Festival Tour 2003

July 8 Berlin - Amphitheater Mauerpark

The premiere of the festival moviemiento took place in a central public parc in Berlin - the Mauerpark. Through the aid of a district official in Berlin - Pankow, moviemiento was supplied with a special permission for the Mauerpark as the screening location. Since this was an open public space, with stone steps serving as seats, a whole open-air movie theater and bar needed to be organized. The bar, a screen and a beamer were rented, and the sound equipment - integrated into a jeep - was supplied by the company Red Bull.

There was very little time to prepare the setup for the event - the tour-bus had arrived only a day earlier and final prepa-rations needed to be taken care of. Not to forget: this was the first moviemiento-screening and the routine which set in by and by during the tour wasn't established yet!

Despite a few hours delay according to the exact time plan, everything was ready on time and early-comers bustled around the bar, enjoying the sounds of "Wald und Wiese". The amphitheater filled slowly and continuously - by the time the screening began all seats were taken. A crowd of over 1000 people was waiting for the show to begin! The films were enthusiastically received, accompanied by clapping - the atmosphere, which even the short-lived technical breakdown of the generator couldn't disrupt, was simply fantastic.

The screening was followed by a fire performance, accompanied by music and video projections by Superpositioners. Still the guests lingered on in this warm summer night for two or so hours after the screening, and then the event was brought to a close.

The subsequent premiere party was celebrated in a Berlin club.

DJs:

Sascha Funke (bpitchctrl)
PEZ!
Peer Gregorius (Freak Out)
Erik PZ (barfuss!)
Jean (Wald und Wiese)

Live:

Boombaker (Percussion)
Lineas De Nasca (Mineral Rec - Mexico)

Visuals:

JUTOJO

July 25 Amsterdam - Het Ketelhuis

Since the weather in the Netherlands is a a risky matter, the Amsterdam team (supported by Tamara Jugov and Tess Löwenhardt) wanted to find a location which would offer both possibilites - that of screening the films outdoors, or indoors in case of rain.

"Het Ketelhuis," an off-cinema in an old factory building of a former gas company, was very interested in the project and seemed to be the perfect solution. Finally it was decided to screen indoors, in the movie theater, and to use the outside space with urban industrial ambiance for our lounge with cocktail bar and DJ. The lounge was to open at 8 pm at the entrance of the Ketelhuis with a seat installation by the Austrian artist Christine Sbaschnigg: huge, blue-painted car and airplane tires as seat elements in the open air lounge, to be accompanied by DJ Arvid's electronic sounds. All the while, the moviemiento- team sold cocktails and German sausages at the bar, while the Ketelhuis sold drinks at their own bar indoors. Unfortunately, it began to pour quite soon, and the lounge had to be transferred indoors. The bar construction with parachute-roof was never-theless set up outside. The Dutch, however, are used to this kind of weather, and never-theless arrived punctu-ally and in large numbers, not letting the rain and wind stop them from enjoying cocktails at the outside bar. In the end, so many film-lovers came that the movie theater was completely sold out after just 15 minutes!

Since there were so many guests still without seats, the moviemiento-team spontaneously decided to screen the programm a second time at 11 pm. Those who hadn't gotten tickets for the first time around waited in the lounge, still enjoying their drinks. During and after the break, guests had the opportunity to express their opinion about the films and our project in the "interactive corner," or to just simply make their personal statement about roadmovies or about being on the road. At the same time, there was a projection of images from the Berlin event and of the first road trip from Berlin to Amsterdam on an outside screen. Around midnight, the Rotterdam band "Monsiuer Dubois" played, completing the evening with live music. The audience reactions both to the film program itself and to the project as a whole were absolutely enthusiastic.

August 3 Bern - Kino Lichtspiel

In Karin Lebhardt the moviemiento-team was lucky to find a suitable person to help organize the third screening in Bern. She proposed two options for screening in cooperation with the movie theater Lichtspiel.

Moviemiento wanted the screening to take place in the forecourt, surrounded by old factory chimneys. In case of rain there was the opportunity to show the movies inside the theater. Both options seemed uniquely attractive: the in-conspicuous little theater hidden away by factory grounds hides its true treasures inside, and outdoors, tracks for former deliveries complemented the idea of road movies perfectly. Before entering the projection room of the theater, one is led past a few feet of film-making history. There is a huge collection of antique cameras, cutting areas, projectors and old reels to demonstrate a very broad technical overview of film history. Overall, moviemiento found in the Lichtspiel an affectionate film-lovers community as its partner.

That afternoon, the weather was great and the moviemiento-team started to set up outdoors in the yard. Everything fell into place - the moviemiento-bus, the screen, the parachute-covered bar and the seating for the audience.At 8:00 pm, the bar was opened accompanied by the DJs from "cooperation mileshead flashbeats". The seats were starting to fill up with people.

At sunset, around 9:30 pm, the screening began in the presence of the "U-boating" director Corinna Hohn. By that time, the audience of by now roughly 300 people was gathering around the square infront of the Lichtspiel theater. The audiences reactions to the films were rather restrained, as compared to other screenings -it was relatively quiet during the screening, other than some applause for a film here and there. The team was particularly eager to see the reactions to the Swiss film "Objection III or The other day at the Swiss border," a movie parodying American sitcoms to ironically demonstrate the deportation of political refugees in Switzerland. The film was received with enthusiasm. Other films were positively received as well, such as the two German entries "Einfach so Bleiben" and "U-boating," the Swiss/English production "Swapped" and the Spanish film "Historia de un buho".

During the break, some members of the audience were willing to let themselves be interviewed for the video documentation about their impressions of the screening and the subject of road movies as such. At the end moviemiento showed its own footage of what was filmed and edited during the tour so far, with lounge music in the background. The evening came to a relaxed and happy end. Slowly, the audience left the site and the team started dismantling. Even though the Swiss audience appeared to be reserved, the donations, which were shared with the movie theater Lichtspiel, actually expressed more encouragement for the project than what was expected! The next day, content, the moviemiento-bus began heading on its journey towards Barcelona.

August 15 Barcelona - Parc Güell Terassa del Sol

The most helpful contact for organizing the festival in Barcelona was Helga Schneider from the Goethe Institute, who was very enthusiastic about the project from the start and one of the driving factors in organizing the location of the screening - the Terassa del Sol in the Parc Güell, designed by the famous architect Gaudí. Another important contact was the Spanish film maker Paz Lazaro, who already had experience in PR in Barcelona and was able to help invaluably with press work and contacts. Yuri, third on the list, offered a place to board in a squatted factory called TDN, where the team found a safe shelter for themselves and their equipment during the ten days of their stay. Because TDN is a cultural center it is equipped with various technical commodities, such as a sound system, video projector and a bar, so it was the perfect location for a spontaneous second screening after the main event, as well as a goodbye-party.

After a busy week of preparation, much work and little sleep, the moviemiento-team got to the Parc Güell after difficult navigation through narrow, steep streets with the bus, on Friday the 15th of August, around three p.m. The screening took place on the big terrace with a breathtaking view over the roofs of Barcelona. Soon everything had found its place - the chairs, the screen, the bar and the sound system. While the terrace was getting crowded with a multinational audience at around eight p.m., the technical equipment was installed with help from the TDN. It was a big pleasure for the moviemiento-team to welcome the directors Corinna Hohn (U-Boating) and Martin Putto (Tramvaj), the producer Katharina Jakobs (U-Boating) and the camera man Frank Mai (U-Boating) who had come to Barcelona just for the moviemiento event.

At 10 p.m. the screening began in front of approximately 300 people under a clear and starry sky. The atmosphere was just amazing, and so was the applause after the program had finished. The audience had chose "Swapped" by Pierre Monnard as it's favourite movie, so the party could begin. Further highlights of the night were Alex from Berlin, with an experimental fire performance, and our DJ-team (DJ Elektroatom and DJ Donka) with relaxing electronical music.

August 27 Zagreb - Parc Ribnjak Klub Purgerei

Similar to the preparation in Barcelona, the Zagreb screening organization would not have been possible without the great support of native helper Antonia Majaéa. Antonia was involved in the organization of the Mostar Intercultural festival (Bosnia) and the Motovun Filmfestival (Croatia). Therefore, movie-miento was able to make use of existing mailing lists of film makers and filmschools, and other contacts, for the call for entries.

When moviemiento got to Zagreb on the 21st of August, there was very little evidence of a young crowd, and neither were many cultural events happening, due to the summer break. So a small audience was expected for the moviemiento-screening.

The screening was realized in cooperation with "Klub Purgeraj". The owners agreed to show the films outside in the middle of Park Ribnjak.

During the preparation of the screening there were some details left to clarify with the owners of the club - being a rock'n roll club, they had little experience with events such as these, didn't know quite what to expect themselves, and weren't too happy about moviemiento's electronic musical preferences.

Finally, though, the team was able to give the evening the unique moviemiento-feel, and when the terrace began to fill up with people around nine o'clock, even the eyes of the owners began to sparkle, because the over 200 chairs were not even enough for everybody! Throughout the whole night they continued declaring their sympathy for the project.

Also, in Zagreb, moviemiento was honored with the presence of one of the film makers, Branko Istvancic, who introduced himself and his film to the audience.

The screening in Zagreb was a great success - although the city was on summer break, the festival gathered a big and sympathic crowd in Park Ribnjak, and people stayed dancing and enjoying themselves out on the terrace and the dancefloor until dawn.