video feature
Zielona Gora
Quest Europe Film Festival
Zielona Gora
Wilfried is connected with Zielona Gora since more than 30 years, however he was never visiting the media-sized city in the German/polish border Region. When he organised in 1991 the 1st International ARCHA Conference in the German border town of Görlitz, he invited many representatives from the nearer and wider Silesian region, among them also cultural representatives from Zielona Gora. On the day, when the Conference was starting on 1 May 1991 the Polish participants took the chance to cross the bridge over the river Neisse and the Polish/German border for the 1st time without visa. These days (in 2020) Poland is part of the European Union and nobody can imagine how much the symbol of free movement between Poland and Germany was meaning to all people living in the border region. Wilfried was walking together with the Polish conference participants through the open border as a symbolical act, on his right side, the head of the cultural department of Zielona Gora. After the conference, Wilfried got the feedback, how successful Wilfried’s ideas had been to initiate on occasion of the conference a network of cultural venues and activities in the the German/Polish/Czech border region, a lasting cultural exchange was the result. Wilfried was regretting later, that he did not take the chance and accept the invitation to visit Zielona Gora after the conference.
So, when he heard about the Quest Europe Film Festival located in Zielona Gora, he was very curious to establish contacts by agreeing a collaboration in 2014. When in June 2014 Wilfried’s mother was dying, it was, hoever, clear that Wilfried would miss the chance to visit Ziielona Gora also this time. Such a pity, because the historical Silesia, including the German/Polish border area is a very interesting region incorporating many wonderfully reconstructed historical places, especially the Polish are famous for their great reconstruction work.
The Quest Europe Film Festival started yesterday, but the screening of the two film programs Wilfried was preparing – a selection from the Cambodia Film Collection and a 2nd selection from CologneOFF VIII & exDOX – experimental Documenmtary Film Festival will be shown later on 2 August and 25 August 2013.
Much success! Wilfried hopes to visit Zielona Gora some times later once.
9th Quest Europe Film Festival Zielona Gora/PL – 17 July -25 Aug 2013 @ Kino Nysa
Cologne Art & Moving Images Awards
proudly announces
CologneOFF 2013 Poland
@ Quest Europe – International Short Film Festivaö
17 July – 25 August 2013
Catalogue for download
featuring these programs
curated by wilfried Agricola de Cologne
CTF – Collective Trauma Film Collection
Documentaries from Cambodia
2:17
Molyka Bin (Cambodia) It burned Me, 2011, 13:18
Nico Mesterham (Cambodia) – Pepperfields, 2010, 23:05
Sopheak Sao (Cambodia) – Two Girls against the Rain, 2012, 11:00
Neang Kavich (Cambodia) – SMOT, 2011, 17:20
DMC – Royal University of Cambodia – Young in the City, 2011, 40:00
Chhuon Sarin (Cambodia) – I can be who I am, 2011, 3:14
CTF – Collective Trauma Film Collection
Documentaries from Cambodia
Sopheak Sao (Cambodia) The Survivor, 2011, 2012
The communist movement Khmer Rouge, under the leadership of Pol Pot, ruled Cambodia from April 1975 until January 1979. It was one of the most brutal regimes the world has known in modern history and it is estimated that up to two million people – one fourth of the population – died during the Pol Pot years. In Toul Sleng prison 16.000 people were killed in the capital of Cambodia. Only seven survived. Chum Mey was one of them.
In the twelve minute long video Chum Mey shows us the Tuol Sleng prison and tells in his own words how he was tortured and beaten The Tuol Sleng prison was the biggest of so-called security centers where suspected traitors of the Khmer Rouge were send after being arrested. For days they were tortured until they agreed to write a detailed report of how they supposedly had worked against the regime. Almost all of them were sent to Choeung EK (Duch) – better klnown as killing fields – to be killed. Because of luck.The prison needed a mechanic. Chum Mey had the necessary experience. It was decided to let him stay alive to perform necessary reparations at the prison. But Chum Mey also witnessed the killing of his wife and the new borm child at the end of the Khmer Rouge period. And he had to live with the gruesome memories of the torture and pain in the Tuol Sleng.
Molyka Bin (Cambodia) It burned Me, 2011, 13:18
Is a short video documentary about a case of an acid attack in Cambodia.
It features a real life case of Thong Kham, a lady who became an accidental victim of an acid attack. The documentary tell the story how this acid incident changed her life or the worse as it affected her living and made her life a never ending struggle.
Nico Mesterham (Cambodia) – Pepperfields, 2010, 23:05
A hundred years ago, the region of Kampot in Cambodia was well known across Europe as an agricultural province, producing “the best pepper in the world”. Due
to Cambodia’s civil war and the Khmer Rouge genocide, Kampot Pepper was lost to the culinary world for almost 40 years. But today former low-ranking Khmer
Rouge soldiers are turning into entrepreneurs. Globalization provides greater export opportunities and small-scale pepper-farmers are taking advantage,
determined to conquer international food markets. Politicians, NGOs and foreign businessmen are supporting Kampot’s pepper comeback.
s.ao sopheak (28), Pich seyha (23), ouen Dalin (23), Khin sina (23) and Hem Vanna (26) – Cambodian film students from the M.E.T.A. film schooi in phno,
Penh – visited THE PEPPERFIELDS of Kampot. lnternational directors Mark Hammond, Marc Eberle and Nico Mesterharm joined them. Other professionals
involved were cameramen Lach Chantha (Cambodia), Marc Eberle (Germany), French editor Jean Mathis and French sound designer Germain piiour. Their
documentary Q3 min, 2010) connects Cambodia’s history, the re-branding of its Kampot Pepper and the country’s steps towards a market based economy.
The documentary PEPPERFIELDS has been made possible through funding of the German political foundation “Friedrich-Naumann-Foundation” (FNS). ifre
ryl E T A program (http://filmschool.meta-house.com) aims at strengihening the Cambodian doc film scene. lt is implemented by Cambodia’s first art and media center “Meta House” (www.meta-house.com) in cooperation with the Goethe lnstitute.
Sopheak Sao (Cambodia) – Two Girls against the Rain, 2012, 11:00
A true story about two women struggling hard for their love. This documentary was premiered at Meta House for Phnom Penh’s Gay Pride 2012. Soth Yun (57) and Sem Eang (58) met during the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime, when coincidence led them to live in the same mobile unit. More than two million people died during the Khmer Rouge times. Soth and Sem survived. Today the lesbian couple live in a village in Takeo province in southern Cambodia. Theirs has been a long fight for respect by fellow villagers and their family. And the fight continues – now for the right to marry. The couple do not have children of their own, but have raised several nieces and nephew.
Neang Kavich (Cambodia) – SMOT, 2011, 17:20
The film is a documentary about preserving a Cambodia specific form of poetry.
DMC – Royal University of Cambodia – Young in the City, 2011, 40:00
“Young in the cities” is the 20 short videos about young people in Phnom Penh. The video were produced by
students of the Department of Media and Communication at the Royal University of Phnom Penh as part of their broadcast
journalism training.
Chhuon Sarin (Cambodia) – I can be who I am, 2011, 3:14
Documentary about a she-male making the living in the traditional Cambodian society.
CologneOFF XIII
animation & experimental documentary
1:36
2.Shahar Marcus (Israel) – 1,2,3 Herring, 2011, 2:27
3.Yiotis Vrantzas (Greece) – Phone call from Cairo, 2012, 4:55
4.Omar Robert Hamilton (Egypt) – The People Demand the Fall of the Regime, 2011,4:00
5.Zohar Kfir (Canada/Israel) – Gaza Airport, 2012, 7:12
6.Osamu Hsieh (Taiwan) – Start, 2011, 3’56″
7.Hugo Burgos (Ecuador) – Major Matter, 2012, 1:24
8.Iva Kontic (Serbia) – Mechanical Dream, 2011, 11:00
9.Jacques Faton & Alpha Sadou Gano (Belgium/Senegal) – Laar, 2011, 19:00
10. Eric Esser (Germany) – Dawn of the Dorks, 2006, 22:00
CologneOFF xIII
animation & experimental documentary
1.Ping-Yao Chen (Taiwan) – Go West, 2012, 19:40
“Go West”, in general, implies that the civilized, capitalized and Christianized Western world is the promised land to pursue. However, in Taiwan, it no longer means “go to the Western world” but “go to China” since the rise of China’s economy. The video appropriates and re-purposes avatars, speeches, plots and levels from videogame to create parallels between the happenings in real life and the dystopian in Half Life. It expresses the anxiety, perplexity and fears about ignorance, isolation, alienation, suppression and oppression of identity. Will “Go West” be the inevitable destiny?
2. Shahar Marcus (Israel) – 1,2,3 Herring, 2011, 2:27
“1,2,3,Herring” video work, naming after the famous children game, presents the artist playing in front of three cardboard figure, dressed in a gray uniform, which looks like a uniform of World War II soldier or a pioneer’s uniform. The scene takes place on a reconstruction war site in Israel, of the 1948 war between Egypt and Israel, where flat iron figures of Egyptian soldiers are planted in the battlefield.
3.Yiotis Vrantzas (Greece) – Phone call from Cairo, 2012, 4:55
“Phone Call from Cairo” is made by material shot in Cairo one year before the Tahrir rebellion using a small photo camera. Although the situation in Egypt did not seem to be good, my friend used to believe that the Egyptian people was far from revolting. After two years I had to make this phone call to my friend and face the challenge to compose my pictures from Cairo.
4. Omar Robert Hamilton (Egypt) – The People Demand the Fall of the Regime, 2011, 4:00
Agitprop film calling people to the streets for the first anniversary of the Egyptian Revolution
5. Zohar Kfir (Canada/Israel) – Gaza Airport, 2012, 7:12
This short experimental movie explores the Gaza Strip, where workers sift through the collection of fragments of buildings destroyed during Operation Cast Lead in order to produce gravel. Salvaging these materials has become vital due to the harsh Israeli restrictions on entry of construction materials, and it has become relatively profitable.This video was shot by volunteers of SHOOTING BACK B’Tselem’s camera distribution project, is a video advocacy project that provides Palestinians living in high-conflict areas with video cameras, with the goal of bringing the reality of their lives , under occupation to the attention of the Israeli and international public.
6.Osamu Hsieh (Taiwan) – Start, 2011, 3’56″
Mother’s affection for his son in the important moments.
7.Hugo Burgos (Ecuador) – Major Matter, 2012, 1:24
This is a short documentary that collapses the beautiful andugly moments of my recent life. Both moments are registered as raw data, a 24hour timelapse of a lovely city I recently visited in Sweden is counterpointed by one of a series of criminal phone calls I receieved in myhometown in Ecuador. Life is just that, an akward balance between opposites, you just can’t win.
8.Iva Kontic (Serbia) – Mechanical Dream, 2011, 11:00
Mechanical Dream has been inspired by the news that Crvena Zastava, the former Yugoslavia’s state car factory, had been sold to Fiat. It deals with culture and social phenomenon which this event has triggered.
The video introduces the local reality of Crvena Zastava, displaying the current factory architecture and cityscape of its location. Its narration is made from interviews with the factory’s former and current employees. The mood of the locals towards the moment of transformation have been “neutralized” by the artist’s monotonous reading of their statements. The video is intermitted by short inserts from old Zastava TV commercials found on Youtube.
9.Jacques Faton & Alpha Sadou Gano (Belgium/Senegal) – Laar, 2011, 19:00
Panoramic portraits of football fields and fortune camps in Keur Masaar/ Malika in the outskirts of Dakar by an inhabitant of the neighborhood. Images on and off-screen (and off-side) of these football places which are ever present in Sengalese society.
10. Erc Esser (Germany) – Dawn of the Dorks, 2006, 22:00
A carefree barbeque takes a sickening turn. After eating tainted meat, a group of friends undergoes a terrifying mutation. Mild mannered college students suddenly sprout mustaches, beer bellies and football scarves, and begin to relentlessly chant football songs. The football zombies spread their curse by vomiting on unsuspecting innocents.
A small group of still-healthy students, brought together by coincidence, finds shelter in an empty sports club, of all places. Francine, a new-age nymph, Hauke, an agressive alpha-male, Kurt, the cerebral self-reflector, Monique, a dissolute party girl, and Jojo, a burnt-out druggie must now figure out how they can escape the mindless, chanting hordes. Their solutions are as different as their personalities. Unfortunately not all of them can thwart the zombies. Can anyone?
