"FILM IN THE EDUCATIONAL SECTOR". HARUN FAROCKI’S AND HARTMUT BITOMSKY’S CHILDRENS' FILMS FROM THE 1970s
29 April 2017

 

Film program as part of the exhibition "Alleinanspruch" and the film series "Screening Room", selected and introduced by Arne Schmitt

After being expelled from Berlin’s film academy in 1968 for political activities, Hartmut Bitomsky and Harun Farocki became pivotal figures in German documentary filmmaking. As part of the journal "Filmkritik" in the mid 1970s, they were deeply engaged in the contemporary film discourse. Before that, however, they co-produced about a dozen short clips for children’s television in 1972/73, reaching out to a target audience not necessarily in the focus of ambitious writer director filmmakers. Addressing this promising audience was by all means consistent with their commitment to a production ethos aimed at imparting knowledge and changes in social awareness. It is a great pleasure to watch how they cleverly geared contemporary economical, technical and cultural questions to a child’s perception - and a rare one, too.

Arne Schmitt, whose works are currently on show at the Temporary Gallery, will introduce the programme. Schmitt, who studied photography in Leipzig and Brussels, examines the historical and societal connections of architecture by means of image and text.

Funding and Support
Ministerium für Familie, Kinder, Jugend, Kultur und Sport des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen

Images
Hartmut Bitomsky and Harun Farocki: Ausschnitte aus Kinderfilmen der 1970er Jahre