»Looking Back to the Present« – Filmprogramm 6

In the organizer's words:

The filmmaker and artist Ulrike Ottinger is a passionate collector and archivist. In four short films, she interweaves parts of her own work with new images to create extraordinary cinematic archives.

'Berlinfieber - Wolf Vostell'
BRD 1973, Director: Ulrike Ottinger, 12 min, OmeU
In 1973, the artist Wolf Vostell is part of the "Aktionen der Avantgarde" in West Berlin and organizes the environment "Auto-Fieber" and the happening "Berlinfieber". Ulrike Ottinger documents both in her second filmic work.

'Aloha'
D 2016, Director: Ulrike Ottinger, 25 min, OmeU
For her homage to director Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, Ulrike Ottinger creates an atmospheric collage of photographs, music and film clips, drawing on her own work and the archive of his 1931 film 'Tabu'.

'Usinimage'
BRD 1987, Director: Ulrike Ottinger, 10 min, OmeU
For her cinematic greetings from Berlin to France, Ulrike Ottinger has a group of young girls cross a bridge in the French national colors before she combines the industrial landscapes of West Berlin with images from her Berlin trilogy.

'Still Moving'
D 2009, Director: Ulrike Ottinger, 29 min, OmeU
For the festival Live Film! Jack Smith! festival in 2009, Ulrike Ottinger composes a cinematic roundelay of dances, artefacts, photographs, archive material and songs, paying tribute to the avant-garde artist with a film essay that is as playful as it is wild.

About the film series

Looking Back to the Present
From November 14 to December 19, 2025, we will transform our historic hall in the former E-Werk into a venue for film events. Current festival films, historical works and experimental short films will be shown - accompanied by guests such as the musician Sky Deep or the filmmakers Ulrike Ottinger and Julian Radlmaier. The series combines the present and film history and invites you to experience the Kinemathek as a place of exchange in a new way.