Expose the racists

The programme underpins Hito Steyerl's thesis, which has become a terrible fact, that the "integration of popular racism" has arrived in the social and political mainstream. In short video pieces, Normality tells of anti-Semitic and racist attacks in Germany and Austria and calls for protest against this violence. Johanna Moder explores the common prejudice that anyone who does not speak German without an accent is unreliable in her feature film about a couple looking for a flat. The brutal anti-Semitic procession filmed by Andreas Horvath and Monika Muskala takes us back to the Middle Ages. (bbu)

LIVING COLLECTION sixpackfilm

After 25 years of mediation work, sixpackfilm's collection brings together a rich selection of all genres, represented by more than 1,500 cinematic works that call out to be shown regularly in Vienna in various contexts. One focus of our collection is on the classics of Austrian experimental film, almost all of which are represented. 

Many of the historical works are now part of the canon of international film or art history and have a permanent place in international cinemas and museums. The reopening of the Metro Kinokulturhaus and the intimate atmosphere of the Eric Pleskow Hall inspired sixpackfilm to enter into this long-term co-operation with the Filmarchiv Austria.

Short fiction films, avant-garde films, animations, cinematic essays, documentaries and much more that oscillates between these categories will be brought together in individual programmes in the Living Collection sixpackfilm series, not neatly separated according to the usual categorisations. Rather, the focus is on the search for thematic connections, developments, different perspectives and connecting lines, sometimes also in the context of international filmmaking.

Historical and contemporary "classics" meet works by filmmakers who have not yet or no longer received the attention they deserve Socio-political, social and aesthetic issues interact with purely formal experiments. Radical or actionist performances are combined with surreal stories, commissioned works for trailers or TV with abstract beauties. A lively montage, not a fixed history of masterpieces. The unifying element in all the films and videos is their unmistakable, idiosyncratic visual grammar. When we offer a personal screening of works by a filmmaker, a mediating discussion with the artist will bring their themes and cinematic realisation closer to the audience. Otherwise, the film event is accompanied by a short introduction on the first Monday of every month. 

(Brigitta Burger-Utzer)

Program
Normalität 1-10 (Hito Steyerl, AT/DE 1999-2001, video, 36min)
Mit Blick auf Wien (Johanna Moder, AT 2008, video, 11 min)
The Passion According to the Polish Community of Pruchnik (Andreas Horvath/Monika Muskala, AT/PL 2009, video, 30 min)