Conference at the Akademie der Künste in Berlin
Wednesday, February 15 from 7pm

Film programme and debate at Hackesche Höfe Kino
Friday, February 17 from 8pm

Debates about the relationship between care work, society and art have intensified in recent years. We take that conversation and apply it to the particularly industrial art form that is cinema. Who gets burned out by the film industry? What responsibilities do the institutions and filmmakers of today have for each other, and which kinds of labor relations are outdated? What would be the costs of a ‘caring cinema’ – and which films point the way forward?

On February 15, we want to hear from our guests at the Akademie der Künste about how questions of care and caring relate to their professional ethos; we also want to discuss what responsibility cultural workers, institutions, companies, and filmmakers all have towards each other. Our panel discussion will include director Claire Denis (Beau Travail), festival director Marek Hovorka (Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival) and film curator/critic Abby Sun. In a case study, we will examine the working methods of artist Elke Marhöfer, whose research-based practice deals with ecological thinking and action while critically questioning ways of engaging with the world from a human perspective. Along with the conversation, we will screen Elke Marhöfer and Mikhail Lylov’s film Soils_Habits_Plants. In her keynote lecture, the political theorist Isabell Lorey (Democracy in the Political Present / Demokratie im Präsens) will share her views on the philosophical concept of care and its fundamental importance for a new understanding of democracy. The opening conference is being held in cooperation with the Film and Media Arts Section of the Akademie der Künste.

On February 17, a film programme will follow at Hackesche Höfe Kino. The four films will be accompanied by a debate about the lines of connection between aesthetic practice and the ethics of care. We want to discuss how images (and montages) might look if they were to make a more caring society not only conceivable, but palpable too. Directors Leonor Noivo (Dawn) and Brieuc Schieb (Koban Louzou) and producer/director Caroline Kirberg (pong Film) will participate in this debate.

A detailed announcement can be found on the Berlin Critics’ Week website.

The events at a glance:

February 15, 7pm (entrance 6:30pm)
Akademie der Künste, Pariser Platz 4, 10117 Berlin
Keynote: Isabell Lorey
Film screening: Soils_Habits_Plants (Dir: Elke Marhöfer and Mikhail Lylov)
Case study with Elke Marhöfer (moderation: Julia Bee)
Discussion with Claire Denis, Marek Hovorka, Abby Sun (moderation: Devika Girish)
Approx. 9:15pm Get together

Tickets for the conference are available here.

February 17, 8pm
Hackesche Höfe Kino, Rosenthaler Straße 40-41, 10178 Berlin
Film programme AESTHETICS OF CARE with accompanying debate on aesthetics and ethics of care featuring guests: Leonor Noivo, Brieuc Schieb, Caroline Kirberg

prendas - ngangas - enquisos - machines {each part welcomes the other without saying}
Dir: Elke Marhöfer, CU 2014, 26 Min.
 
THE DEMANDS OF ORDINARY DEVOTION
Dir: Eva Giolo, BE/IT 2022, 12 Min.
 
KOBAN LOUZOU
Dir: Brieuc Schieb, FR 2022, 60 Min. – International premiere
 
DAWN (MADRUGADA)
Dir: Leonor Noivo, PT 2021, 28 Min.

Tickets for the film programme are available here.