Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s directorial debut, which translates roughly from the original Thai title as “Blue Flower in the Devil’s Hand,” can be imagined as a kind of Chinese whispers: The film crew travels through Thailand, tells a story, has it partially reenacted by local people who add their own details, their own myths, creating a whole web of new stories. The result is a kind of new cryptic creation story. A surrealist party game popular in the 1920s called “Cadavre Exquis” served as a model for the film crew. Shot on 16mm, this experimental documentary film shows us, in just under 90 minutes, a Thailand beyond the tourist hotspots; a country in constant motion and development. Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s lack of interest in conventional cinematic narratives is already evident in his debut. In his later work, including the Cannes winner Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, retold stories and myths also play a role, but there, fiction actually becomes reality.

This camera exercise captures a portrait of the south exit of Karlsruhe Central Station. Almost 15 years later, it is all the more valuable, as all that can be seen there now are the glass facades of 1&1. A small piece of city history: in Eva Hartmann's observation of the south exit of the main station, we see the now completely built-up rear exit of Karlsruhe's main station and follow the street sweepers at the old bus station. The film was part of a camera exercise with cinematographer Jutta Tränkle, who was invited by Thomas Heise. All films were shot in color and 16mm at the time, and the sound was added in a sound editing seminar.

Print from the collection of Kino im Blauen Salon (HfG KA)