German Film @ Canada - Goethe-Institut

Part of an ongoing series of mini profiles on the blog German Film @ Canada on the movers and shakers that make the Berlinale one of the most important events in the international film calendar: the filmmakers, programmers, curators, industry promoters and visitors.

Name & role: Sven Schwarz, Managing Director of the Hamburg International Short Film Festival and member of the Hamburg-based artist group A Wall is a Screen (which will co-produce an event with the Goethe-Institut Toronto later this year).

This is my 11th Berlinale.

Most important meeting I will have in Berlin: Quite a few meetings to plan new cooperations between the Hamburg International Short Film Festival and other international festivals. And of course the annual German Short Film association reception, which gathers some of the nicest people around in a very laid-back atmosphere.

Most exciting industry buzz at Berlinale 2017: Continue reading "#BerlinalePeople: Sven Schwarz, shorts programmer" »

Landing in Osnabrueck can be a culture "shock" for North Americans. A pretty medieval town in the middle of Germany, sadly bombed and sadly reconstructed, it proudly hosts the European Media Arts Festival -- a great example of what I love about the German arts scene: Despite international perception, Berlin is not the be all and end all. The centres of art production, academic research, and presentation are thoroughly decentralised, with not-always-perfect but gutsy places like Oberhausen or Hof sporting major international events and meeting points. Thus for 5 days, you see Asian and European guest artists navigating their way from the alternative backyard theatre to the "Warehouse" along the old fortified town wall of Osnabrueck in amazement or puzzlement or both.

EMAF is as old as Toronto's Images Festival (26), born out of a time when video was already an established art form but going into technological overdrive with the arrival of the internet. DEceleration in an accelerating media age was one of this year's points of discussion, Continue reading "Decelerating EMAF" »