Bringing German cinema to Joburg
MABONENG PRECINCT - Cultural institute, cinema join forces for new monthly event.
A new monthly event by a German cultural institute and an independent cinema will kick-off with a showcase of avant-garde animation.
KiezKino, the Goethe-Institut and Bioscope project, aims to discover and screen German cinema, and draws on the concept of the kiez kino (neighbourhood cinema).
“Once a month, a film from the [institute] film archive will be presented at the Bioscope,” said institute spokesperson Benjamin Keuffel.
This month the cinema will screen a selection of German short films from the ’20s and ’30s.
“Under the motto Film as art’, Rudolf Arnheim, Walther Ruttman, Viking Eggeling, Hans Richter and Rudolf Pfenniger coined what is known as Absolute Film – abstract animated films in the spirit of non-objective art,” said Keuffel.
“The innovations were not limited to the visual aspect, but also incorporated elements of music and sound. Thanks to these artistic experiments, the animated films of the Weimar Republic enjoy worldwide reputation to date.”
The films to be screened include Richter’s Rhythmus 21 (1921-23), Ruttmann’s Opus II (1921), Eggeling’s Symphonie Diagonale (1921-25), Pfenniger’s Tönende Handschrift I, II and III (1932), Berthold Bartosch’s L´idée (1932), and Lotte Reiniger’s Carmen (1933).
KiezKino: Animated avant-garde will take place on 24 June at The Bioscope Independent Cinema, 286 Fox Street, Maboneng Precinct, at 7.30pm.
Details: 011 039 7306; www.thebioscope.co.za; www.goethe.de/johannesburg
