Argentinian filmmaker Lucrecia Martel (*1966) is seen as one of contemporary world cinema’s most extraordinary exponents of style. She draws on truly cinematic devices to narrate complex sets of relationships, whether those within families or otherwise, and keeps a careful eye on symptoms of individual and social disintegration and decay in so doing, making sure to always address the asymmetrical relationship between Argentina’s privileged and those of indigenous origin. Her plots are minimal and her narratives dispense with exposition – which makes her films’ characteristic aesthetic all the more complex: different elements of sound are layered on top of one another in intricate fashion to emphasize the sensorial and the experiential; her unusual framings produce deliberately restricted images which never show the whole of things; she works with off-screen space and plays with focus, forging images where it’s impossible to say what is central and what is marginal.

Lucrecia Martel’s four features from 2001–2017 all celebrated their world premieres at the major international film festivals in Berlin, Cannes, and Venice. Following her three first films, which revolve around girls and women in the Argentina of today and are set in Martel’s home province of Salta in the north of the country, she now enters new terrain with her long-awaited, hugely acclaimed historical epic ZAMA (2017). We are very happy that Lucrecia Martel will be our guest at Arsenal for a special preview of ZAMA and the Berlin premiere of LA MUJER SIN CABEZA (2008) as part of this retrospective of her work.  

Sudanese filmmaker Gadalla Gubara (1921–2008) documented his country’s post-colonial era in over 50 documentaries, adverts, educational films, shorts, and feature following the independence of Sudan in 1956. His cinematic legacy was able to be digitized by Arsenal in collaboration with the Studio Gad archive in Khartoum in 2013 and 2016 with the help of funding from the Foreign Office’s cultural preservation program.

On June 19, six films will be shown in the presence of his daughter, including KHARTOUM (1960), a historical film about the once lively city, BATA COMPANY (1972), POLICE TRAFIC (1965), a selection of advertising films (1965–1970), SONGS OF KHARTOUM (1970) and VIVA SARA (1984), which accompanies Sara Gubara on a race between Capri to Naples as Sudan’s first international swimmer.

From 5.-22.7., the Edit Film Culture! festival and exhibition is taking place at silent green Kulturquartier and Arsenal. It incorporates different event formats involving international experts and artists to raise questions about the conditions of film cultures today and their relevance for society. The magazine Film Culture, which was started by Jonas and Adolfas Mekas in New York in 1955, was regarded as a platform for dialogue between filmmakers and their audiences, between theory and practice, between film and art. 79 issues were published through 1996. The magazine contained interviews, historical texts, manifestos, film analyses, artists’ texts, poetry, photographic essays, and reports on the creation of independent structures for film production, distribution, and projection.

The film program places a focus on the reciprocal relationships between New York and Berlin. One person heavily involved in these was Arsenal staff member Alf Bold, who died in 1993 from the consequences of AIDS. In the early 70s, he recognized that special action needed to be taken to convey the importance of experimental film and boost its profile. In 1978, Arsenal dedicated a program to the Anthology Film Archives, saying it was “the first film museum exclusively dedicated to film as art”.

In one of the cinema’s siderooms, Alf Bold set up a small 16mm projection space, where he presented the “Avantgarde at Arsenal 2” series every Monday. Each program told its own story about cinematic forms, the developments in the medium, and the world itself.

In 1982, he headed the Collective for Living Cinema program in New York for one year. There he intensified his connections to the avant-garde and underground scene, while also expanding the Arsenal film collection around this focus. Following his death, he bequeathed an experimental film fund to Arsenal so that this work could be continued.

The program includes remakes of his programs as well as additional films from the collection. Most of the selected filmmakers wrote for Film Culture themselves or had their films reviewed there.

AN ELEPHANT SITTING STILL by Hu Bo received the GNCR Prize (Prix du Groupement National des Cinémas de Recherche) at the International Film Festival Marseille.

LA CASA LOBO (THE WOLF HOUSE) by Joaquín Cociña and Cristóbal León got a Special Mention by the same jury.

Both films premiered as part of this year's Forum programme where they also received major awards: AN ELEPHANT SITTING STILL was awarded by the FIPRESCI jury and LA CASA LOBO won the Caligari Award.

Sudanese filmmaker Gadalla Gubara (1921–2008) documented his country’s post-colonial era in over 50 documentaries, adverts, educational films, shorts, and feature following the independence of Sudan in 1956. His cinematic legacy was able to be digitized by Arsenal in collaboration with the Studio Gad archive in Khartoum in 2013 and 2016 with the help of funding from the Foreign Office’s cultural preservation program.

On June 19, six films will be shown in the presence of his daughter, including KHARTOUM (1960), a historical film about the once lively city, BATA COMPANY (1972), POLICE TRAFIC (1965), a selection of advertising films (1965–1970), SONGS OF KHARTOUM (1970) and VIVA SARA (1984), which accompanies Sara Gubara on a race between Capri to Naples as Sudan’s first international swimmer. Further films by Gadalla Gubara will be shown at SAVVY Contemporary on 20.7.

The Berlinale Summer Spotlight will be showing selected films of this year's festival in open air screenings at Freiluftkino Friedrichshain from July 19-22.

The Forum's pick is WALDHEIMS WALZER (THE WALDHEIM WALTZ) by Ruth Beckermann, screening on July 20. The film, which premiered as part of this year's Forum programme and received the Berlinale Documentary Award, has been screened and praised at many international film festivals since. Anke Leweke, member of the Forum selection committee, will present the film.