From Berlin’s famous Arsenal archive, the IFI and Experimental Film Club present a selection of works with the theme ‘White Noise’ on October 16th (20.00).

Curated and presented by Berlin-based artist Florian Wüst, and facilitated by EFC curator Esperanza Collado, this event centres on legendary German underground film icons Wilhelm and Birgit Hein and consists of two sections, each made up of short films. 

About the programme
“The small boy remained at the TV set, within inches of the dark screen, crying softly, uncertainly, in low heaves and swells.” (Don DeLillo, White Noise) 

The significance of “white noise”, both as an unintelligible composition of signals and as a pure experience, provides the vantage point from which to view this homonymous programme of experimental short films. The early work of German experimental filmmakers Wilhelm and Birgit Hein is therefore central to it. The Heins were not only known for their own, largely self-made films, but also for their Cologne based cinema activities and exhibition making. The four films presented in White Noise range from 1968 to 1977 and cover the period during which the Heins concentrated on structural film. By examining the primary material nature of the medium, they broke with the illusionist impression of reality in film.

White Noise reflects the deconstruction of cinema and television not only as a monolithic system of representation and a dream factory, but also as an instrument of corporate power and social control. Images of (human) disfigurement and the mysteries of childhood mix with the penetration of the senses on different levels. The combination of poetic collage, critical analysis, and radical abstraction intends to challenge the emotional as well as physical capacities of the audience.

The screening is divided into two parts of one hour each, interrupted by a short break and followed by a Q&A with Florian Wüst. 

FILM SCHEDULE 

My Name Is Oona (10 minutes, 1969, U.S.A., 16mm, directed by Gunvor Nelson)

Rohfilm (22 minutes, 1968, BRD, 16mm, directed by W+B Hein)

Sun in Your Head (7 minutes, 1963,  BRD, 16mm, directed by Wolf Vostell)

Khalil, Shaun, A Woman under the Influence,(16 minutes, 1994, U.S.A., 16mm, directed by Sharon Lockhart)

Porträts (Manson) (5 minutes, 1970, BRD, DVD, directed by W+B Hein)

(Total running time: 60 minutes)

— Break —

Television Delivers People, (6  minutes, 1973, U.S.A, DVD, directed by Richard Serra & Carlota Fay Schoolman)

625, (34 minutes, 1969, BRD, DVD, directed by W+B Hein)

Energie! (5 minutes, D 2007, DVD,  directed by Thorsten Fleisch)

Contre-Jour  (11 minutes, D 2009, DVD, directed by Christoph Girardet, Matthias Müller)

Weissfilm (5 minutes, 1977, BRD, 16mm, directed by W+B Hein)

(Total running time: 61 minutes)