Book presentation & Films: First-person narrative

The recently published book "Aus der ersten Person. Filmische Autobiografien / Autofiktion" by Esther Buss (Scriptings/Archive Books, E-Book Eeclectic 2025) is a personal exploration of the “first-person film” and its formative genres of diary film, journal, film poem and travelogue. In close readings of works by Chantal Akerman, Dominique Cabrera, Alain Cavalier, Vincent Dieutre and others, the author follows the gaze inwards, out of the window and into the distance, traces movements of thought and physical experiences, and feels her way through the unpaved terrain of memory spaces. The publication draws an arc from the direct narrative style of early self-documentaries to the autofictional essay and feature film of the recent present.
On the occasion of the book presentation, Arsenal is showing two films that deal with questions of origin and alienation in the form of cinematic acts of writing. (Esther Buss)

Familiengruft – ein Liebesgedicht an meine Mutter

In FAMILIENGRUFT - EIN LIEBESGEDICHT AN MEINE MUTTER, Maria Lang sketches scenes from the daily life of her petty bourgeois family in a Bavarian village, in coarse-grained black and white images. The harsh yet tender portrait of a mother is a critical examination of social role models and an attempt to give linguistic expression to the ambivalent emotional states between intimacy and detachment.

Ne croyez surtout pas que je hurle

Compiled exclusively from existing film footage, the diary chronicle NE CROYEZ SURTOUT PAS QUE JE HURLE documents a radical self-isolation. After the separation with his partner, the filmmaker Frank Beauvais is left alone and hopeless in an Alsatian village whose environment is horrific to him. He tries to overcome his existential crisis by consuming films excessively, but soon the question arises as to whether cinema is really a salvation or is making him ill. Obsessive self-observation and reflections on the potential and pitfalls of the first-person narrative are combined with a view of the (no less crisis-ridden) events of the world. The density of language and imagery in this work is so absorbing that it deliberately evokes feelings of dizziness. Only when Bonnie Prince Billy's darkly beautiful final song is heard does the knot come undone.

With lecture and discussion, guest: Esther Buss (author)

At fsk Kino, Segitzdamm 2, Berlin-Kreuzberg