Presentations

Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908–2004) was one of the most famous photographers in history. His black and white photographs recorded the momentous events of the twentieth century, from the liberation of Paris in 1944 to the communist takeover in China in 1949, to the building of the Berlin Wall in 1961. In this new documentary from ARTE’s French studios, Pierre Assouline, author and friend of Cartier-Bresson, brings together images and original quotations by ‘HCB’ in a film homage.
German premiere of the film, with an introduction by Dr Matthias Harder
On ARTE on Wednesday, 7 November 2012, 9:30 pm

The artist Adam Broomberg presents a lecture performance dealing with issues of documentation and the limits of representation. Adam Broomberg is part of the London-based photographer duo Adam Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin. The South African photographers artistically address questions of history, ethnicity and nationality.

The fine art artist and BTK professor James Higginson presents the summer school project of the BTK. In addition to the creative and cultural program, above all the multifaceted photographic works that were created during the first summer school in Berlin will be presented.

An exhibition of student works provides insights into instruction at the Neue Schule für Fotografie. Professors and students are available for questions and personal conversations about their work throughout the day.

To help support his family, the 17-year-old Sicilian Nicola goes to Germany, where he finds a job in the Volkswagen plant in Wolfsburg. He finds Italian friends who try to explain the mercilessness of capitalist society to him. But Nicola counts himself lucky: he has a job, a roof over his head and a German girlfriend, Brigitte. His love for her allows him to forget the day-to-day hardships of working life, the small humiliations by superiors and the linguistic isolation – until one day Brigitte leaves him. In an attempt to save his ‘honour’, Nicola becomes a murderer. He submits in silence to the trial that ensues, which he experiences as a grotesquerie. (filmportal.de)

The artist and filmmaker Johanna Domke will present the experimental documentary film Crop. Talking about images (45min, Johanna Domke/Marouan Omara, Cairo 2012), which sheds light on the role of images in the Egyptian revolution and places it in an historical perspective. Bilgehan Özis (musician, composer) will accompany the evening with in part documentary, and in part compositional soundscapes from Cairo.

For the conclusion of the festival, a Portfolio Review is taking place at the Berlinische Galerie on the weekend of 24 and 25 Novembers 2012, and the public award ceremony and finissage of the festival on Sunday at 6 pm. It is possible to visit the exhibition The Shuttered Society. Art Photography in the GDR 1949–1989, with free admission from 6 pm to 8 pm! At the Festival Centre, Pariser Platz, an event on Saturday evening already forms a prelude to the end of the 5th European Month of Photography Berlin.

In the context of the exhibition "Jimi Hendrix and the Love and Peace Festival" by Frauke Bergemann