within

Film Festival: Where the Wind Scatters Seeds;
7.−9. February 2025
Filmhaus Köln

Where The Wind Scatters Seeds, memories bloom from barren ground of tears in the soil, whispers of forgotten friends, shadows of distant homes, erased faces on torn photographs. Echoes of yesterday, dreams of tomorrow. 

Over the course of three days, a carefully curated film program, born from interdisciplinary collaboration - takes shape. 
Weaving together the intersection of memory, dislocation, and radical solidarity, the program uses film to confront, as well as imagine beyond colonial violence and the ways it warps our sense of self, community, time and space. Complimenting the film program with alternative media forms such as food, music, an interactive drawing corner & a healing conversation circle, the cinema is transformed into a space for nurturing ancestral forms of belonging. It reflects on the essence of home—its presence, what it carries, and the void left in its absence. The showcased works examine the act of remembering, transforming archives into dynamic spaces for resistance, reclamation, and processes of un-learning.

Curated by:

Schaho Balbas

Vincent E.

Ido Hassan

Julia Jesionek

Lan Mi Le

Polina Resnianska

Sarah Savalanpour

Shadi Tabibzadeh

Safiya Yon

DAY 1: (DIS)LOCATION WITHIN

What does home look like? What do the spaces we inhabit carry? What myths feed the walls that grow around us? The light traveling through the lens of the camera might not be able to reach into the nuanced lived collective and individual experiences, encouraging experimentation through other media. The “caméra-stylo” manifests itself in drawing, embroidery, collage, found footage; all these techniques form constellations of visual exposure refraining from the canonical categorization of art, articulating the subtleties of recall, summoning memories from hidden intimate spaces, and discovering transcultural mutualities.

Program #2: WITHIN

When the family tree has been uprooted, the personal mythology might stay in the land. As day turns into night, and night turns into day, dreams become enmeshed in the habitual nightmares of the mundane. Unable to distinguish between realities, one turns to introspection, seeking to picture what lies behind the faint lines of nostalgia. Distress morphs into homesickness for an unknown place. As the ambivalence of memory amalgamates with the rich tapestry of animation’s visual abundance, what is achieved in the personal documentary goes beyond mere representation but into the translation of the act of remembering itself. Defying the principles of high art through the material interrogation of film, once forgotten images from the past are re-animated and bloom anew in surreal sceneries.
Do you recognize that place? The place you cannot visit, the place that is merely a memory, an image etched into your mind, a distant rustle of disjointed shards, a recurrent flash of dark.

Films:

Girl from Moush

Poppy Flowers

Wild Flowers

Bye, Little Block!

The Fifth Floor

Comma

Night

Curated by Julia Jesionek and Polina Resnianska

IMPORTANT NOTES

If you don't have a ticket, come by and we will put you on the waiting list.

If you have a ticket, please come earlier (at least 15min). If you are late, we might give your places to the people on the waiting list.

Das sagt der/die Veranstalter:in:

Film Festival: Where the Wind Scatters Seeds;
7.−9. February 2025
Filmhaus Köln

Where The Wind Scatters Seeds, memories bloom from barren ground of tears in the soil, whispers of forgotten friends, shadows of distant homes, erased faces on torn photographs. Echoes of yesterday, dreams of tomorrow. 

Over the course of three days, a carefully curated film program, born from interdisciplinary collaboration - takes shape. 
Weaving together the intersection of memory, dislocation, and radical solidarity, the program uses film to confront, as well as imagine beyond colonial violence and the ways it warps our sense of self, community, time and space. Complimenting the film program with alternative media forms such as food, music, an interactive drawing corner & a healing conversation circle, the cinema is transformed into a space for nurturing ancestral forms of belonging. It reflects on the essence of home—its presence, what it carries, and the void left in its absence. The showcased works examine the act of remembering, transforming archives into dynamic spaces for resistance, reclamation, and processes of un-learning.

Curated by:

Schaho Balbas

Vincent E.

Idil Xaashi Hassan

Julia Jesionek

Lan Mi Lê

Polina Resnianska

Sarah Savalanpour

Shadi Tabibzadeh

Safiya Yon

DAY 1: (dis)location within
What does home look like? What do the spaces we inhabit carry? What myths feed the walls that grow around us? The light traveling through the lens of the camera might not be able to reach into the nuanced lived collective and individual experiences, encouraging experimentation through other media. The “caméra-stylo” manifests itself in drawing, embroidery, collage, found footage; all these techniques form constellations of visual exposure refraining from the canonical categorization of art, articulating the subtleties of recall, summoning memories from hidden intimate spaces, and discovering transcultural mutualities.

Program #2: within
When the family tree has been uprooted, the personal mythology might stay in the land. As day turns into night, and night turns into day, dreams become enmeshed in the habitual nightmares of the mundane. Unable to distinguish between realities, one turns to introspection, seeking to picture what lies behind the faint lines of nostalgia. Distress morphs into homesickness for an unknown place. As the ambivalence of memory amalgamates with the rich tapestry of animation’s visual abundance, what is achieved in the personal documentary goes beyond mere representation but into the translation of the act of remembering itself. Defying the principles of high art through the material interrogation of film, once forgotten images from the past are re-animated and bloom anew in surreal sceneries.
Do you recognize that place? The place you cannot visit, the place that is merely a memory, an image etched into your mind, a distant rustle of disjointed shards, a recurrent flash of dark.

Short film program:

Girl from Moush (D: Gariné Torossian; Canada 1993; 5’; no dialogue)
In her memoir, Gariné depicts a yearning shaped by fleeting Armenian icons that stir fascination and uncertainty. Viewers explore the artist's uncharted mind, facing and embracing grand projections.

Poppy Flowers (D: Evridiki Papaiakovou; Estonia 2024; 4’; English, English subtitles)
Memories flow as a daughter reflects on shared rituals with her mother, exploring their complex bond. Maturing, she questions divinity while 35mm frames become cherished memorabilia of her past.

Wild Flowers (D: Karla Crnčević: Wild Flowers; Croatia/Spain 2022; 11’; Croatian, English subtitles)
Born from a desire to revisit personal archives, the film delves into memory, documentation, and non-institutional archives. It links politics with intimate spaces, examining war's impact on private archives and gardens as symbols of renewal.

Bye, Little Block! (D: Éva Darabos; Hungary 2020; 8’; Hungarian, English subtitles)
A young woman learns that soon she will have to move from the blockhouse flat she lives in. After receiving the upsetting news from the owner of the flat she is overwhelmed with emotions. Her teardrop of farewell grows into a concrete monolith. When the drop hits the ground a surreal panorama of the blockhouse area - she used to call home - unfolds…

The Fifth Floor (D: Tereza Burianova; Czechia 2023; 4’; Czech, English subtitles)
The film portrays a repetitive nightmare linked to a specific location, an apartment where the author spent the first twelve years of her life. The film works with elements of sleep paralysis and anxiety. By combining rotoscopy with old family photos and videos, the viewer has the opportunity to immerse himself into this dream.

Comma (D: Sonia Leliukh; Germany/Ukraine 2023; 4’; no dialogue)
A man with an exploding head is waiting at the train station. He tries to piece together a coherent story out of newspaper headlines, asking the question as to whether it is possible to live through catastrophes while walking the dog.

Night (D: Ahmad Saleh; Qatar/Jordan/Germany/Palestine 2021; 16’; Arabic, English subtitles)
The dust of war keeps the eyes sleepless. Night brings peace and sleep to all the people in the broken town. Only the eyes of the mother of the missing child stay resilient. Night has to trick her into sleeping to save her soul.

Curated by Julia Jesionek and Polina Resnianska

IMPORTANT NOTES
If you don't have a ticket, come by and we will put you on the waiting list.
If you have a ticket, please come earlier (at least 15min). If you are late, we might give your place to the people on the waiting list.

Preisinformation:

7,89 € / 4,74 € / 11,05 €