Sandra Schäfer | Akademie der Bildenden Künste München (original) (raw)

Papers by Sandra Schäfer

Berlinale 2019, 2019

him. He mentioned that he had recycled footage from an unfinished film about the 1978 Communist c... more him. He mentioned that he had recycled footage from an unfinished film about the 1978 Communist coup d'état (the eponymous April Revolution), for which he had served as cinematographer, into his later film, whose story covered the period just before, during and after that coup. Of course it then took me five more years to sort out exactly how many films had actually been left unfinished in the history of Afghan cinema, where those films were, who had made them, and where those people had been scattered by the war. At a certain point, I realized that the process of making the film was mirroring a larger process happening in Afghanistan, whereby the fraught and unsettled histories of the Communist period were gradually being reassembled and resurfacing into public discourse. But for me the unfinished films were like a loose thread in history, and I'm always interested in the loose threads or frayed edges at the margins of history.

"The Militant Image Reader brings together eight diverse texts from theorists and artists fr... more "The Militant Image Reader brings together eight diverse texts from theorists and artists from Europe and North America that speculate on the relationship of artistic representation and social change today." -- Publisher's website.

Die Iranische Revolution 1978/79 fuhrte zum Sturz des Schah-Regimes. Kurz darauf wurde die Islami... more Die Iranische Revolution 1978/79 fuhrte zum Sturz des Schah-Regimes. Kurz darauf wurde die Islamische Republik Iran ausgerufen. Eine breite Basis von Linken und Arbeitern, Slum-Bewohnern und Bauern, Burgerlichen – inklusive Feministinnen – sowie dem Klerus unterstutzten den Umsturz. Diese Revolution wurde auch im internationalen Rahmen als anti-monarchistisch, anti-imperialistisch, nationalistisch und/oder religios gelesen.

BioScope: South Asian Screen Studies

This visual essay focuses on contemporary women’s cinema in Afghanistan, which started in 2001, w... more This visual essay focuses on contemporary women’s cinema in Afghanistan, which started in 2001, when, for the first time, women made films in Afghanistan. They narrate stories from their perspectives, and choose different filmic means, characters and genres to tell their stories. With a selection of film stills and photographs, this visual essay introduces the work of these women filmmakers. The images are accompanied by text that describes the contents and the making of their films. Text includes quotations from filmmakers reflecting on their practice. The directors whose work I present are, among others, Roya Sadat, Saba Sahar, Diana Saqeb and Aiqela Rezaie. As some of the filmmakers also work as actresses, I draw an arc into the changeful history of Afghan cinema and the role women played as actresses in these films. The essay highlights the period between 2002 and 2009, when I worked in Kabul making my film Passing the Rainbow and co-organising the film festival SPLICE IN on Gen...

Forum/Forum Expanded, Berlinale , 2019

Filmmaker Siddiq Barmak described the short and varied history of Afghan cinema as one in which “... more Filmmaker Siddiq Barmak described the short and varied history of Afghan cinema as one in which “each historical and political change engendered its own speci c lms.”1 He was referring to the nu- merous political changes in his country and the censorship these brought with them, forcing lm- makers to work around the limitations ...

The Militant Image Reader, 2015

Filming in the Context of Militancy The Afghan director Siddiq Barmak won a Golden Globe in 2004 ... more Filming in the Context of Militancy
The Afghan director Siddiq Barmak won a Golden Globe in 2004 for his movie “Osama” (2003). He studied film in Moscow and had shot several short films in Afghanistan before joining the Northern Alliance troops under Ahmad Shah Massoud in the late 1980s during the civil war ...

London, 1986. Ruth Novaczek’s first film “Tea Leaf” was produced, and the Greater London Council—... more London, 1986. Ruth Novaczek’s first film “Tea Leaf” was produced,
and the Greater London Council—which was committed to generously
supporting grassroots organisations and their diversity politics,
including the women’s film distribution networks Circles and
Cinema of Women (whence Cinenova was to later emerge)—was
dissolved by the conservative government. Both feminist networks
now fell under the jurisdiction of the British Film Institute, which in
turn, due to severe budget cuts in the early 1990s, suggested that the
groups merge and draft a business plan.

Auf den ersten Blick kommt die Ausstellung »Context is Half the Work« im Berliner Kunstraum Kreuz... more Auf den ersten Blick kommt die Ausstellung »Context is Half the Work« im Berliner Kunstraum Kreuzberg trocken daher. Zahlreiche Schwarzweiß-‐Fotografien, Berichte, Briefwechsel, Videos sowie eine Auswahl der realisierten Placements zeugen von der radikalen und konzeptuellen Praxis der 1966 in London gegründeten Artist Placement Group (APG). Die sich um das damalige Paar Barbara Steveni und John Latham formierende Künstler_innengruppe wollte die künstlerische Praxis aus der Isolation der Ateliers und Galerien in die gesellschaftlichen Institutionen und Betriebe bringen. Das künstlerische Denken und Handeln sollte direkt gesellschaftlich wirksam werden. Die von Naomi Hennig und Ulrike Jordan kuratierte Ausstellung hegt nicht den Anspruch auf Vollständigkeit, sondern präsentiert die Praxis der APG exemplarisch anhand sechs verschiedener Placements bzw. Machbarkeitsstudien. Im Sinne eines fragmentierten Geschichtsverständnisses stellen sie die Methodik der Gruppe ins Zentrum. Gleich zu Anfang der Ausstellung verweisen sie daher auf ihr wesentliches Element: den Open Brief, der sogenannte offene Auftrag. Diese Vereinbarung zwischen der APG und den jeweiligen Institutionen sollte die Ergebnisoffenheit der Zusammenarbeit gewährleisten und legt den Schwerpunkt auf den Arbeitsprozess. Sie enthält aber auch Abmachungen zu Künstlerhonoraren, Übernahme von Materialkosten, Versicherungskosten etc. Außerdem geht einem Placement zunächst eine Machbarkeitsstudie voraus, die den Künstler_innen dabei hilft herauszufinden, welche Herangehensweisen im Kontext der Institution überhaupt sinnvoll sein könnten. Welche Rolle die Künstler_innen in den sozialen Strukturen der Betriebe und Institutionen spielten, zeigt sich besonders in Momenten von Konflikten oder des Scheiterns. So arbeiteten die Künstler Ian Breakwell und Hugh Davies gemeinsam mit der Architekturabteilung des Ministeriums für Gesundheit und Sicherheit an einer Studie, die sich mit der Frage beschäftigte, inwiefern die gebaute Umwelt den Menschen beeinträchtigt. Die Gruppe hoffte, mit ihrer Arbeit Einfluss auf den Umbau der psychiatrischen Hochsicherheitsklinik in Broadmoor und auf die Therapiemethoden zu

Reflection of the making of the film 'Passing the Rainbow' (2007).

The text explores how film reflects the changing role of women and gender in Iranian society sinc... more The text explores how film reflects the changing role of women and gender in Iranian society since the Revolution 1979. How did the conditions of production change and how did filmmaker deal with these changes? The text focuses on different perspectives including perspectives from the outside, the inside and the Iranian diaspora.

Interview with Sandra Schäfer, Zara Zandieh and a fictive person named MAZY, who combines the opi... more Interview with Sandra Schäfer, Zara Zandieh and a fictive person named MAZY, who combines the opinions and remarks of different persons thematically involved in the SPLICE IN project.

Über die Darstellung von Elendsquartieren in Rom in Dokumentar- und Spielfilmen zwischen 1951 und... more Über die Darstellung von Elendsquartieren in Rom in Dokumentar- und Spielfilmen zwischen 1951 und 1973.

Interview with filmmakers Siddiq Barmak and Latif Ahmadi about the history of Afghan Cinema.