Every weekend, Lilja parties in clubs and discos until the early hours of the morning. She seems to feel right at home in the dazzling nightlife. One night, the impossible becomes reality. For a brief moment, Lilja encounters her mirror image from another world: Tom. It's an old story, but it never gets old, and whoever experiences it has their eardrums bursting! Nils Menrad's short film about a night of intoxication in many ways in Karlsruhe's party heaven could also have been an expression of his secret desire to finally produce techno music videos for VIVA or MTV. If we were the bosses of VIVA or MTV, we would buy his clips!

Laura Morcillo focuses her observations on Werderplatz, watching as goods change hands for money and the losers of the big system sit around the marketplace, under the suspicious gaze of the marketplace guards. The film was made in 2010 as part of Thomas Heise's series of observations, which was designed to train the observational eye as an introduction to documentary film studies. It was shot over a longer period of time at the well-known Werderplatz in Karlsruhe's Südstadt district. In 2014, four years later, Laura Morcillo returns to Werderplatz in her short film Lettre de Werderplatz.

In the heart of Europe: an apartment without a door lock. It is the domain of Coz, who now lives in Switzerland after fleeing Turkey. In this portrait, he tells his story. Of being locked up, of being excluded, and of how the doors and locks in his mind have lost their meaning. “Coz” is the nickname of Yusuf Bayraktar. The filmmaker and his protagonist met many years ago while Bayraktar was studying physics at Istanbul University. Coz was sentenced to 13 years in prison at the time for participating in a peaceful demonstration against Turkish higher education policy. Since 2009, he has been living in Basel on political asylum, where he keeps his head above water with odd jobs and social welfare and dreams a lot. With his film, Büyükcoşkun shows a fate that is not an individual one.

The killer with the Polaroid is on the loose in Karlsruhe. The atmosphere is tense, nerves are on edge. No one trusts anyone here; everyone is a suspect. Only one thing is certain: he will strike again. Rarely seen in the film archive: action, murder, stolen film music. Samuel Israel captivates in his preliminary diploma with an entertaining mixture of Helge Schneider and Dario Argento. The film is an homage to the Italian giallo films of the 1970s and so fresh that you can almost smell the pub air: a one-man team, half a day of shooting, post-production in the evening, one day before the preliminary diploma deadline. That's roughly how Samuel described it to us. You can see all of this in the film, and we like it very much.

Christmas in 2008: At the cult exhibition “Oh Tannenbaum,” there were Christmas trees galore, but no curatorial committee: Whatever was delivered was exhibited, as long as it was a Christmas tree. Oh, how joyful. The cult Christmas exhibition has been around since 2004. Originally started as an internal joke, the student project developed over the years into a national art sensation. For one week (the week before Christmas), anyone could exhibit, whether professor, student, or staff member. In 2013, it was over for the Christmas tree. We think it's a pretty cool thing, and it might be worth thinking about again.

Über einem Feld taucht ein Wal auf und spricht zu einem jungen Mann: Bald ist es aus mit der Menschheit und er solle die Botschaft bitte unters Volk bringen. Gut, dass es Youtube gibt! Wenn da nicht die Besserwisser mit besserer Auflösung und besserem Mikro wären und mal wieder alles besser wissen… Bei diesem Film handelt es sich um Finns Erstlingswerk – er war 20 Jahre alt. Entstanden im 16mm-Seminar von Razvan Radulescu, analog und digital gefilmt, wild gemixt, krasse Grafiken, ein großartiger Alexander Thelen in Bestform und in einer Paraderolle als Youtube-Prediger. Dazu noch Morphing-Effekte, echte Hunde, falsche Wale, ein verpeilter Mitbewohner, Sonnenbrillen, knallharte Action, und ein wenig Gesellschaftskritik. Trash-Kino-Herz was willst du mehr? Daumen hoch!

A loving portrait and intimate diary entry. A gently tentative film about one's own memories, childhood, and the confrontation with death as an unforeseen factor in planning security. A seminar on diary films by Serpil Turhan deals with an intimate subject and is the beginning of many very personal films by HfG students. Processing potential also unfolds in this example of HfG diary films from 2020 by Rebekka Scheib. We are drawn into a whirlpool of memories, childhood days, insights that life throws at us, or that we throw at ourselves – in remembering.

For those wondering whether the HfG really is an art college, and how you can tell, here is a film that portrays a real art academy, with real dirt, paint, smoking, and everything else that goes with it! Jonas Rehren, an “Aka” student, spent several years of his studies at the HfG's Design Exile studying film. He returned to the academy for a 16mm course with Răzvan Rădulescu to portray three fellow students at work. In quiet observations, we see how very different materials are processed. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Jonas for his contribution to better cooperation and understanding between the art academies in Karlsruhe.

Brilliant music video for Rainer von Vielen's song Kein Zurück. A collection of picture puzzles that races past you at high speed – you'd actually have to keep pausing the video to appreciate all the puzzles.

Ono No Kochami ist eine Hommage an die japanische Poesie, die in einfachen und poetischen Bildern gespiegelt wird. Mascha Dilgers Ono No Kochami ist eine filmische Annäherung an das gleichnamige Gedicht von Clara Sondermann. Das zeitgenössische Gedicht handelt von Beziehungen und Familie und deren Vergänglichkeit und ist gleichzeitig eine Hommage an die alte japanische Dichterin Ono No Komachi, die um 830 n. Chr. in der Heian-Ära als Hofdichterin lebte und arbeitete. Der Film entstand ebenfalls für Stephan Krass’ Poetry Film Seminar.

Max Lange as the likeable Dr. Braunhardt Werner, narrator of an outdated advertising film promoting a cryogenic sleep chamber. With it, you can finally live for 1,000 years and launch into outer space! We appreciate all kinds of trash! Why? That's a question that can't be answered here. For egalitarian reasons alone, it's important to mention it here. Max Lange's film is part of his diploma project, the radio play “Die Sternensaat” (The Star Seed), in which different forms of utopian promises of salvation from the 19th and 20th centuries come together, with an emphasis on the motif of outer space. Here it is again in the form of a fictional advertising video and trailer.

Antarctica. Three characters have killed a rhinoceros and are loading it onto their ship. The ship is too heavy and breaks through the ice. A Roman comes by. An airplane begins a nosedive. The tension is almost unbearable... In just two minutes, Jules Wüest builds suspense that rivals any Hitchcock thriller. A classic old-school animated film—individual drawings come together on the animation table and are brought to life. What the film's message ultimately is remains unclear. And whether there will be a part II also remains unclear...

A desperate young woman in a photo booth ruins one picture after another. Look at the little bird by Anna Kalus deals with its own production process in an absurdly comical way, constantly reinventing itself. The montage is negated by the dismantling of its idea.

A unique historical document – the trailer for the films of the 2013 annual exhibition of the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design! A list of well-known and lesser-known names and a helicopter – that's all a good trailer needs! The Filmforum met regularly in the Blue Salon to show each other their own films – film as a meeting place, as an opportunity for exchange and interaction. This trailer still bears witness to that, but it's not completely over yet. In March 2021, there was the Film.Forum Festival, where four films from the past were presented and discussed once again, and in 2022 there will be another edition to mark the university's 30th anniversary – so we can look forward to more!

On Sundays in church, communion is distributed, the organ is played, and hymns are sung. A classic Heise observation. Since 2009, the so-called “observations” have been created at the HfG. Professor Thomas Heise introduced this exercise, in which two formal guidelines shaped the films: each participant was assigned a roll of 16mm film (approx. 11 minutes) and had to observe something. No sound was recorded, and the films were developed by hand in a chemistry bucket. This film comes from the third series of observations.

Here is a very successful music video from HfG history. Rotated on VIVA, MTV, etc. According to the professors' verdict (see trailer), the industry is being fought with its own weapons. Consumer criticism as a Trojan horse with a six-pack – but it works surprisingly well... How do you make someone realize that what they are watching is bullshit? According to the verdict of our panel of experts (see trailer) in the film review, we are witnessing social criticism in which the industry is being beaten with its own weapons. Or perhaps this production was successful because it shows what we all want to see when we watch MTV. Spookily contrasting claims – as always, the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle.

The poet, sitting on the highest treetop, reflects on the unaccomplished tasks of the day on September 27... HfG alumnus David Loscher recites Thomas Brasch's poem Der schöne 27. September (The Beautiful September 27) while sitting in a tree. In a single 4-minute long take, a person, the artist, emerges from the gnarled silhouettes. He looks through the treetops into the cool Karlsruhe evening, recites his poem, and climbs back down to earth.

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.

In Constantin Nestor's observation, everything is colored and cut to the max. Wash, lay out—and hopefully it will be pleasing in the end. Since 2009, the so-called “observations” have been created at the HfG. Professor Thomas Heise introduced this exercise, in which two formal requirements shaped the films: each participant was assigned a roll of 16mm film (approx. 11 minutes) and had to observe something. No sound was recorded and the films were developed by hand in a chemical bucket. This film comes from the third series of observations.

A man sits at a long table and waits. We would like to know what he is waiting for. But something is happening. Something is coming towards him, getting closer and closer, giggling and squeaking, wiggling, becoming more and more numerous, turning the corner, dragging passers-by with them, and then: “FLATSCH”! Probably the biggest “FLATSCH” in HfG film history, and probably the only one. This film was also on the DVD “HfG Trash Filme” and, in our editorial opinion, was rightly included in this collection. In the acknowledgments at the end of his film, as well as the note “a Polish-German production,” Karl Oliver Boeg gives us clues as to how the film can be classified historically: Created in 2000 in Legnica, Poland, during an animation workshop, perhaps in collaboration with a Polish art college, or something like that....