Curated by Sarnt Utamachote, Popo Fan and Ragil Huda
SİNEMA TRANSTOPIA
How can a new kind of cinema be collectively created within a transnational society? SİNEMA TRANSTOPIA, the cinema-experiment by bi’bak, explores cinema as a space of social discourse, exchange, and solidarity. The curated film series brings together diverse social communities and connects places both near and geographically distant; it links pasts, presents and futures and moves away from a eurocentric gaze towards transnational, (post-)migrant and postcolonial perspectives. SİNEMA TRANSTOPIA is a different kind of cinema, one simultaneously committed to local and international communities, that understands cinema as an important public sphere of sociality; it considers film history as crucial to the work of cultural memory and is committed to a diversity of film culture and film art. In Haus der Statistik at Berlin-Alexanderplatz, SİNEMA TRANSTOPIA builds a bridge between urban practice and film to create a space that opens access, stimulates discussion, educates, moves, provokes and encourages.
SİNEMA TRANSTOPIA is funded by Haupstadtkulturfonds, Conrad Stiftung and the Programm NEUSTART KULTUR
Past event series can be found in the archive.
Curated by Sarnt Utamachote, Popo Fan and Ragil Huda
Berlinale Forum Special Programme
Curated by Can Sungu, Karina Griffith, Jacqueline Nsiah, Biene Pilavci and Enoka Ayemba
Children's cinema from SİNEMA TRANSTOPIA
Concept by Malve Lippmann and Dr. Martin Ganguly
Arriving in a new country is not easy. People speak differently and some things look different too. Are you welcome there? Are you able to find new friends? Do the neighbors like you? These films take you on a time travelling journey up to forty years ago. Many things were different back then: even leaving and arriving. But the reasons for how things are today often lie in the past.
The current SİNEMANINO program takes a look at the history of migration to the BRD and DDR by bringing together children's films from the 1970s and 1980s. The films address the difficulty of arrival in previously unknown countries and show how children and their friends sometimes have to struggle with prejudice and resentment in everyday life.
SİNEMANINO is the new children's program by SİNEMA TRANSTOPIA and is aimed at both adults and children. Starting at 3pm each Saturday at SİNEMA TRANSTOPIA, the program is moderated by Martin Ganguly. It is suitable for children from 8 years and up.
Cinema visits in the mornings for school classes:
Although today almost every fourth person in Germany is attributed with a so-called "migration background," migration history as part of German history is often only available as family knowledge; it is given little consideration in public discourse or school curricula. We want to change that! Therefore, we also offer film events individually or as a series in the mornings for school classes.
If you would like to come to the cinema with your class, please write to us: info@bi-bak.de.
Funded by the Programm NEUSTART of the Bundesverband Soziokultur in the section kulturelle und soziokulturelle Programmarbeit.
Dr. Martin Ganguly is a university lecturer in teacher training (HVD/TU Berlin) as well as an author and teacher in both (film) pedagogy and artistic fields in Germany and abroad. As a film educator he leads the school project in the Generation section of the Berlin International Film Festival. In addition to his teaching degree, he is a doctor of educational science and completed studies in directing and acting at the Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna.
Malve Lippmann studied at the State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart and at the Institute for Art in Context (UdK) in Berlin. As a freelance stage designer and artist, she has been internationally responsible for the design of numerous performances, opera- and theatre productions. Since 2010, Malve Lippmann has been working as a curator and cultural manager, leading artistic workshops and seminars and is active in various cultural- and community projects. She is co-founder and artistic director of bi'bak and SİNEMA TRANSTOPIA.
Curated by LaborBerlin e.V.
Iranian Cinema Before 1979
Curated by Ehsan Khoshbakht
Curated by Can Sungu and Malve Lippmann
Cinema beyond the Screen
un.thai.tled Film Festival 2021
Curated by Sarnt Utamachote and Rosalia Namsai Engchuan
Feminist Gestures in Film
Curated by Pia Chakraverti-Würthwein & Eirini Fountedaki
Archive screenings with films from Navina Sundaram
Curated by Merle Kröger and Mareike Bernien
Symposium, Screenings, Talks
(Post-)Yugoslavian experiences
Curated by Borjana Gaković and Madeleine Bernstorff
Curated by Darunee Terdtoontaveedej
Perspectives from the South
Curated by Nafiseh Fathollahzadeh and Berke Göl
Curated by Jade Barget and Elizabeth Gabrielle Lee
A program by C/LENS in cooperation with Sinema Transtopia
Curated by Tang Xuedan (Echo)
Director Vojtech Jasný BRD 1976
95 Min., 16mm, OV
Followed by a talk with Zoran Terzić and Dr. Martin Ganguly
Twelve-year-old Ivo Goran has come to Vienna from Yugoslavia with his parents. His father and siblings found work here. Since his mother left for Yugoslavia, Ivo's duties also include taking care of the household. Daily nagging and insults from the neighbors and arguments with the other children leave Ivo feeling all alone in the big city. He dreams of home, so one day he simply decides to run away. An exciting road movie set on the former "guest-worker route".
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Zoran Terzić, author and musician, born in Banja Luka, originally studied fine arts in New York, then devoted himself to writing. His dissertation Kunst des Nationalismus examines the role of cultural workers in the disintegration of Yugoslavia. Terzić is co-founder of the literary combo POEM, which has been touring Germany since 2019. https://www.diaphanes.net/person/zoran-terzi-2590
Dr. Martin Ganguly is a university lecturer in teacher training (HVD/TU Berlin) as well as an author and teacher in both (film) pedagogy and artistic fields in Germany and abroad. As a film educator he leads the school project in the Generation section of the Berlin International Film Festival. In addition to his teaching degree, he is a doctor of educational science and completed studies in directing and acting at the Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna.
Director Hannelore Unterberg GDR 1983
67 Min., OV
Followed by a talk with Dr. Martin Ganguly
The singer Rosita Perez and her twelve-year-old daughter Isabel fled from Chile to the DDR. When they arrived six years ago, their neighbors Margot and Dieter Kunze supported them, but their relationship has long since fallen asleep. Rosita has a job and contact with other Chileans, but she feels lonely. Isabel is often found sitting on the stairs, afraid that the postman might deliver news of her father's death from Chile. Meeting on the stairs over the years, Philipp, the Kunzes' son, and Isabel develop their childhood friendship into a cautious love.
Dr. Martin Ganguly is a university lecturer in teacher training (HVD/TU Berlin) as well as an author and teacher in both (film) pedagogy and artistic fields in Germany and abroad. As a film educator he leads the school project in the Generation section of the Berlin International Film Festival. In addition to his teaching degree, he is a doctor of educational science and completed studies in directing and acting at the Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna.
Director Thomas Draeger BRD 1979
82 Min., 16mm, OV
Followed by a discussion with Dr. Martin Ganguly
Metin and Anne are the same age. Anne moves into the front apartment block and meets Metin, who lives in the back apartment block. They don't speak the same language, but through curiosity they quickly become familiar to one another. Together, Metin and Anne explore Berlin. In the process, they notice that the people around them have a hard time with their friendship. They have to stand up to prejudice and resentment. A bilingual film by Thomas Draeger, Metin is aimed equally at adults and children.
Dr. Martin Ganguly is a university lecturer in teacher training (HVD/TU Berlin) as well as an author and teacher in both (film) pedagogy and artistic fields in Germany and abroad. As a film educator he leads the school project in the Generation section of the Berlin International Film Festival. In addition to his teaching degree, he is a doctor of educational science and completed studies in directing and acting at the Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna.
Director Thomas Draeger BRD 1979
82 Min., 16mm, OV
Followed by a talk with Dr. Martin Ganguly
Metin and Anne are the same age. Anne moves into the front apartment block and meets Metin, who lives in the back apartment block. They don't speak the same language, but through curiosity they quickly become familiar to one another. Together, Metin and Anne explore Berlin. In the process, they notice that the people around them have a hard time with their friendship. They have to stand up to prejudice and resentment. A bilingual film by Thomas Draeger, Metin is aimed equally at adults and children.
In Kooperation with Erika Mann Grundschule, der Fanny-Hensel-Grundschule and the Kinderkulturmonat
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Dr. Martin Ganguly is a university lecturer in teacher training (HVD/TU Berlin) as well as an author and teacher in both (film) pedagogy and artistic fields in Germany and abroad. As a film educator he leads the school project in the Generation section of the Berlin International Film Festival. In addition to his teaching degree, he is a doctor of educational science and completed studies in directing and acting at the Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna.
Germany 2020
92, OV with German subs
Followed by a talk with Dr. Martin Ganguly
Parvis, the son of exiled Iranians, copes with life in his small hometown by indulging himself with pop culture, Grindr dates, and raves. After being caught shoplifting, he is sentenced to community service at a refugee shelter where he meets siblings Banafshe and Amon, who have fled Iran. As a romantic attraction between Parvis and Amon grows, the fragile relationship between the three is put to a test. They find and lose each other throughout a summer of fleeting youth, an intense first love, an attempt at a joint future, as well as the stark realisation that, in Germany, they are not equal.
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Dr. Martin Ganguly is a university lecturer in teacher training (HVD/TU Berlin) as well as an author and teacher in both (film) pedagogy and artistic fields in Germany and abroad. As a film educator he leads the school project in the Generation section of the Berlin International Film Festival. In addition to his teaching degree, he is a doctor of educational science and completed studies in directing and acting at the Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna.
Director Visar Morina Germany / Belgium / Kosovo 2020
121, OV with English subs
Followed by a talk with Dr. Martin Ganguly
Pharmaceutical engineer Xhafer is being harassed at work, as his relationship to his wife also crumbles. High summer in an unnamed German city. Emotions come to the boil and the same question keeps popping up: racism or paranoia?
In cooperation with the Droste-Hülshoff-Oberschule
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Dr. Martin Ganguly is a university lecturer in teacher training (HVD/TU Berlin) as well as an author and teacher in both (film) pedagogy and artistic fields in Germany and abroad. As a film educator he leads the school project in the Generation section of the Berlin International Film Festival. In addition to his teaching degree, he is a doctor of educational science and completed studies in directing and acting at the Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna.
Deutschland 2019
100 min, OV
Followed by a discussion with Dr. Martin Ganguly
Oray pronounces in a quarrel with his wife Burcu three times ‘talaq’, the islamic formula for repudiation. The imam of his hometown community informs him about the consequences: Oray has to split up with her for three months. He takes advantage of the forced break and moves to Cologne to establish a new life for Burcu and himself. But the Imam of his new community, Bilal, holds a more austere opinion towards the islamic law, which implies that he has to divorce his wife. Now Oray has to make a decision: Should he stay with his wife or with the new community?
Dr. Martin Ganguly is a university lecturer in teacher training (HVD/TU Berlin) as well as an author and teacher in both (film) pedagogy and artistic fields in Germany and abroad. As a film educator he leads the school project in the Generation section of the Berlin International Film Festival. In addition to his teaching degree, he is a doctor of educational science and completed studies in directing and acting at the Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna.
BRD 1974
89 min., OV with English subs
Followed by a talk with Dr. Martin Ganguly
Emmi is around 60, a widow and earns her living as a cleaning lady. When she falls in love with Ali, a Moroccan guest worker who is 20 years her junior, and marries him, she causes a scandal. The couple feels the rejection of the environment in full: Emmi's adult children are ashamed, the neighbors whisper and the grocer even tells Emmi out of the store. But the young marriage is not only threatened from the outside, because soon Ali begins an affair with a waitress. Along the dramatic love story of Emmi and Ali, the film deals with topics such as racism and exclusion and analyzes the underlying social mechanisms. These analyzes can definitely be transferred to today and can contribute to a better understanding of the power relations in European society.
In cooperation with the CinEd-Programme
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Dr. Martin Ganguly is a university lecturer in teacher training (HVD/TU Berlin) as well as an author and teacher in both (film) pedagogy and artistic fields in Germany and abroad. As a film educator he leads the school project in the Generation section of the Berlin International Film Festival. In addition to his teaching degree, he is a doctor of educational science and completed studies in directing and acting at the Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna.
Director Florence Miailhe Germany/France 2021
84 Min., OV with English subs
The siblings Kyona and Adriel live in a small village. One night, the village is attacked and the family is forced to flee. When Kyona and Adriel are separated from their parents during a train inspection, they have to continue their way alone. Thus begins a long journey. The two make new friends, but the war and their own history always catches up with them. Gradually they grow up. Will they be able to see their family again and find a new home in a foreign land?
Inspired by her great-grandparents' flight from Odessa, the French animation artist Florence Miailhe worked for more than 10 years on The Crossing. After initial sketches, she painted the complete film on a cash register roll, before defining each scene. In intensive detail, the international animation team painted the film frame by frame. From around 120,000 individual images on a three-storey glass table, the world's first full-length animated feature film using this elaborate oil-on-glass technique was created.
Sinema Transtopia is showing the film in conjunction with the Anima-Doc workshop In the Realm of Animated Documentary by Akile Nazli Kaya and Tomáš Doruška.
