Workshop report and screening
 

Presentation 1
The fusion of political and aesthetic radicalism in Helmut Herbst’s animated film practice 

Masha Matzke, Paul Marie (Deutsche Kinemathek)

The experimental animation and documentary filmmaker, professor and producer Helmut Herbst (1934-2021) is considered one of the key figures of the ‘other cinema’ movement, as well as a pioneer in the fight to preserve independent film and cinema’s early history. Herbst declared the history of aesthetic-political uprisings to be the favorite theme of his filmmaking practice, which he defined primarily as a form of activism in line with his concept of ‘animatory freedom.’ In the fusion of social protest and radical art, Herbst saw a direct link between Berlin Dadaism and the ‘other cinema’ of the 1960s. For Herbst, the power of both movements lay in their ability to equate radical upheavals in political thought with the formation of new ways of seeing.

The program provides insights into Herbst’s impressive work and the cut-out animation technique of his early political satires, which sought to animate not just paper collages but a political-aesthetic consciousness. Herbst’s unique animation studio, cinegrafik, which has been part of the Kinemathek’s collection since 2022, will also be presented.

Presentation 2
Animation in a hurry: the film drawings by Ton van Saane

Leenke Ripmeester (EYE)

Even though analog animation can be very fast and action-packed, the process of making these films is anything but quick. Frustrated by this aspect of animation, Dutch filmmaker Ton van Saane (1930-1973) searched for a technique that preserved the spontaneity of the creative process. He came up with an approach he termed ‘film drawings’. Van Saane tells a story by making drawings, then quickly erasing them and starting the next one. While he made the drawings, the camera was recording one frame per second which led to an acceleration when projected at 24 fps. The results are films that present the filmmaker in a hurry, in action! The viewer needs to accelerate as well to keep up with the drawings and the story being told. Curator of animation Leenke Ripmeester will present one to three films by Van Saane and elaborate on the special technique he developed.

Screening
›Dance of Colors‹

D 1939, Hans Fischinger, 8 min
Introduction: Thomas Worschech (DFF)
In English