BLONDE COBRA SPECIAL FESTIVAL 2021
FRIDAY, DEC 10th 2021
17:00 – 18:30
FEMINIST AVANTGARDE: THE CRUEL WOMAN
SEDUCTION: THE CRUEL WOMAN (Verführung: Die grausame Frau), Monika Treut & Elfi Mikesch, D 1985, 84’, german OV
Wanda, the heroine of ”Seduction: The Cruel Woman,” goes around smashing sexual stereotypes and social taboos with icy self-possession and a mysteriously satisfied smile. A businesswoman as well as a dominatrix, Wanda purrs at a male journalist who has come to interview her about the opening of her new ”gallery,” where flesh is whipped in public performances and private, slavish fantasies are fulfilled. Monika Treut and Elfi Mikesch’s feature film tells the story of Venus in Furs anew, contextualizing it in the history of perversions on the one hand and contemporary cinema and performance art on the other. The film represents a striking appropriation of masochistic aesthetics in a discourse of feminism and lesbian sexuality of the mid-1980s.
19:00 – 20:30
MIRROR OF ERISED
In cooperation with dfi Dokumentarfilminititative / Filmbüro NW
The mirror ERISED reveals a burning desire. Its reflection unveils our deepest fears, inner conflicts and temptations. We feel attracted and repelled. The mirror manifests a magical threshold of the different layers of reality, making us pass between perception and illusion, the documentary and the staged.
VERY SIMILAR TO, Peter Miller & Alexander Stewart, D 2009, 3’, no dialogue
APEX, Stefan Ramírez Pérez, D 2018,15’, german OV
DESERT MIRACLES, Miriam Gossing & Lina Sieckmann, D 2015, 11’ engl OV
LIFE AFTER LOVE, Zachary Epcar, US 2018, 8’, no dialogue
HÁ TERRA!, Ana Vaz, F 2016, 13’ OV engl subs
SOUVENIR, Miriam Gossing & Lina Sieckmann, D/NL 2019, 21’, engl OV, german subs
21:30 – 22:15
EBB AND FLOW
Ebb and flow_performance, 4x16mm projectors, 40min, 2021, Image: Lichun Tseng | Sound: Robert Kroos
‘Ebb and flow’ is inspired by the I-Ching, the book of change, Chapter 42 – Yi (Increase). Yi is a message about expansion and fullness. It is simply another cycle of life as it flowers, decays, and achieves rebirth. Ebb and flow, darkness and light, life and death… ‘What is’ springs from ‘what is not. The end of the world is also the beginning of something new. Lichun and Robert use 16mm film projectors and analog generated waveforms to create an immersive, trance-inducing journey. Through layering, constructing, and deconstructing visual and auditory textures they strive for a sense transcending experience where the spectator is no longer consciously watching nor listening. Just being.
22:15 – 23:00
Screening of Super-8-films Live/Art Class Phil Collins, Academy of Media Arts Cologne Music: Polypixa, SMILE, DĖUTZ // Films by Blanca Barbat Soler, Felix Bartke, Cătălina Bucos & Ada Kopaz (Allegories from Another Space), Rubee Fegan, Luise Flügge, Miriam Gossing, Rike Hoppe, Polina Korovina, Felix Zilles-Perels, Miriam Rieck, Julian Quentin, Feline and more…
Live Performance POLYPIXA supported by ACCENT TRÉMA (Carl Noë)
Polypixa (Polina Korovina), was born in a cold December night *-40°C* in St. Petersburg. Member of the label @Baumusik, known for experimental dreamsynth-aggro-rap journey through feminism, chronical confusion and gender terror based on a solid fundament of postpunk and traditional Russian music. Musically supported by ACCENT TRÉMA, an electronical composer from soft city Cologne. Together they mutate into certain conventions of bedroom punk, dream pop and rap.
SATURDAY, 11th DEC 2021
14:00 – 15:30
THE MAGICAL DIMENSION
Short films in cooperation with Internationales Frauen* Film Fest Dortmund+Köln // Curated & presentend by Jessica Manstetten & Nicole Rebmann
YOU WERE AN AMAZEMENT ON THE DAY YOU WERE BORN, Duke & Battersby, USA 2019, 32’, engl OV
SUZZANNA VAN OSCH, Katharina Duve, D 2019, 10’, engl OV
TWO BODIES ON A BEACH, Anna Paavilainen, FIN 2019, 20’, finnish OV engl subs
THE CUP IS ALREADY FILLING UP, Debora Elgeholm, SWE 2018, 8’16’’, engl OV, engl subs
THE MAGICAL DIMENSION, Gudrun Krebitz, D 2018, 7’, engl OV
I HAVE A SONG TO SING YOU, Aiano & Tatić, Serbia/UK 2019, 5’40’’, serbian OV, engl subs
You can be in two places at the same time: Dive with us into the realm of dreams and into the deepest ocean. Follow us to the underworld, we will guide you to the darkest crypt. States of trance will lead you to meditative loneliness. We don’t have logical explanations for everything, but we know that everyone’s life is special and unique.
16:30 – 18:15
NO ONE IS AN ISLAND
Curated by Lena Mrachacz
A program about hopes and desires, isolation and community and the question: How does our social background define us.
ISLANDS, Chris Todd, D 2020, 5’30’’, english subs
“It’s an island far away from me” – ISLANDS is a short film that questions the importance of our heritage. How much do we actually identify with it? And even more so: How much are we shaped by the way others see us?
I OFTEN THINK OF HAWAII (Ich denke oft an Hawaii), Elfi Mikesch, D 1978, 85’, german OV
Elfi Mikesch’s documentary shows the life of 16-year-old Carmen in West Berlin’s Gropiusstadt in richly camp aesthetics. Her mother works as a cleaning lady, her father has left the family. Dressed in gorgeous clothes and adorned with make-up, Carmen expresses her dreams in front of the camera. She wants to become a dancer, she dreams of a great love. Her fantasies form a “tropical” counter-world to Carmen’s everyday life.
19:30 – 21:15
ALIENATED FUTURES
“I am not a man. I am not a woman. I am not heterosexual. I am not homosexual. I am not bisexual. I am a dissident of the gender-sex binary system. I am the multiplicity of the cosmos trapped in a binary political and epistemological system, shouting in front of you. I am a uranist confined inside the limits of technoscientific capitalism.” In the program „Alienated Futures“ the recent short film THE FAMILIAR by Julian Quentin meets queer classic GENDERNAUTS by famous queerfeminist filmmaker Monika Treut.
THE FAMILIAR, Julian Quentin, D 2021,11′, no dialogue // An alien crashes on an inhospitable planet and tries to contact their home planet.
GENDERNAUTS, Monika Treut, D 1999, 86′, english OV, german subs
In this early documentary Monika Treut shows the avangardist upcoming of the trans and genderqueer scene of San Francisco in the 90s. A beautiful, touching portrait of a rising subculture in the US and the courage to live your truth.
22:00 – 23:30
PERPETUAL PERVERSION
Lecture by Kamala Dubrovnik & Porn Film Program
Kidnapped by a leatherdyke we set off into the desert of L.A. Passing a remote cruising site, polishing varnish in plushy outifts, moaning with the sounds of engines, flirting with snails and refreshing in body liquids. This program is about fucking and frolicking, indulging in audiovisual perversions. Outstanding hostess of the night is Kamala Dubrovnik, charming us with her hypnotic voice and words.
TOUCH ME, Kenzi Crash, USA 2020, no dialogue
CANDELARIA Y CREEP, Mimi Mookhiif, Ev Echoviia, & Tiffany Saint Bunny, USA 2020, no dialogue
VASELINE, Malic Amalya & Nathan Hill, USA 2016, 6’, no dialogue
FLYHOLE, Malic Amalya, USA 2017, 6’, engl OV
SLUG LIFE, Sophie Koko Gate, UK 2019, 6’30, engl OV
LES ÎLES, Yann Gonzales, F 2017, 24’, french OV, engl subs
DEEP INSIDE, Camille Henrot, F 2005, 6’, no dialogue, music video
RISING SUN BLUES, Sura Hertzberg, USA 2019, 5’, no dialogue, music video
Date: Friday, 10th & Saturday, 11th December 2021 Where: Turistarama/Lupe 2, Mauritiussteinweg 102, 50676 Cologne Doors: Open 30 minutes before each program. Please be there in advance. No ticket reservations. Tickets: 5 € per program // Festival pass 15 € Corona: 2 G+ (Vaccinated / Recovered AND tested) Please bring your certificates. Accessibility: Not barrier-free (staircase to cinema space); language and subtitling details in the program
Curated by: Miriam Gossing, Lena Mrachacz, Lara Nickel, Lina Sieckmann
Thanks to all the Artists, the Blonde Cobra Team and Supportees: Tarik Badaoui, Felix Bartke, Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay, Nikolaus Christiansen, Phil Collins, Lisa Domin, Deren Ercenk, Jessica Manstetten, Moglii, Neele Nickel, Nicole Rebmann, Lenny Streit, Lukas Soboll, Chris Todd, [ku:] Köln e.V., dfi Dokumentarfilminititative, KHM Köln, Turistarama, Frauen* Film Fest Dortmund/Köln
Supported by Kulturamt City of Cologne
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Instagram: @blondecobra.festival
Mail: info@blondecobra.com
