A central figure on Berlin’s film scene, Ute Aurand makes her films in the tradition of the diary and the filmed portrait, strongly influenced by Margaret Tait, Marie Menken and Jonas Mekas. Films that explore the private lives of her friends, the beauty and sensibility of light and the textures of spaces, meticulously edited and structured “that evoke the specific rhythms and the personality of people and places captured by the camera”. This programme centres primarily on the recent filmed portraits of Aurand, whose work has just started to become known internationally in the last few years. It is brought together with that of Tait and Menken, with the presentation of a little-known film by Menken made on a trip to Spain with Kenneth Anger and left unfinished. Ute Aurand will be present at the screening.
A portrait of Ga, Margaret Tait, 1955, 16 mm, 4 min; Happy Bees, M. Tait, 1955, 16 mm, 16 min; Bagatelle for Willard Mass, Marie Menken, 1961, 16 mm, 6 min; Hanging Upside Down in the Branches, Ute Aurand, 2009, 16 mm, silent, 15 min; At Home (Zu Hause), U. Aurand, 1998, 16 mm, 2 min 50 s; Paulina, U. Aurand, 2011, 16 mm, 5 min; Franz, U. Aurand, 2011, 16 mm, 5 min; Maria, U. Aurand, 2011, 16 mm, 3 min; Susan + Lisbeth, U. Aurand, 2013, 16 mm, 7 min; The Gravediggers of Guadix,M. Menken, 1961, video, silent, 45 min [preserved by Anthology Film Archives, New York City].