Without ideological blinkers

Without ideological blinkers

Film festival in Berlin © dpa

This year everything is harmonious, says the president of the Ecumenical Berlinale Jury, Inge Kirsner. Together with four jurors, she is looking for award-worthy films that change the way we look at life.

CBA: Ms. Krisner, how do you like this year's Berlinale program??

Inge Kirsner (President of the Ecumenical Berlinale Jury): The ecumenical jury can choose from a huge offer, which is decidedly political. That offers a rich yield. We already have several candidates for the main prize, and there are clear favorites in the secondary sections as well. I would find it a great pity if the Berlinale were to slim down the diversity of its program in the future.

CBA: What criteria do you use when looking for an award winner?

Kirsner: There is a set of criteria that we can interpret broadly or narrowly. The films should correspond with the message of the Gospel, should sensitize for values, but also question them. For me, award-worthy films must also have a visionary, prophetic power.

In our evaluation, it depends on whether the characters find a structure for their lives, come to themselves and endure the truth that mediocrity can certainly be a transitional phase to a "normal" everyday life. In this respect, films contribute to that coming of age on which we must continually work. It's nice that there are always surprising moments in the films, a challenging gesture or a great sentence.

CBA: Why don't you simulate a jury discussion?!
Kirsner: The first film that caught my eye as a possible prize candidate was "La priere" by Cedric Kahn. But it was rejected by your Catholic colleagues, who felt it was a "propaganda film". Against Gus van Sant's "Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot," however, one could then object that this portrayal of the treatment concept of Alcoholics Anonymous is, in a sense, its counterpart from an evangelical perspective.
CBA: To what extent is the ecumenical idea reflected in your jury work??
Kirsner: All the members of the jury are very open; regardless of denomination, they argue from the film and refer to aesthetic criteria in their assessment. That's why the film doesn't necessarily have to tell a consistent story; one example is "Our Madness," an abstract black-and-white painting by Joao Viana from Mozambique. Everything is very mysterious in it, like a dream, but if you get involved with the film, you are taken away by the beautiful images.
CBA: What current political ies are relevant to you?

Kirsner: We are an international jury, our members come from Germany, Luxembourg, Singapore, the Netherlands and the USA. We ask ourselves with every film whether it works across cultural barriers. The film has to be such that we all understand it. In the case of the Russian drama "Dovlatov" by Alexei German Jr. The problem arose that our juror from Singapore did not know the writer Joseph Brodsky. So we first had to explain the position of his work in Europe.

CBA: Does it all go smoothly?

Kirsner: This time, the jury work is going very harmoniously. But I also know of other experiences where it was difficult to find a common language. Two years ago, for example, one jury member couldn't stand the many Berlinale films on the subject of gender, intersex and homosexuality. At the time, this also led to differences in the assessment of the film "El Club" by Pablo Larrain.

CBA: As a Protestant university pastor, you look after the students at the universities in Ludwigsburg. How do you use films in this process?

Kirsner: We celebrate film services together. For this we look at films together, choose, constellate with each other text and image.

CBA: What has changed among the younger generation in the reception of films?

Kirsner: The students bring a fresh, unbiased view that is always a benefit to me. In "Captain Fantastic" (2016) by Matt Ross, for example, I was concerned with the question of whether there can be a "true life in a false one". Can the father live with his children outside a sick society? And at what cost?

For my students, on the other hand, it was about death, funeral forms and rituals. A group of students from Heilbronn saw the family as an example of how Christians are doing in the world. I would never have come up with this idea. I have the impression that a highly moralistic youth is growing up there.

CBA: Against this background, also explain the #MeToo debate?

Kirsner: In the case of the competition entry "Figlia mia" by Laura Bispuri, which the men in our jury liked quite a bit, I asked myself: Why does it always have to be the mother and the whore?? On the other hand, I feel reminded in this debate of my worst Catholic as well as Evangelical times (note. d. Red.: Krisner converted from Catholicism to Protestantism at the age of 24), where I was forbidden to think and see.

But I don't want to have any ideological blinkers put on me. We women have long since become so self-confident. We watch these films, but we will not be treated like this. After I got to know several free churches on my way through life, Methodists, Baptists, also Pentecostals, I have now landed in the largest "free church". I feel at home in this pluralism.

Heidi Strobel

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