The Festival
On the website, the team of the first Super08 / 16mm film festival, which was presented in 1997 under this title by the cinema Quasimodo in riesa efau wrote: "It all started with a Super8 projector and a camera, found at the flea market at the river Elbe. Once we heard the rattling of the tiny movie, it grabbed us, it did not let go and the idea of the Super8 / 16mm film festival was born. What was meant to be a small party, has grown into a film festival and the enthusiasm for Super8 and amateur film seems to be booming."
With the 20th dresdner schmalfilmtage, we put our energy into achieving, true to the motto of the festival, "Alien Shores". Amateur filmmakers and lovers, independent filmmakers and artists use their devotion to celluloid as a fidelity to tell a story, to artistry, to the physicality of the editing process and to the suspense of digital technologies. The magnificent texture of the films is undoubtedly seductive, but their desirability also arises from the impression that it is rare and valuable. To discover "Alien Shores" means to "think outside the box", to question habits and to break up with the well-known. An important topic. Always. Then and now. The 20th dresdner schmalfilmtage is dedicated to this topic in various programs.
Freedom is not just around
Programs such as Cologne-Cuba, Czech Underground, Socialist Underground before 1989 (films from the GDR, Yugoslavia, the Soviet Union, Hungary) or "The Private Century" by director Jan Šikl take a closer look at social issues. Social dialogues, actions and structures of then and now become visible and decipherable.
The freedom to move
In 94 days around the world with Captain Eisenhuth on the Soviet cruise ship, shown at the opening and in the festival lounge, is a great fund with several wonderful socially critical journeys, privately recorded on 8 mm and provided with two soundtracks. And then, yes, in November 2019 we’ll commemorate 30 years of the fall of the Berlin Wall with film and discussion. That means 30 years of freedom. Means travelling around and looking at the world, means being able to have friends virtually everywhere. Means to be a self-determined female, male and child, and everything in between, of course. An incredible privilege!
The freedom to act
According to the modern understanding, being free means not only doing what you want, but above all doing what you really want. Independent filmmakers form the main program element of the festival. It continues the series "American Independents" this year with Stan VanDerBeek. The film "Kaleidoscope", by Telemach Wiesinger, recorded on 16-mm black-and-white is based on numerous journeys through Europe and North America and shows stations of people being on the road, observing and discovering, and even beaching. And the films of the German artist Dore O. are unique compared to the prevailing trends of German experimental cinema.
To support independent filmmaking, doing and sharing is a central element as well, represented in the workshop "Transformation" sound to film by Telemach Wiesinger, the children's workshop, the Get Together and of course the prelude programme in the Diakonissenkirche where film with a new produced composition with organ takes place.
The joy to celebrate
To experience the freshly produced international and German films on screen and to meet the filmmakers and artists on site means fun. As well as the three competitions with six awards, they offer a reason to celebrate. Special fun programmes, includes a highlight - our 20th birthday party, the trash movie night but of course the celebration continues in the breaks and in spaces and programmes designed for discussions, ideas and collaborations. In which pleasure, fun and joy mix with the effort of sharing and dancing until late into the night.