TRANSITIONS

• Datum: 22. May 2024 – 25. May 2024
• Street: Birkenstraße 1
• Location: CITY 46 Kommunalkino

28th International Bremen Film Conference , May 22 2024 – May 25 2024
TRANSITIONS: CINEMATIC DIMENSIONS OF ‘PASSAGE’

For as long as film has existed, it has grappled with processes of transition and change: in history, in personal identity, in cinema culture itself. This year, we’ll be marking the 50th anniversary of Kommunalkino Bremen by looking at the myriad transitions that cinema has gone through or represented on screen, from filmic depictions of trans people, to the relation between film history and broader historical turning points, to shifting trends in film culture and aesthetics.

Transitions are integral to film. Cuts and dissolves are used to move from one shot to another. Films let us experience change both over time and space and in characters’ inner worlds. And
the meaning of what they show changes depending on their choice of cinematic devices. That is one factor among many that makes film such a fascinating medium for representing the most different transitions. The conference will explore these questions from very different angles, examining both film characters’ transitional relationships to body, gender, imagination and experiences of otherness, and transitions in film history, such as the shift from silent film to sound film. The renewals of film cultures resulting from such transitions can also assume political dimensions: for instance, in cinematic reflections on the breakup of Yugoslavia, indigenous filmmaking in Canada or on hybrid genres.

The lectures and film screenings at the International Bremen Film Conference invite an international audience to explore the many facets of transitions in film and discover the connections between aesthetic, personal, cultural and historical changes.

Program Overview

The entire event (lectures, forums and films) will take place in person. Accreditation for trade visitors on request. There is no entrance fee for the lectures and forums.

In three forums in the morning and two main lectures in the afternoon, guests from the field of film studies will discuss various aspects of transitions in cinema. The accompanying film program offers a variety of nine films to complement the lectures.

About Film Symposium

The Film Symposium is aimed at cinema audiences and professionals interested in film. It combines public lectures, film screenings and film discussions. It is a long-standing cooperation between CITY 46 / Kommunalkino Bremen e.V. and the AG Filmwissenschaft / FB 9 Kulturwissenschaften, ZeMKI and is supported by nordmedia – Film- und Mediengesellschaft Niedersachsen/Bremen mbH and the DFG.