When an audience member asked about the chronological programming of last night's "Wonders of Progress" --the evening started with a film from 1932 and ended with one from 2010--, Florian Wüst explained that while this programming structure seemed linear, he felt it ended up in a poignant circle: It began with a film about masses of unemployed and finished with one where there are no good jobs any more. In-between there was the promise of a prosperous future for all (at least as seen in the Marshall Plan propaganda from 1953), and the out-sourcing of industrial jobs to China.
However, Wüst's outlook isn't bleak -- referring to the current "Occupy Wall Street" movement, he expressed his hope that the Arab Spring might lead to an American Fall and ultimately a new social contract in Western countries. The evening was almost impossibly rich in the variety of film textures, genres and formats, and looking at economic practice as cultural practice was thought-provoking in so many ways.
To take up just one thread: The 1932 "Unemployed are Cooking for the Unemployed" (16,000 hot meals a day in Frankfurt alone!) is an example of the shift towards socially engaged film making that even the cerebral Hans Richter advocated (Richter's 1928 short film "Inflation" will screen tonight). I wonder about the role our contemporary (German/Canadian) filmmakers will find for themselves in the building of a new movement towards social justice...
Don't miss the second part of this series, "Money Go Round", tonight!
by Regine Schmid
