Virtual Discussion
Past as Process: Karina Griffith & Pierre Sanoussi-Bliss
Past as Process is a program of nine films that trouble the notion of fixed histories.
From Past as Process curator Karina Griffith: "The Gestalt of history is not a figure, it is a process of configuration. This process of shaping the past is sculptural, artistic, and creative, which is why film lends itself so well to our understanding of time and memory."
Part three of Past as Process is called Home Is Where the History Is. This section features two films that depict intimate encounters with family – both those we are born into, and those we create out of close relationships along the way – and how they can rewrite empowering versions of our past, present, and future selves.
Home Is Where the History Is includes the film Return to GO! (Zurück auf LOS!) from GDR-born filmmaker Pierre Sanoussi-Bliss.
On June 27 at 12:00pm EDT, a pre-recorded dialogue between Karina Griffith and Pierre Sanoussi-Bliss will premiere on the YouTube channel of the Goethe-Institut Washington; it will be available on the Shaping the Past: Past as Process playlist here.
Return to GO! (Zurück auf LOS!) (2000) Dir. Pierre Sanoussi-Bliss
Germany. 95 minutes.
In German with English subtitles.
The 360-tracking shot winding down to a grey intersection shows the approach to time and storytelling in this queer musical. Unlike the one-way street in Berlin’s Prenzlauer Berg aspiring singer and perpetual party boy Sam lives, time moves in all directions in this tragic comedy. A positive HIV diagnosis makes the past ever present, and the family of friends Sam creates in post-unification Germany prioritizes living in the present tense against all odds.
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Sanoussi-Bliss acted in several films during the 1990s, including director Dorris Dörrie's Keiner Liebt mich. In 2000, he made his directorial debut with Return to GO!. This film premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival, screened at over sixty international film festivals, and was nominated for a prize at the International Filmfest Emden.
Sanoussi-Bliss lives in Berlin. In addition to continuing to act and direct, he also performs as a voice actor in audio books.
Shaping the Past / Gestaltung der Vergangenheit is a project of the Goethe-Instituts and Pop Ups in North America (Canada, USA, and Mexico) that connects with and builds on the work of emerging leaders of local, national, and transnational movements to remember through reflection and with urgency. It is a partnership between the Goethe-Institut, the Monument Lab, and the Federal Agency for Civic Education (Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung / bpb).
This program is geoblocked to the USA, Canada, and Mexico.