‘Claudia von Alemann’

In the presence of the director

Ce n’est qu’un début, continuons le combat (Das ist nur der Anfang - der Kampf geht weiter, Claudia von Alemann, Germany, 1968-69, 45’, black and white, French version, digital screening)

A documentary on film as a weapon in the political struggle in the aftermath of May 68, shot in Paris by the young German film student, Claudia von Alemann. The subject and construction of this film make it truly unique, offering as it does a real reflection on the cinema of the time, in which the action of the États généraux du cinéma, the advent of video, the arrival of the cinema department at the Université de Vincennes, and the screening of films in factories and campaigns are all reflected and discussed.

Experimental 4 Knokke (Claudia von Alemann, Germany, 1967-68, 45’, black and white, digital screening)

In this exceptional document, filmed at the end of December 1967 during the fourth edition of the Knokke-le-Zoute EXPRMNTL festival, Claudia von Alemann recorded what turned out to be the early signs of the Parisian revolt at a time when the student movement had already begun in Germany and the events of May 68 were just a few months away. Yoko Ono, Jean-Jacques Lebel, Armand Gatti, Harun Farocki, Holger Meins, Shirley Clarke, Stephen Dwoskin and Jacques Ledoux are amongst the protagonists in this fascinating collective experience.

“Knokke was experimental in more ways than one: much more than a simple festival devoted to ‘independent cinema’ it was a social and libidinal laboratory. The spirit of May was already present. We felt like something was burning, and we did everything within our powers to make it explode” (Jean-Jacques Lebel).

“In retrospect, EXPRMNTL 4 is nearly the last moment in which the politics and the avant-garde, the aesthetics and the politics, are still in a co-presence. From then on they separated. In 68 they started to separate strongly.”  (Harun Farocki)