BETWEEN DOCUMENTARY AND CREATION. ULRIKE OTTINGER’S FILMS

Tuesday June 21st, 2022

Goethe-Institute in Warsaw and the Centre of Contemporary Art Łaźnia in Gdańsk come back after a two-year break caused by the pandemic. They join forces to work on a joint project meant to showcase relevant German representatives of the experimental cinema. They will also work together with the EnergaCAMERIMAGE festival this year in order to honour the amazing work of Ulrike Ottinger by screening her movies in three Polish cities.

This year’s edition is devoted to Ulrike Ottinger not only as a celebration of the 80th birthday of the artist, but most importantly because of the referred topics: memory, loneliness, isolation, the search for one’s place on Earth or the fight for women’s rights. The director’s films present an interesting view on those problems which become even more topical taking into consideration the pandemic or war in Ukraine.

Ulrike Ottinger gained recognition as a director in 1970s. She went down in history thanks to her original, multidisciplinary and experimental craft. Ottinger’s art stands out in terms of a unique formal search, limitless visual imagination and daring technical experiments.

The artist goes far beyond directing. She is a screenwriter, cinematographer and producer, apart from that she was also the creator of production design, posters and costumes in her films. Her productions featured such cinema icons as: Veruschka von Lehndorff, Magdalena Montezuma or Tabea Blumenschein. Ulrike Ottinger made a lot of documentary films which revealed her remarkable observation skills, an exceptional expertise in camerawork, but most importantly a huge respect and empathy of the artist towards a human being and their culture. When creating her feature films, the director formed new constellations of meanings, juxtaposing and multiplying motives and mythological, religious and historical references. In her films, Ottinger also used the experience from her numerous journeys. She constructed her own, perfectly refined, surrealist and complex worldviews which are characterized by interweaving reality and fiction predicting future topics in a shamanic way.

Under Snow
[photo by Ulrike Ottinger, 2011 © Ulrike Ottinger]

The program of the review included such cult films by Ottinger as Prater (2007), filmed on the site of the Viennese amusement park, Ticket of No Return (1979), telling a story of an anonymous woman, who lives to drink and drinks to live, Freak Orlando (1981), narration of crossing the duality of gender and the boundaries between the imagined and the real world. The review also contains numerous documentaries from Ottinger’s vast body of work. You will have a chance to watch her first full-length documentary – China - The Arts - The People (1985) – an outcome of her multiple journeys and research. Another item in the retrospective is one of Ottinger's recent film productions, Under the Snow (2011), which shows the Japanese region of Echigo, covered in everlasting snow.

This year, the project was joined by EnergaCAMERIMAGE Film Festival , which will honour Ulrike Ottinger with the Award For Avant-Garde Achievements In Film. The artist will come to receive the statuette in person during the Opening Ceremony of the festival on November 12, and will meet the audience the next day. Four of her films will be screened during the festival: Ticket of No Return (1979), Prater (2007), Under the Snow (2011) and Parisian Calligrammes (2020). The detailed information about the screenings will be available on the EnergaCAMERIMAGE website after its festival program is announced.

Ticket of No Return
[photo by Ulrike Ottinger, 1979 © Ulrike Ottinger]

Curators: Jolanta Woszczenko, Renata Prokurat
Organizers: Goethe-Institut in Warsaw, Centre of Contemporary Art ŁAŹNIA
Partners: MCK Nowy Teatr in Warsaw, EnergaCAMERIMAGE Film Festival, Ulrike Ottinger Film Produktion

PROGRAMME OF THE REVIEW
MCK Nowy Teatr in Warsaw

5.07.2022, 7:00PM
PRATER, 2007, 104 min.
Introduction: Małgorzata Radkiewicz, film studies scholar

6.07.2022, 7:00PM
TICKET OF NO RETURN, 1979, 107 min.

7.07.2022, 7:00PM
UNDER THE SNOW, 2011, 109 min.

8.07.2022, 7:00PM
FREAK ORLANDO, 1981, 126 min.
Discussion with: Agnieszka Graff, writer and publicist,  Iwona Kurz, film scholar and critic

9.07.2022, 7:00PM
CHINA - THE ARTS - THE PEOPLE, 1985, 270 min.

Centrum Sztuki Współczesnej ŁAŹNIA, Gdańsk

06.07.2022, 7.00PM
PRATER, 2007,104 min.
Introduction by: Jolanta Woszczenko

07.07.2022, 7:00PM
TICKET OF NO RETURN, 1979, 107 min.

08.07.2022, 7:00PM
UNDER THE SNOW, 2011, 109 min.

09.07.2022, 8:00PM
FREAK ORLANDO, 1981, 126 min.
Meeting with: Alicja Ewa Majewska, philosopher, Jolanta Woszczenko and Renata Prokurat, curators of the project

10.07.2022, 4:00-9:00PM / 30' break
CHINA - THE ARTS - THE PEOPLE, 1985, 270 min.

Films with German audio and Polish subtitles.
TICKET OF NO RETURN with German audio and Polish and Ukrainian subtitles.

Free admission in Gdańsk and Warsaw, in Toruń – in accordance with the regulations for the purchase of entry cards and tickets for the EnergaCAMERIMAGE Film Festival.

Contact for media:
Jolanta Woszczenko, [email protected], [email protected]
Renata Prokurat, [email protected]
Karolina Wajman, [email protected]
Helena Hołod, [email protected]
Aleksandra Paprocka: [email protected]

Press Release