in the eyes, (…) / the most courageous and friendly young men, City of hurried and sparkling waters! city of spires and masts! City nested in bays! my city!" (From Mannahatta by Walt Whitman).

From Marrakesh to Durban and from Ouagadougou to Nairobi, more and more festivals have been establishing themselves over the years as showcases for contemporary cinema from Africa and acting as a springboard for young African filmmakers. Film festivals such as the FESPACO in Burkina Faso, the DOCKANEMA in Mozambique, the DIFF in South Africa or the JCC in Tunisia have already managed to secure their place as meeting points for the global film scene. More recent film festivals such as the short film festival Rencontres du Film Court held in Madagascar, the Rwanda Film Festival or the Kenya International Film Festival are well on their way to doing the same.

In collaboration with AFRIKAMERA, the artistic directors of selected African film festivals will be presenting highlights from their programs and bringing across the spirit of these festivals in a series of discussions.

It’s soon that time again, as on November 15 another three films from the Arsenal archive are being shown as part of the monthly Living Archive Project public screenings: LA VERIFICA INCERTA (by Alberto Grifi und Gianfranco Baruchello, Italy 1965, 31') together with WERNER HERZOG EATS HIS SHOE (USA 1980, 26') and GARLIC IS AS GOOD AS TEN MOTHERS (USA 1979/1980, 58') by Les Blank. The latter two form the focus of Sabine Nessel’s cinematic archeological work, while the found footage film LA VERIFICA INCERTA will be being discussed as part of Harun Farocki’s project. The two Italian directors combine stereotypical sequences from well-known films to form an amusing cinematic collage, creating an ironic, critical deconstruction of Hollywood cinema in the process.

The film title WERNER HERZOG EATS HIS SHOE is to be taken quite literally. Having lost a bet, Werner Herzog proceeds to eat his shoe after cooking it for five hours in a garlic and rosemary sauce, which, while doing little to soften the leather, does at least give it a wonderful aroma. GARLIC IS AS GOOD AS TEN MOTHERS celebrates garlic in all its different manifestations. "The film is absolutely obscene in its obsession with the growing and harvesting of garlic and the preparation, cooking and eating of garlic dishes - everything from whole suckling pigs to garlic soup to a crab sauce containing whole cups of chili powder and cayenne pepper as well as piles and piles of garlic." (Rob Baker)

Barely a month after its cinema release, we are presenting the Iranian film BAD O MEH (Wind and Fog, Mohammad Ali Talebi, Iran 2011, November 18, 10 am–12pm) as part of our "What is Cinema? jour fixe" series, with the screening of the film being complemented by an introduction and post-film discussion. The film takes a look at the living situation of twelve-year-old Shouka and her little brother Sahand, who have just moved to live with their grandfather in the rural north of Iran, as the violent clashes from which they have fled have not reached there yet.

The amateurs: grand gestures, murder and music. As the start of new film series, filmmakers whose works we distribute will be presenting films both old and new by their filmmaking colleagues. Eva Heldmann and Sabine Schöbel are setting the ball rolling on Novemver 21: "The grand feelings and gestures of Hollywood and the world of (musical) theatre and how these are assimilated in anarchistic fashion in the realm of experimental cinema are our theme. In DER BRÄUTIGAM, DIE KOMÖDIANTIN UND DER ZUHÄLTER (West Germany 1968) Straub/Huillet document a performance by the Munich antiteater. They present a eulogy to love in opposition to Fassbinder's libertarian disenchantment. HEINRICH (Sabine Schöbel, Germany 2011) dissects the idea of the singing hero. In 1933 (Joyce Wieland, USA 1967), a street in New York rehearses the same performance ten times over. When Frieda Grafe wrote about NEURASIA (Werner Schroeter, West Germany 1968), it was all about "idols, devotion, mythology, and ecstasy. It's only about a final significance, about the highest degree of meaning." BACK TO NATURE (George Kuchar, USA 1967) is an unabashed homage to Hollywood.

The first ever winner of the "Cinema fairbindet" Prize, a new award established this year at the Berlinale for films that explore developmental and political issues which is funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, will be touring through 25 German cities from October 18th until December 21st as part of the "Cinema fairbindet" road show. The list of participating cinemas can be found below together with the date of the screening(s) and any additional events marked. Please see the homepage of your particular cinema for more information.