Peter Liechti Retrospective

Peter Liechti (*1951) is a solitary figure in Swiss cinema– a radical eccentric and a true independent spirit, someone whose work combines a blatant disregard for limits and a joy for experimentation. Over the past 30 years, he has worked on around 20 films as a director, scriptwriter, cameraman and producer, which move between documentary, essay film, experimental cinema, art, music and fiction in terms of form and cannot be reduced to a common denominator. However, all his films – the early Super 8 experiments, numerous projects with the performance artist Roman Signer, his music and travel films and autobiographical works – bear testimony to the fact that for his cinematic poetry the other arts and their techniques are of fundamental importance: Contemporary music and jazz, visual art, as well as literature, poetry, texts, language. His film essays emerge in the space between multilayered images, the spoken and written word, as well as music and sound – which are all elements on an equal footing. Liechti's narrative approach is always personal, his view is one that does not presume to understand the world from the outset and take it for granted. A central motif is being on the go. Whether in Africa or eastern Switzerland, in the mountains or on a lake – his thought processes and very singular perception are always present. He frequently allows himself digressions and opens up unexpected associative spaces. Opinion and reflection go hand-in-hand, as do seriousness and humor, irony and empathy, critical self-questioning and sarcastic Swiss local history and geography. Liechti's interest in experimenting, his questioning of familiar patterns and his constant search for new forms of expression have created a great abundance of form in filmic narration.

Arsenal is presenting a comprehensive retrospective of Liechti’s multifarious œuvre, taking in seven feature-length and six shorter films from 1985 to 2013, which include both internationally celebrated works, as well as some less well-known titles yet to be discovered here in Germany. We are particularly pleased that Peter Liechti will attend the opening weekend in person and will take part in Q&A sessions with the audience.