selected shorts
THE LAST WHEEL | MY VERY FIRST WEDDING | THE GREEN SHEEP
GISELA | MAMA L'CHAIM!

Friday 27 November 21:10, Sunday 29 November 13:15   
(screening with LONG SHADOWS)
THE LAST WHEEL

(Das letzte Rad) Olaf Held | 8 mins | fiction | no dialogue

In a dark, damp jail, the inmates plan their great escape. To break out they use their own bodies in an idiosyncratic way. An impressive mixture of animation and feature film with atmospheric images and a very ornate presentation.

Olaf Held was born in 1970. He co-organized the Kulturfabrik Voxxx from 1994-2004 and worked for the Chemnitzer Filmwerkstatt from 2005-2006. Since 2006 he has been studying Script Writing and Drama at the University of Film and Television “Konrad Wolf” in Potsdam. His films include Schicht Engelbertstrasse (2006), Duel in Griesbach (Duell in Griesbach, 2006), Petzold’s Whistles (Petzolds Pfeifen,
2008), and The Last Wheel (Das letzte Rad, 2009).

Sunday 29 November 11:00  
(screening with THE CROCODILES)
MY VERY FIRST WEDDING

(Meine erste Hochzeit) Ralf Kukula | 5 mins | drawn animation, collages

“Mom! Why doesn’t anyone want to marry me?” a young girl asks her mother. Amazed, she looks at her daughter with big eyes, swallows hard and replies: “But you are only five years old! Don’t you think that’s a little young to be getting married?”

Ralf Kukula was born in 1962 in Dresden. From 1984-1987 he studied Animation at the University of Film and Television “Konrad Wolf” in Potsdam. He worked for the DEFA Animation Studio Dresden from 1987-1991 and founded his own company, Balance Film, in 1993. His animated shorts include The Sandpixies (Die Sandmanzen, 2008) and My First Wedding (Meine erste Hochzeit, 2008).

Sunday 29 November 20:00, Thursday 3 December 13:30   
(screening with PEACEFUL TIMES)
THE GREEN SHEEP
(Das gruene Schaf) Carsten Strauch | 4 mins | drawn animation

It is not easy at school for Marcel. As a green sheep, he feels isolated und is confronted with prejudices. But his family gives him support. The film portrays the everyday life of the patchwork family El Sapo and the difficulties between frogs and sheep when falling in love.

Carsten Strauch, was born in 1971, and studied Visual Communication at the Academy of Art & Design Offenbach from 1992-2001. His films include the shorts Futter, winner of the German Short Film Award 1997, and The Pocket Organ (Das Taschenorgan, 2000). In 2007, he directed his feature debut Die Aufschneider.

Monday 30 November 18:50, Tuesday 1 December 13:00  
(screening with LULU & JIMI)
We are delighted that director Katja Baumann will be present at the evening screening.
GISELA

Katja Baumann | 7 mins | computer animation

The animated short Gisela tells the unusual story of Germany’s first female bank robber who became known as the “bank lady”. The computer application Photoshop represents the setting where the action takes place by moving image layers.

Katja Baumann was born in 1984 in Leipzig. She has been studying Communication Design at the Academy of Art and Design Offenbach since 2004 and started to study Graphic Design at the Camberwell College of Art London in 2009. With the animated short Gisela (2008) she obtained her intermediate diploma.

Wednesday 2 December 16:00  
(screening with GERDA’S SILENCE)
MAMA, L'CHAIM!

(Mama, To Life!) Elkan Spiller | 5 mins | documentary

61-year-old Chaim lives with his 95-year-old mother, a concentration camp survivor. Knowing what his parents had endured, Chaim made it his mission in life to care for them as they got older and now attends to his mother 24 hours a day. These lively and humourous characters share both the lighthearted antics of daily life and the tears and memories of the Holocaust.

Elkan Spiller was born in Cologne in 1963. As the son of Holocaust survivors, his interest in Jewish history was sparked at an early age, and he went on to write his master’s thesis on anti-semitism in German television at the University of Arts in Berlin in 1992. Since then he has worked as a freelance journalist and documentary filmmaker for Deutsche Welle and various ARD broadcasters.

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