Two small cinemas in Germany on the threshold of digital operation. Between romanticism and realism: what will happen to cinema when film reels disappear?

Roll after roll of German movies are processed, cut up, and then burned at the film destruction plant. A hand slides over a list, and the verdict is handed down: Destroy. Destroy. And again: Destroy. Next, please.

The last rolls of film are being developed at the Baden-Baden copying plant. Once common practice, analog filmmaking has now become a marginal phenomenon.

Much has been reported about the link between alcohol and traffic accidents – but what about the link between drones and traffic accidents? HfG graduate Jens Willms gets to the bottom of this question in a daring self-experiment.

Unfortunately, we have no further information on this. Even the internet was unable to help us with our research. Jens Willms' short film is one of our favorites, a little treasure buried deep in the HfG archives. Perhaps it's better not to know any more. The poetry of this production is immediate, defying interpretation. Suspected cult material. We will continue this surprising excursion into unknown realms shortly, so stay tuned.

One kitchen, two tables, three chefs. The everyday life and routine procedures of the small restaurant open up space for the examination of human interaction and encounters in a tiny transit space.

In 2016, the observations entered their eighth round. After the “finger exercise” was initiated by Prof. Thomas Heise in 2009, Prof. Razvan Radulescu launched a new edition of the format. Sophia Schiller's contribution revisits the idea of the former cooperation between the HfG and the University of Music, in which students from the MuHo Karlsruhe set the films to music. In this case, contemporary jazz improvisation, played by the filmmaker's sister.

In his “observation” Disappointment Arrangement, Jason King examines a bouquet of flowers. Created in the Observations seminar, shot without sound on 16mm film, a still life is viewed scenically. Roses are red, violets are blue...

The so-called “Observations” have been created at the HfG since 2009. Professor Thomas Heise introduced this exercise, in which two formal guidelines shaped the films: Everyone 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 (wearing protective gloves).

This early work in the history of HfG film, in which even the filmmakers' first names have been retained, shows us a very personal approach to 14 classics of film history.

The HfG DVD edition Animata (2015), which is dedicated to the publication of HfG animated films, has rediscovered this small but fine animated film from the 1990s, among others. Produced analogously with 16mm material on an animation table, the students “Julia and Patricia” give us their very own view of film history. If anyone can remember the filmmakers' full names, we would be happy to pay them this final tribute.

A playful portrait of a young woman.

This portrait by HfG alumnus David Loscher retains only one aspect of Thomas Heise's dogmatic design: the 16mm material—filmed and then developed in a bucket. Otherwise, Loscher sticks to his own rules. Echoes of the protagonists of Godard and Truffaut and a rejection of the documentary format. This is a portrait, not a documentary.

HfG Christmas party 2017: The Fünf Flötis and their Flotten Flöten give one of their most beautiful concerts on an unforgettable evening in December. Merry Christmas!

Philip Lawall, Anja Ruschival, Valentin Pfister, Leonie Ohlow and Lena Loy flute for all they're worth. Included in their repertoire: “Tochter Zion”, “Was soll das bedeuten” and above all their hit “Last Christmas”. Incidentally, the Flötis started their career at the HfG Christmas party last year and have been making Karlsruhe's Christmas markets unsafe ever since. In 2017, the HfG Karlsruhe imposed extra budget restrictions in order to hire the Flötis, who had become very expensive in the meantime, once again for the Christmas party.

We remember the HfG Wochenschau! These informative short reports were produced weekly by the cinema team in the winter semester 2017/18 and shown before the screenings in the Blauer Salon. We are exclusively showing the first newsreel from calendar week 4, 2018. One week of HfG - one week of total madness!

In the fall of 2017, the HfG cinema team discovered hundreds of historical German newsreels in the basement of a cinema. When viewing this format, which informed viewers worldwide and up until the 1980s about current weekly events before cinema films, it became clear that the HfG immediately needed its own newsreel. Everything that happened in the building was documented every week and presented daily before the films in the Blue Salon.

Now it's time for the second part of the HfG Wochenschau! In the fifth calendar week of 2018, employees are introduced, jokes are told, tracks are read and things, er... storyboards! are edited. Very informative, as always.

In the fall of 2017, the HfG cinema team discovered hundreds of historical German newsreels in the basement of a movie theater. When viewing this format, which informed viewers worldwide and up to the 1980s about current weekly events before movies, it became clear that the HfG immediately needed its own newsreel. Everything that happened in the building was documented every week and presented daily before the films in the Blue Salon.

In the third and final episode of the cult weekly show, the really big questions are answered: What does KD actually stand for? How do you use a hammer? And: Which parties are better, those at the Kunstakademie or the HfG? Tune in and find out!
The new - now divorced - Chancellor Christiane Linsel will also be introduced!

In the fall of 2017, the HfG cinema team discovered hundreds of historical German newsreels in the basement of a movie theater. When viewing this format, which informed viewers worldwide and up until the 1980s about current weekly events before movies, it became clear that the HfG immediately needed its own newsreel. Everything that happened in the building was documented every week and presented daily before the films in the Blue Salon.

Christian Haardt weaves a new story from ancient HfG archive material that flickers by like a dream - pure imagination!

Did you know: Christian Haardt's Vordiplom was not actually intended as a film - but as an installation! The film material was running on the editing table: an experimental film edited together from copies of students' works found in the film archive, which weaves together a wide variety of stories to create a universal story. This is the first time we have been able to show the film. Thank you for that!

Hands exchange banknotes for plastic. Spiel is a 3D documentary about the business of gambling. In atmospheric images, it observes the operation of the Baden-Baden casino.

Something very interesting happens in Bastian Epple's film: the documentary images that accompany the operation of a casino increasingly slip into an atmospheric story of people, machines and movements. The film oscillates between reality and fiction, the movements of this pendulum become ever larger and ultimately blurred.

Was wäre wenn die Blume jene Erde unter sich verabscheuen würde? Ein Gedicht wird zur Frage und fordert zum Gespräch auf – Eine erstaunlich tiefgründig endende Aktion…

Sarah Thöles Film feierte beim 4. Internationalen Zebra Poetry Film Festival 2008 in Berlin Premiere. Das kurze Gedicht des Iraner Künstlers Shooresh Fezonis wird erst zur Frage und dann zur Einladung Nachzudenken über Menschliches, Allzumenschliches. Im Naturgarten Thöle hören wir das Philosophieren der Kundinnen und Kunden während die Bilder die Blume und ihre Erde zeigen.

Legend has it that the most blatant HfG party of all time was accidentally captured for posterity in a 40-minute home video made by an unknown amateur filmmaker in 1996. However, the VHS was forgotten in a VHS player and when it went into the attic, all hope of ever finding it again was lost and gradually the video was forgotten. Almost 30 years later, media art student Pavel Pudnik stumbled across a box of discarded technology and found a VHS player inside. When he plugged it in, he couldn't believe his eyes, what he saw was the lost video, what he saw there was probably the most awesome party ever!

Selling pirate film CD’s on his chart, the young man has a humble and unpretentious life, sharing a room with his construction worker mates. Till the day, when an unknown passenger from the ferry asked him about a Japanese film he had never heard of. Looking after the film but waiting for the passenger, he slowly finds himself in a passionate affection, which grows parallel to the geranium he germinated from a leaf. One day he sees the passenger in a cafe, but cannot approach to talk to her. His waiting transforms into another dimension, where the passenger doesn’t hold any more importance. The film not only depicts this passionate story of the young CD vendor, but also a ballad to a disappearing film media and its makers, a media archeology of contemporary film culture in Istanbul.

Northern Malady is a memory of lost things: of a last vacation together, of the wind and the water, of dreams and silence.

In October 2017, Gerrit Kuge went to Scotland with a team of three to find images for a film idea that began there a few years ago. The team found what they were looking for on a small Scottish island, far out on the Atlantic Ocean. The raw landscape of the Scottish Hebrides provided images that propelled Kuge's story of tumbling memories in the film.

Legend has it that the most blatant HfG party of all time was accidentally captured for posterity in a 40-minute home video made by an unknown amateur filmmaker in 1996. However, the VHS was forgotten in a VHS player and when it went into the attic, all hope of ever finding it again was lost and gradually the video was forgotten. Almost 30 years later, media art student Pavel Pudnik stumbled across a box of discarded technology and found a VHS player inside. When he plugged it in, he couldn't believe his eyes, what he saw was the lost video, what he saw there was probably the most awesome party ever!

A view of a building site in Karlsruhe, the city of building sites. The so-called "observations" have been produced at the HfG since 2009. Professor Thomas Heise introduced this exercise, in which two formal requirements shaped the films: everyone 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.

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.