Opening Archival Assembly #2

Archival Assembly was launched in 2021 as the conclusion of the project Archive außer sich. The biennial festival considers international film archives as a shape-shifting space for the future of cinema. Archival Assembly #2 reflects critically on the topic of cinematic heritage in the broader context of cultural heritage in general, e.g. in relation to colonial and migrational histories or the histories of political and aesthetic movements.
From June 8 to 15, Archival Assembly #2 will feature new restorations, contemporary films, transnational archive projects, as well as an exhibition and a symposium, and a series of informal project presentations.

On June 8, the festival opens with a film screening and homage to Petna Ndaliko Katondolo as well as a film performance by Filipa César and Marinho de Pina in the Kuppelhalle. The exhibition opens at 4 pm at Betonhalle.

6 pm: Film screening
Tribute Petna Ndaliko Katondolo, Part 1

The festival is dedicating a tribute to Congolese filmmaker Petna Ndaliko Katondolo, opening in silent green with Matata (2019, 37′) and Kapita (2020, 22'). His work, which spans genres, explores the history and legacy of colonial views of Africa. "Our history," says Ndaliko Katondolo of Matata, "is defined by hands cut off, by photographs taken by missionaries who wanted to abolish slavery and yet considered us inferior." Kapita combines edited archival images with contemporary photographs to decode colonial representations in Central Africa. Guest: Petna Ndaliko Katondolo
Further info
 

8.30 pm: Film performance
Filipa César and Marinho de Pina: Mediateca. A resonance spiral.

Since 2011, filmmakers Sana na N'Hada, Filipa César and others have been working to reconstruct the audiovisual memory of the liberation movement in Guinea-Bissau. Mediateca, founded for this purpose, is now a laboratory for archival practice. César's film performance Mediateca: A Resonance Spiral (70') shows in two levels the processing of materials for the construction of the Mediateca building and a meeting of the agricultural workers' collective Satna Fai.
Further info

 

Festival opening
Thursday, June 8

Start: 6 pm
Kuppelhalle
Free admission


Exhibition How to know what’s really happening
June 9 to July 2
Opening June 8 I 4 pm
Opening hours: Mon–Fri, 2–8 pm / Sat–Sun, 11 am–8 pm
Betonhalle
Free admission


Symposium Accidental Archivism. Shaping Cinema’s Futures with Remnants of the Past
June 9 and 10
10 am to 7 pm
Kuppelhalle
Free admission

 

Complete festival programme