georgian

Political Essay Film. Topical cinematic forms of innovative narrative in France and Germany.

Seminar at Goethe Institute of Georgia, Tbilisi

2015 | 28 September – 02 October | Daily at 11:00

Goethe Institute of Georgia
Zandukeli St. 16
0108 Tbilisi, Georgia


Speaker – Thomas Tode (Hamburg)
Concept and organizer – Soso Dumbadze (Cologne)


With the support of the Institut Français and Goethe-Institut of Georgia and Elysée – the joint cultural program of the foreign ministries of France and Germany

»Our task is not to make political films, but to make films politically« (Jean-Luc Godard, 1960s) – this request has brought about a revival of one of the genres of documentary film making  ̶ Essay Film ̶ in Central Europe. By 1968, European filmmakers were using the film medium as an instrument of criticism of the authoritarian models of that society.

This category of films is unfortunately unknown in Georgia. Today, the socio-political significance of the critical essay film can become as topical in Georgia as it was in Western Europe in the 1950s-1980s.

The strategy and mechanisms of the modern political essay have been updated – in the 1960s the arguments of the filmmaker were expressed through compilation editing; today, the didactic narrative has been supplanted by the dramaturgy of the film, the artist's articulation and through the use of montage. The political statement of the film is expressed not only by its content, but also by the film's aesthetics.

For this seminar, Sa.Ga. published a Georgian translation of a collection of essays on film, Political Essay Film by Harun Farocki, Chris Marker and Thomas Tode.

Date
Event
Initiative
2023, 23.-25.10.
The Marginal Cinema
N.N.
2022, 07.-10.11.
Editing Solutions – What happened to classic montage patterns and editing schemes?
Film seminar at Goethe Institute and Front-Line Club, Tbilisi
2021, 05.10.
Editing and montage – Between Eros and Thanatos
Online lecture for students of the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs, Tbilisi
2019, 24. + 25.11.
Georgian film avant-garde – the unknown continent
Compact retrospective of Kote Mikaberidze's films, and a book presentation »Kote Mikaberidze« at cinema »Metropolis«, Hamburg
2019, 06.04.
Konstantin Mikaberidze
Lecture at Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
2018, 10.10.
Kote Mikaberidze (in English)
Book presentations at Frankfurt Book Fair and German Film Museum, Frankfurt am Main
2018, 04.10.
Metamorphoses as Value. Eisenstein's »Capital« Project
Lecture at Ilia State University, Tbilisi
2017, 06.-20.11.
Kote Mikaberidze
Exhibition and book presentation at National Archives of Georgia, Tbilisi
2015, 05.-07.10.
Kino Avant-Garde
Seminar at Tumo Center for Creative Technologies, Yerevan
2015, 28.09.-02.10.
Political Essay Film. Topical cinematic forms of innovative narrative in France and Germany.
Seminar at Goethe Institute of Georgia, Tbilisi
2013, 30.09.-04.10.
Film Avant-Garde and Politics. A Dialogue between Soviet and German Film Avant-Garde
Seminar at Goethe Institute of Georgia, Tbilisi
2013, 08.10.
German Gogitidze's »From the Past of Georgian Cinema«
Book Presentation at Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection of Georgia, Tbilisi
2008
Tips and Tricks: How to Deal With ‘Crazy-Ness’?
Nationwide campaign in Georgia
2008, 14.05.
Rezo Kveselava's »Memories on Georgian Filmmakers«
Book Presentation at Cafe Moulin Electrique, Tbilisi
2007, 07.-09.05.
Walter Benjamin's Thought and his Relevance. Media – Culture – Society
Seminar-workshop at Goethe Institute in Georgia, Tbilisi
2006, 18.-21.09., 29.09.
Aspects of Film Montage
Workshop at Goethe Institute in Georgia, Tbilisi