The international short film festival in Oberhausen - a recapitulation

The 57th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen is over, and the weather was – as usual – almost as good as the programme. And as usual, the expectations regarding the festival were almost utopian – can or must it meet them at all? A recapitulation.

First: the presumptuous view – the series „Shooting Animals“

„The substances they test on animal are later tested on persons“, Cord Riechelmann sums up one of the main aspects of the series „Animal cinema. A short history of animal film.“. Cord Riechelmann (who holds university degrees both as biologist and philosopher) was responsible for this main programme of the short film festival, together with curator and film maker Marcel Schwierin. The films – many historical ones again – included footage of safaris, colonialism, and Darwinism. Not a light subject, but still...

In my conversation with Cord Riechelmann I try to question myself: have I always been attending this festival to read gender politics, exploitation scenarios, anti-fascism, and racism into the films – even into the animal films? Nothing’s easier than that, mind you: the colonial rulers hunting down wild animals, their wives donning those furs, being also „shot“, this time, with a camera. The similarity of the camera’s view on animals, natives, and other „prey“. How the White Man chases the natives who chase animals. And last but not least, how the wildlife observations were transferred directly to human behaviour and led to the inhumane ideology of German fascism.





















Cord Riechelmann confirms that the demonstration of suppression mechanisms were indeed an issue, but the „prey“ image of the woman wearing fur rather unintentional. It is always exciting to compare your own perspective with the curators’ view on the film makers and the respective story as told by both groups. You can learn a lot by this – especially for your own behaviour. That a film festival can do that is more than remarkable.


Secondly: setting and atmosphere

Depending on your mood, you can consider the festival audience and the film academy students „(ex)students go Hollywood – but a bit more intellectual“ sometimes, and the setting of downtown Oberhausen as a crass contrast to that. Fortunately, this „wow, there are cameras everywhere“ sensation is a bit lessened by the many participating children, and the rough Ruhr charm adds another down-to-earth facet to the scene. So, in case the weather is much to good to lure a huge audience into the dark cinemas, the organisers are a bit miffed, yet when in doubt, commitment beats snobbishness, and no hard feelings are left. Children, friendly observers, friends of the house, and international guests (fortunately, not always the same, and no bought ones either) keep the praised spirit of this festival alive, year after year.





















The Druckluft has become the location for the supporting programme and the festival bar in the meantime – a significant choice, considering that it’s an autonomous centre, just refurbished in a nicely chaotic style (an eclectic mix of graffiti, Ikea, old-fashioned pub, and Rave club), committing itself to district street work and “difficult young people” beyond the off-scene… A location successfully handling various issues and conceptions of life without breaking too many dishes.

Thirdly: How international und up to date should it be?

„People complain that we don’t feature the revolution in Arabia or the Fukujima catastrophe, but they forget that we had all these topics already, years ago, and that it is not our intention and concern to deliver a reaction to the daily news“ , says festival director Lars Henrik Gass. He even allowed some anti-nuclear activists to protest on stage at the beginning of the award ceremony. I asked if there had been any protests from animal rights activists - because the paint-marking of animals, or their transport in small cages had caused some stirring in the audience… Nothing. A sigh of relief...

There’s but a few discussions between the respective interest groups or political scenes with different issues anyway. Poverty, exploitation, war, and apartheid are featured in a neat artistic way. So, it’s even possible to show a female body that, in the course of a sadomasochistic exorcism, is liberated from the ghost of the Israeli foreign secretary Lieberman (and arte, a TV station focused on culture topics, will probably even broadcast it), or the dialogues between the members of a German family returning from the war are dubbed with the words of an American family returning from the war. Or, in youth cinema, the topic of (child?) rape is dealt with – and the film gets an award, too.



















All that is courageous and not directed by the desired discourse of the press agencies. Instead, much work is put into the objective to see how international artists approach a subject so that it doesn’t end up just as a bit of information or „updating“ on something. An historical coordination of current events and a critical view on historiography and continuities belong to its standard repertoire, and that makes this film festival really unique and internationally significant.