›Dance of colors‹, D 1939, Direction: Hans Fischinger
Copyright: Deutsches Filmmuseum & Filminstitut
Animation as action and activism
Si̇nema Transtopia
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
| Tickets | €9 |
| When | Fri 24.10.25, 11:30 |
| Where |
Si̇nema Transtopia |
Zusatzinfos im Slider
Event details
Animation films by Helmut Herbst
›Black, White and Red‹
Helmut Herbst, FRG 1964
This animated film with collage is Helmut Herbst’s angry response to the BILD newspaper’s demand that Gert von Paczensky be removed from his post as head of the NDR television magazine ‘Panorama’ due to its government-critical programming. Paczensky was considered a pioneer of critical and subversive reporting, employing Klaus Wildenhahn and Helmut Herbst.
›A Short Guide to a Happy Life‹
Helmut Herbst, FRG 1963
An animated film with collage. With a film text by the poet and left-wing essayist Peter Rühmkorf. A satire of advertising language.
›Seven Simple Phenomena‹
Helmut Herbst, FRG 1984
Sketched portrait of a man with a beard. In 1985, the film received the Silver Filmband at the German Film Awards.
The films were digitized in 4K resolution and restored in 2K in 2024. The source materials were 35 mm original camera negatives and sound originals. Digitization was made possible by the Film Heritage Funding Program (FFE).
Masha Matzke
is a film preservationist, researcher and curator specializing in early and experimental cinema. She holds degrees in film studies from the Freie Universität Berlin and film preservation from The Jeffrey Selznick School of Film Preservation in Rochester (New York). Presently a film restorer, she has been with the Deutsche Kinemathek since 2017. Matzke has presented film screenings at Anthology Film Archives, Harvard Film Archive, the Cinémathèque québécoise and TIFF Lightbox, among others. She is the editor of the first Dore O. monograph, and in her free time, writes on experimental cinema.
Paul Marie
has worked for the Deutsche Kinemathek for five years and completed a two-year traineeship in the film archive’s analog collection management from 2022 to 2024. He gained further practical experience in the film archives of the EYE Filmmuseum (Amsterdam, Netherlands) and the Filmarchiv Austria. In September 2025, he completed his studies in restoration and conservation at the Berlin University of Applied Sciences (HTW).
Animation films by Ton van Saane
›De held‹
Ton van Saane, NL 1969
Life is full of setbacks, even when doing something as simple as going to the station by bike. But our protagonist will not give up so easily.
›Oma komt‹
Ton van Saane, NL 1969
A young boy goes with his mother to pick up grandmother from the station. But what is the actual reason for Grandma’s visit? No soundtrack was made for this film. Ton van Saane’s son, Fokke van Saane, added a soundtrack in 2022.
›In het zigt van de hafe‹
Ton van Saane, NL 1969
In three interwoven stories, a cyclist almost reaches a mountain top, a castaway waves to a boat in the distance, and a man in an office is looking forward to going home. But what will happen next?
Direction, DOP, Editing: Ton van Saane
No dialog
Original format: 16 mm, 4:3, color
Screening print: DCP, 16 min
The dupe negatives from the 16 mm original reversal print of ‘De held’ and ‘In het zigt van de hafe’ were scanned in HD, as well as the original sound perforations. For ‘Oma Komt’, the original 16 mm reversal print was scanned.
Leenke Ripmeester
has been a curator at the Eye Filmmuseum (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) since 2007. She has worked on animation films such as the collections of the Geesink and Toonder studio and the puppetoons of George Pàl. In 2006, she completed her PhD thesis on music videos and youth cultures at the University of Amsterdam. Currently, she is working on films from the Dutch Antilles and the work of Dutch animation pioneer George Debels.
Dance of Colors
‘Dance of Colors’ is an abstract play of colors, shapes, and music in which colorful dots, lines, and surfaces move to the rhythm of the music. The short film is the first and only production by Hans Fischinger, who previously worked for his brother, the animation pioneer Oskar Fischinger. It premiered as an opening short on February 26 1939, and ran for two weeks with great success. The film was subsequently bought by Tobis Filmkunst GmbH, a company complicit with the Nazi regime, and was not shown again until the end of the war.
D, DoP, SP, E, Prod: Hans Fischinger
Original format: 35 mm, 1:1.37, color
Screening print: DCP, 8 min, Deutsches Filmmuseum und Filminstitut, Frankfurt a.M.
The 156-meter-long copy from the German Federal Archive proved to be complete and served as the only source material. The digitization took place in cooperation with the Institute of Film Studies at the University of Zurich. The multispectral scanner “Scan2Screen” was used for the work, which enables a digital conversion of the material without subsequent light or color grading.
Thomas Worschech
studied economics and has worked on a freelance basis for various museums. Since 1999, he has been the curator at the DFF – Deutsches Filminstitut & Filmmuseum and is the head of its film archive and the film-technological collection. He has also worked on film restorations and DVD productions, collaborated and conceived film history exhibitions and film series, and has worked as a catalog editor and produced publications on German film. Since 2013, he has been responsible for the digitization projects of the DFF.