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Calle del Arte
02:33

Calle del Arte

credits: director: Viviane Blumenschein production company: Tony Petersen Film producer: Anke Petersen camera: Björn Knechtel editing: Alex Murygin assistant director: Lisa Häfner animation: Lea Kolling music: Christian Meyer Arte/ZDF Production Each year the colorful rousing art festival “Velada Santa Lucía” brings ten thousand of people from all over Venezuela and the world to a small street in a working class neighborhood in Maracaibo. The festival which bursts all cultural and societal limits, was founded in 2001 by the Hamburg based Venezuelan artist Clemencia Labin, who was invited with her fascinating concept to the Venice Biennale in 2011. During the Velada hundreds of artists from different countries display their art in the houses of the inhabitants of the quarter around the Santa Lucía church. During these days the whole neighborhood is turned upside down and the inhabitants do not just offer any room - they open their state parlor, the center of family life, including sectionals, Madonna shrines, private family pictures and plastic flower arrangements to the artists and the public. By donating their living-rooms while continuing with their daily life in the houses unique interactions evolve. What do the artists think when they stand in the houses? How do they change the rooms? What does the art to the home? „If only everything will be after as it was before!“ we can see it in their eyes: The fear of the new, the excitement to be involved and to expose oneself, the pride to be part of such a unique art festival. The inhabitants get involved in the exhibitions and people with the most different approaches to life and religion, with different attitudes and tastes who would never meet each other in normal life, collaborate closely within a small space. People celebrate together, eat, discuss, laugh, cry and once in a while clash with their different philosophies. The art forges itself into the inhabitants‘ spaces - or is it the other way round? The facets seem endless and reach from playful concept art to paintings, from sculptures and performances to politically engaged art. And in the end, nothing will be as it was before - even as the artists restore everything afterwards. Something has happened. Some communication has taken place, an interchange. The artists, the art and the inhabitants have formed a connection that cannot be broken quickly. This is no magic. This is the charm of art, which always has to do with truth as well. Even more because the Velada is a vivid platform afar from lifeless museums and galleries. The documentary accompanies Clemencia Labin, the inhabitants and the artists before, during and after the Velada Santa Lucía 2012.
DanceTrip
00:37

DanceTrip

credits: director: Viviane Blumenschein camera: Filip Piskorzynski musik: Bhatti Music animation/SFX/Grafic Design: Paul's Boutique, Hamburg production: c-Films postproduction: Postrepublic Berlin client: Red Bull In the documentary series “The Dance Trip”,two dancers, trained in the field of breakdance/ hip-hop and contemporary dance, will travelaround the world and explore these dances.Taking a fresh, youthful perspective and drivenby their curiosity, they go on a mission to learnabout the local dances and the stories behindthem. The focus will not simply lie on excitingvisuals, but just as much on the history of the dances and their cultural roots. The dancers will interact authentically with theirhosts. Their inquisitive and open ways will givethe viewers a chance to get to know the placesand people they visit on a very intimate level. The climax of this cultural exchange will be theperformance of dances together with the locals,in spectacular choreographies. Interesting side stories and stunning footage of the landscapeoffer insights into foreign cultures, but also into places you thought you knew. In the documentary series “The Dance Trip”,two dancers, trained in the field of breakdance/ hip-hop and contemporary dance, will travelaround the world and explore these dances.Taking a fresh, youthful perspective and drivenby their curiosity, they go on a mission to learnabout the local dances and the stories behindthem. The focus will not simply lie on excitingvisuals, but just as much on the history of the dances and their cultural roots. The dancers will interact authentically with theirhosts. Their inquisitive and open ways will givethe viewers a chance to get to know the placesand people they visit on a very intimate level. The climax of this cultural exchange will be theperformance of dances together with the locals,in spectacular choreographies. Interesting side stories and stunning footage of the landscapeoffer insights into foreign cultures, but also into places you thought you knew.
Mittsommernachtstango
01:49

Mittsommernachtstango

credits: starring: Walter „Chino“ Laborde, Diego „Dipi“ Kvitko, Pablo Greco director: Viviane Blumenschein production company: Gebrüder Beetz Film co-producer : Gema Films/Argentina, Illume Ltd. Finland producer: Christian Beetz, Georg Tschurtschenthaler assistant director: Lisa Häfner, Ella Ruchonen camera: Björn Knechtel sound BA: Manuel de Andres sound finland:Risto Hankala, Manuel de Andrés editing: Oli Weiss music: Diego Kvitko post production: post republic berlin ZDF/3Sat Sonja Schneider A music-laden, humorous cinema documentary, capturing the many comic and charming moments when musicians from two worlds come together. Tango was born in Buenos Aires and no one dances tango as passionately as the Argentineans do – that, at least is what the Argentineans themselves believe. Tango is as Finnish as sauna and skiing – that is what the famous Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki and many of his fellow countrymen are convinced of. Two countries, two opinions, two musical traditions. This film is a humorous, light-hearted road movie, accompanying three Argentinean tango musicians as they leave the milongas of Buenos Aires behind to discover tango in faraway Finland. They are noisy, passionate and one hundred percent convinced that their music is the only true tango. Travelling through Finland, they immerse themselves in a completely new world. Long strips of forests, hundreds of lakes, bright summer nights and, above all, slightly shy and quiet people who play this foreign music called Finnish tango. Travelling through the scenic landscape, they encounter great Finnish tango singers and composers. Director Viviane Blumenschein created a delicate music documentary, using big, beautifully shot images to capture the longing every tango song
sings about.
Dance for All
01:51

Dance for All

"Dance for All" is an inspiring and beautifully filmed feature documentary about young black dancers from the townships of Capetown, South Africa. In 2002 former Cape Town principal ballet dancer, Philip Boyd, and former Royal Ballet soloist and prima ballerina abssoluta, Phyllis Spira, formed a non-profit dance education centre called Dance for All. Learning ballet techniques (from plié to dancing en pointe) without loosing sight of African dance and beat, the school introduces commitment, discipline and a sense of purpose to the children in the township. Based in Gugulethu, the school has grown into a dance company. They are about to give their inaugural performance at Artscape, which Boyd, Spira and the company’s dancers, Nqaba, Zandile, Theo, Noluyanda, Xola, hope shows that the company is capable of competing against the Cape Town Ballet. In this moving, very local tale, we explore the daily lives of the company’s members as they grand jeté towards new, exciting horizons. "Dance for All" , shown on many film festivals around the globe, premiered at the Encounters Film Festival in Capetown in 2007 and won the "Kodak Eastman Förderpreis" at the 41. Hofer Filmtage. The official cinema release was in 2008. credits: production company: InsideOut Film producer: Myriam Zschage production assistant: Ulrike Beck director: Viviane Blumenschein/Elena Bromund camera: Franz Lustig sound: Ian Arrow editing: Elena Bromund music: Christian Meyer ZDF/Arte Farbfilm Verleih
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