Christiane Büchner

For Reminiscence of a Moviegoer, filmmaker Christiane Büchner works extensive interviews with the late Werner Dütsch, a commissioning editor at the German television station WDR, and massively influential figure in postwar West German film culture, into a moving portrait of cinephilia through time.

The family of Polish woman Jowita lacks the money needed to finally finish building their house, which has been under construction for years. In order to be able to afford the remaining work, Jowita goes to Germany for a few months to work as a housekeeper. It is difficult for her to say goodbye to her husband and child, and the welcome she receives in Germany from Anne, whom she is to look after from now on, is not very warm at first. The 88-year-old, who suffers from early-stage dementia, finds it difficult to accept the stranger in her household. But little by little, the women find a way to get along with each other, as is now the case in many German households where Polish caregivers move in with elderly people. Director Christiane Büchner accompanies Anne and Jowita's everyday life with her camera, without actively intervening in the events herself.

Since more than 10 years the director Darío Aguirre lives between two totally different worlds, Germany and Ecuador. He decides to make an extraordinary journey, visiting five unknown men called Darío Aguirre as well: One in Mexico and four in Argentina. Meeting each other develops into a reconcilement with their own past lives and permits a brief glance into the protagonists’ present time. For two months Darío shares five different lives, adapting himself to situations and activities he has never done before.

In a St. Petersburg apartment, every room belongs to a family. The four families share the kitchen and bathroom in shifts. One family decides to sell their room and money hungry agents try to sell everyone else's rooms as well.

Can books start a revolution? In 1976, my uncle Hans boards an old fishing boat as a member of the left-wing activist group Operation Namibia. Their goal: fighting apartheid with 6000 banned books on board. But what was planned as a five-month journey, turns into a tragic odyssey. A post-colonial experimental film that oscillates between written correspondence and original photographs.

On the roof of a high-rise building in St. Petersburg stands a bearded man with a briefcase, telling a story. He feels comfortable up there, because from here he has a clear view of his neighborhood, Kuptschino, a dreary concrete housing estate. He can observe crimes. And he can intervene. As proof, he pulls out an imaginary pistol and fires it wildly. The man is a member of a club dedicated to fighting crime. After all, every child knows that crime is part of everyday life in Russia.

A conversation with camerawoman and Studio Tatyana co-founder Tatyana Loginova from September 2024 in preparation for a Forum & Friends event, adapted for film by Christiane Büchner. For technical reasons, the organisers were only able to capture an audio recording of the conversation – this recording has been supplemented by animated sequences from Christiane Büchner as well as video footage, photographs and documents from the following sources: the Hildegard Westbeld Collection in the archive of Kinothek Asta Nielsen and the private archives of Alla Tkatchenko and Tatyana Loginova.

Cologne artist Boris Sieverts manages the “Büro für Städtereisen”, an agency that organizes trips to the unusual places of our daily routine. Sieverts is interested in spaces created by misplanned development patterns. Places that defied control or were just forgotten, but still shape the face of a town. Following an invitation of the Goethe Institute in Warsaw in the context of the “promised cities” programme, Boris Sieverts is going to offer a tour through Poland’s capital Warsaw in 2010. The film will accompany this unique artist on his trip to and through Warsaw, telling the audience about this extraordinary city, its places and dynamic, town planning and social coexistence.