Film tips for March

With his current exhibition "Economy with poverty. Art is class!" (until 23 March 2020), the Helmhaus is giving visibility to the taboo subjects of poverty and class. In collaboration with the Filmpodium, it is also bringing these topics to the big screen with two films. Nicolle Bussien's short film Amt für Wirtschaft und Arbeit (2022) and Ariane Adereggen's experimental video essay Klassenverhältnisse am Bodensee (2022) will be shown. A subsequent discussion with the two directors will round off the evening.

Wednesday, 12 March 2025, Filmpodium, 18:00

With the Golden Bear winner Dahomey (2024), filmmaker Mati Diop has made an important contribution to the debate on the repatriation of looted colonial art. But long before her, directors had already tackled this topic on film, including Alain Resnais and Chris Marker with Statues Also Die (1950) and Nii Kwate-Owoo with You Hide Me (1970). Both works show that the demand for the return of cultural assets of colonial origin is not a phenomenon of the 21st century. Nigerian filmmaker and curator Tobi Akinde will present the two films at the Ethnographic Museum of the University of Zurich.

Thursday, 13 March 2025, Ethnographic Museum University of Zurich, 19:00

In 2024 alone, almost 2,200 refugees lost their lives on the Mediterranean route. Despite this alarmingly high number, the European Union does not believe it has a responsibility to improve the situation of people fleeing violence and poverty - instead, it relies on deterrence strategies and pushbacks. Journalist Nektaria Psaraki and the coordinator of the organisation "Mediterranea Saving Humans", Iason Apostolopoulos, will shed light on and discuss the current situation at the Rote Fabrik using videos of a recent rescue operation and the example of the Pylos shipwreck in 2023.

Friday, 21 March 2025, Rote Fabrik, 19:00

La hora de los hornos (1968) by Octavio Getino and Fernando E. Solanas is a prime example of a film in the service of the revolution. Conceived as a collage of images and sound, the work uses archive material on colonial violence, spoken commentaries and written inserts to call for a fight and functions as a manifesto of the Third Cinema. Prof. Dr Fabienne Liptay will devote a public lecture at the Filmpodium to this militant film movement, which emerged from colonial resistance, followed by a screening of Getino and Solana's documentary film essays.

Thursday, 27 March 2025, Filmpodium Kino, 18:30