LAB: Liberation
German Film Festival x KinoFest | 17.10.-03.11.2024

LAB: Liberation

Runtime 51 min
Rating NC16
Curated by Alejo Franzetti

Detach, release! To clean up: to liberate—to make space for new things to arise, to make these new things possible. In Liberation, Alejo Franzetti selects films that get rid of oppressive elements and prejudices—in social structures, narrative structures, and our perceptions, to present four films that confront authoritarian conspiracies with beauty and fugacity.

Somos+
Collective, Chile

1985 in the streets of Santiago de Chile: the voices of numerous women can be  heard singing a version of Ode an die Freude; they are Mujeres por la Vida (Women for Life), a group of women from diverse political orientations and social backgrounds who fought for democracy and equality during the bloody Pinochet dictatorship. Defying a year-long national state of siege, their female-only march was staged across Santiago’s central Avenida Providencia.

Mujer100cabezas
Paulo Pécora, Argentina

More isolated than the sea, always light and powerful: confusion, my sister, the woman with 100 heads. Loosely inspired by the collages and graphic novels of Max Ernst, Paulo Pecora explores the expressive possibilities and textures of Super 8 film. He approaches the enigmatic universe of Max Ernst to move away from any simple interpretation, or rather, perhaps to rediscover the mystery hidden in everyday gestures.

Seeguir Ordenes
Sebastián Lingiardi, Argentina

A man looks at a woman who has her back to him. The woman looks at a window. The window and then a hypothesis for a possible story: a persecution, a waiting, some enigmas, a tragic end, a return. In this singe narrative film featuring a striking mise-en-scène and a thrilling rhythmic composition, Sebastián Lingiardi demonstrates that it is possible to make a detective film in the geographical emptiness of the Argentine pampas.

Batrachian’s Ballad
Leonor Teles, Portugal

In this touching film-song, director Leonor Teles portrays reality not only from behind in the camera, but intervenes directly in front of it, in which she enacts the tradition of placing crockery frogs at the entrance of stores in order to prevent Rom:nja and Sinti:zze from entering. Connecting a mythological narrative with a symbol of contemporary xenophobia in Portugal, Teles sets out to exorcise a dark symbol–so as to celebrate the innocence and joy of her own family history.