Control and Contingency

The documentary form is contingent, destined to chase after events, whereas feature films anticipate and control events. However, boundaries blur in interesting ways when these forms imitate each other.

Unfocused images and erratic lighting, borrowed from documentary, give immediacy and relevance to a fiction film, whereas plotlines and aestheticized cinematography are legitimate devices for documentarists. Using visual examples which include a specially digitized version of “Der Reifenschneider und seine Frau” (Klaus Wildenhahn/Roland Hehn/Horst Schwaab, FRG 1968/1969), the filmmaker Harun Farocki’s presentation will look at hybrid forms between the two genres.

Event in German with simultaneous interpretation