RADU JUDE AT KINO ARSENAL

14.09.2023 / 19:00 – 22:30
With Radu Jude

Currently consisting of around 25 short and feature-length films, the oeuvre of Romanian filmmaker and current film fellow Radu Jude (*1977) stands out for its enormous thematic and stylistic range. His films are fearless, playful, entertaining, political, formally daring, aware of history and very current. “Îmi este indiferent dacă în istorie vom intra ca barbari” (I Do Not Care, If We Go Down in History as Barbarians)explores the realm of memory politics: a young, self-confident  theatre director (Ioana Iacob) is planning an open-air production with non-professional actors that is supposed to remember how the Romanian military massacred over 20,000 Jews in Odessa in October 1941 as well as Romania’s massive involvement in the Holocaust under Ion Antonescu, which continues not to be discussed in public to this day. In so doing, she experiences resistance on various levels. The extras, a cynical cultural functionary and the audience confront her with contemporary anti-Semitism, racism and sexism as well as censorship and historical falsification. Peppered with history photos and films as well as texts by Hannah Arendt, Giorgio Agamben and Isaac Babel, to name just a few, the film counters idealization with clarification, asking at the same time the question of the effectiveness or failure of political art. (Birgit Kohler)

As Director’s Choice, Radu Jude has selected two works by young filmmakers to accompany his film Îmi este indiferent dacă în istorie from intra ca barbari: Fantasy Phrases by Dane Komljen and Classical Period by Ted Fendt. These will be presented on September 19.

14.09., 7:00 pm
Îmi este indiferent dacă în istorie vom intra ca barbari, Dir: Radu Jude, Romania, Bulgaria, Germany, France, Czech Republikc2018 / 139 min. / DCP / Original version with English subtitles
Followed by a discussion with Radu Jude (in English)

19.09., 8:00 pm
Phantasiesätze, Dir: Dane Komlijen, Germany/Denmark 2017 / 17 min. / DCP/ Original version with English subtitles
Classical Period, Dir: Ted Fendt, USA 2018, 62 min. / 16 mm / Original version with German subtitles
Introduction: Radu Jude (in English), followed by a discussion with Ted Fendt

Kino Arsenal, Potsdamer Straße 2, 10785 Berlin