Arsenal is represented at the SchoolCinemaWeeks with two films: the documentary SAUERBRUCH HUTTON ARCHITEKTEN (Harun Farocki, Germany 2013, 17.11.) and the feature BARAKAH MEETS BARAKAH (Mahmoud Sabbagh, Saudi Arabia 2016, 20.11.). SAUERBRUCH HUTTON ARCHITEKTEN gives insights into the work of the Berlin architecture office of Louisa Hutton and Matthias Sauerbruch, who are primarily known for the striking colors of their façade designs. The film hones the gaze for architecture, product design, and urban planning just as it does for working processes. Constructed space is able to be experienced as designed space. In the Saudi Arabian romantic comedy BARAKAH MEETS BARAKAH, civil official Barakah meets Bibi, who is a well-known blogger and model. But how are the two of them supposed to get to know each other better in a country that views any form of dating with total hostility? With breathtaking flair, Bibi and Barakah subvert the system of tradition, labels, and religious police.

The next edition of Big Cinema, Small Cinema on November 19 is addressing children of 9 years and older. Two years ago, Lana left Iraq to flee to Europe with her husband and young son. Thousands of people from Syria, Iran, and Iraq made the same journey as her – looking for a secure, perhaps better life. During her journey, Lana’s cellphone containing all the images of her trip was stolen. Together with children, the vast majority of whom are refugees or have a migration background, the artists of the Arsenal film studio created drawings of the family’s journey to Europe, which were first combined into a short, partly animated film and then augmented with an individual sound montage. With the filmmakers in attendance, the school children present LANAS GESCHICHTE (Germany 2017) together with their sound composition.

CASTING by Nicolas Wackerbart can be seen in selected cinemas from November 2nd. The film, which premiered in this year's Forum and was acclaimed by critics and audience alike, tells of director Vera, who is unwilling to compromise when it comes to finding the right lead actress for a television Fassbinder remake. Acting assistant Gerwin delivers dialogues with a bevy of famous actresses and soon realises that this could be his big chance.

On October 16, we are repeating the program curated by Lucile Desamory for June that had to be cancelled due to technical problems. In Luc Moullet's LA CABALE DES OURSINS (France 1992), abandoned strip mines appear next to volcanoes and pyramids. The director-cum-pataphysical cartographer creates a wasteland of the secret paths through his childhood memories. Opinions as to what is considered a historical monument, a magnificent natural landscape or industrial waste vary. I'm interested in the moment when the shift occurs, the "in-between" and its emotional consequences. CORPUS CALLOSUM (Michael Snow, Canada 2001) combines the realism of a normal metamorphosis in credible "real" inner spaces with "impossible" changes of form. In both films, the shift is a physical place, a fissure: a place of entrancement. Both films take the viewers to the equilibrium point between shifting modes of perception.