CINECIVITAS Political Film Days is a micro-film festival focused on political and civic engagement topics, which took place at KunstKooperative in Berlin, between 20th and 22nd of April 2018.
It was organized by Diaspora Civica Berlin, an organisation formed in 2017, as a direct result of the massive waves of protests against corruption that happened both in Romania and abroad. Since then, its focus has been on increasing civic and political engagement.
With this type of event we intend to stimulate reflection, dialogue and conversations on political and civic engagement topics with movie screenings and debates, both for the Romanian diaspora and the Berlin public at large.
Each of the three days of the CINE CIVITAS film festival had a main theme and each theme entailed one or two screenings, followed by a moderated debate on the matter.
All events were free, but because of the limited number of seats you could get a 0 Euro ticket for each screening and/or debate you wanted to attend (links below).
Debates were held in English and all movies had English subtitles.
CineCivitas Schedule
Friday, April 20th 2018
19:00 – RiP!: A Remix Manifesto (87’ dir. Brett Gaylor) & The Creativity Delusion (7’, dir. Alex Lungu)
Tickets here
RiP!: A Remix Manifesto (87’ dir. Brett Gaylor) – Join filmmaker Brett Gaylor and mashup artist Girl Talk as they explore copyright and content creation in the digital age. In the process they dissect the media landscape of the 21st century and shatter the wall between users and producers.
Trailer here
The Creativity Delusion (7’ dir. Alex Lungu) – The videomakers behind Copy-Me, a long-standing YouTube series on copyright and creativity are proud to announce they’ve got a spankin’ new episode out! The first part in the video essay series will discuss misconceptions about ideas and the way brains work. These myths obviously impact our views on creation and extend into our understanding of intellectual property.
21:00 – ‘Future of politics and the Internet’ debate and an Internet-themed opening drink
Tickets here
Debate guests: Alex Lungu, Ioana Pelehatăi
From the E.U.’s controversial proposal to reform copyright to the end of net-neutrality protections in the US, politics are changing the internet. The other way around, what we perceive as internet culture (trolling, memes, twitter etc.) is becoming part of mainstream political life. Together with our guests, we dive deep into the these online behaviour patterns and try to understand how they affect the modern political process.
Download the 1st Day Program here.
Saturday, April 21st 2018
17:30 – The Hate Destroyer (52′ dir. Vincenzo Caruso)
Tickets here
The Hate Destroyer (52′ dir. Vincenzo Caruso) – Irmela had one goal and one goal only over the past 30 years: to erase each and every single trace of hate around her.
Watch trailer here
+ Q&A session after the movie with the leading actors including Irmela Mensah-Schramm!
19:00 – Rent Rebels (79’ dir. Gertrud Schulte Westenberg, Matthias Coers)
Tickets here
Rent Rebels | Mietrebellen (79’ dir. Gertrud Schulte Westenberg, Matthias Coers) – Berlin has changed a lot in the last years. The transformation into owner-occupied flats and massive rent increases became an everyday phenomenon. The movie is a kaleidoscope of the tenants’ struggles in Berlin against their displacement out of their neighbourhood communities. Ranging from the occupation of the Berlin town hall to a camp at Kottbusser Tor, the organised prevention of evictions and the struggle of senior citizens for their community center and age-appropriate flats, a new urban protest movement seems to be on the rise.
Watch trailer here
21:00 – ‘Forms that civic engagement is due to take in 2018’ debate
Tickets here
Debate guests: Ruxandra Gubernat (dir. „PortaVoce”), Laura Burtan, repezentant DC Berlin
With the discussion from the previous night fresh in our minds, the screenings will be followed by a debate about the forms that civic engagement is due to take in 2018. ‘You don’t know how. It’s too hard. It’s not your job to care.’ During the second day of Cine Civitas, we take a look at stories about people who are not easily discouraged. Civic involvement stories in which change is not guaranteed.
22:30 – CINE CIVITAS party with Saluna & Boivoid
Saluna, or Andrei Țîrcă by his real name, is a 29 year old Bucharest-based producer and DJ, who sets his musical playground around glitchy, dark, analogue, electronic sounds. Saluna project marks the artist’s debut in composition/production. His style now circles around nostalgic synth textures and discrete vocals, with a whiff of instrumental elements.
boivoid:
An ever returning pilgrim to forsaken by the most, desolate territories of thought and aesthetics, boivoid also follows musical paths bathed in warm light and bloating in bright color towards spiritual liberation. On any way he went, so far, boivoid always collected and shared the tunes he felt to be sincere and rowdy.
Download the 2nd Day Program here.
Sunday, April 22nd 2018
17:00 – Immigrating (81’ dir. Sabine Herpich, Diana Botescu)
Tickets here
Immigrating | Zuwandern (81’ dir. Sabine Herpich, Diana Botescu) – When their economic situation worsened, Carmen and George Badea decided to leave Romania. The question in which country a better life could be possible was not the most important and it was more by chance that they decided for Germany. Lacking both contacts and German language skills, they spend their first winter in an abandoned garden house in Berlin. The film documents the family’s life for nine months, during which they are no longer on the streets, but they still go without stable income. The film also manages to show the interaction between the family and the authorities.
Watch trailer here
19:00 – The Last Kalderash (60’ dir. Elena Stancu, Cosmin Bumbuţ) & Abreast (11’ dir. Patrick Brăila)
Tickets here
The Last Kalderash / Ultimul căldăraș (60’ dir. Elena Stancu, Cosmin Bumbuţ) – Romania is changing, and Geo, a young Romani coppersmith, lacks the means to support his wife and his six-year-old son. The farmers from the surrounding villages do not buy his copper handmade objects anymore. For Geo and his wife, Marina, going to France or to Belgium is their only option.
Watch trailer here
Abreast | Pieptiș (11’ dir. Patrick Brăila) – Two souls walk abreast along the road that links a grandmother’s birthday with a grandfather’s
grave. Down the narrow road that forces them to interact, a change takes place as the mother-daughter relationship morphs into a rocky new mother-son tie.
21:00 – ‘Civic engagement and marginalised groups’ debate & closing drinks
Tickets here
Debate guests: Ioana Pelehatăi, Patrick Brăila, Mona Vintilă
On the last day we will explore the relationship between civic engagement and those groups in society that have a hard time getting their voices heard. How true is the cliche that civic engagement is mainly an activity done by educated, middle-class young people? Are marginalized groups underrepresented in political and civic initiatives?
Download the 3rd Day Program here.