Achill (trailer) is an artistic collage by German artist Gudrun Krebitz that combines various animation techniques and stylistic elements: real pictures, drawings, and photographs as well as animations with background noises. The disassociation of the material, combined with the artistic intertwining of individual narrative levels makes the film particularly complex and visually appealing. The usual roles of sound and music are sometimes interchanged. Dialogue is the backbone of the narrative and touches the visual level only at key points. The images, on the other hand, work like a soundtrack – as an emotional, atmospheric, often abstract plane of thought. The video is on view at the Goethe Media Space Toronto now as part of “10 Emerging Artists: Contemporary Experimental Films and Video Art from Germany".The music holds together, separates and organises the memories, colours them in. The sound design by Marian Mentrup deepens, exaggerates, condenses, lampoons and tells us where we are. Without a doubt, the artist succeeded in creating an extraordinary and personal film in Achill, which both experiments and plays with content and form.
ARTE: How did this film come about?
Gudrun Krebitz: I wanted to make a film about childhood; I remember mine very clearly. I like how we manage to shield ourselves from the world around us when something fascinates us. This is very similar to the animation process. Creating each image by hand requires a lot of concentration and time, especially when you work alone like I do.
You describe your film as a sketchbook. Isn’t it also a portrait ? Continue reading "Emerging Artists @ Goethe: Gudrun Krebitz" »
I hate French films. I love Italian cinema. If someone said that to you, you'd have a pretty good idea of what they mean in terms of aesthetics, style, mood. German film? Not so much, at least post-New German Cinema with its heroes Fassbinder, Kluge, von Trotta et al. Of course there is the contemporary (and equally auteur-focused) Berlin School with its Petzolds and Hochhäuslers (which German director Oskar Roehler defined as "slow and depressing"). And recently, Germany has been very strong and internationally successful in children’s films and high-quality animation. But these are vogues or sub-industries rather than a big picture, a brand, a distinct and distinctive brand.
On 9 November 1989 at 18:53hrs the opening of the Berlin Wall was announced – an event which fundamentally and dramatically transformed Germany, Europe and beyond. The Wall and the world changed from one minute to the next – a symbol of repression one minute, the next the scene of uninhibited jubilation, hope and new perspectives. Thousands of people climbed on top of the Wall, 28 years after it was built, dancing and celebrating the freedom they had got back.
