The International Short Film Festival Ober - Internationale ...

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as Godzilla and the rise of atomic weapons.
This won the Grand Prize of the
City of Oberhausen, worth EUR 7,500.
Sadly, there were no Irish films in
the international competition – in fact,
only six of the 4000+ submissions were
entered from Ireland. These six I had
the opportunity to watch in the press
mediatheque and I imagine they did
not get through because of their more
classical approach. So why are there
not more Irish filmmakers entering,
especially considering the commitment
to digital video and young filmmakers
that the festival has? There are
experimental filmmakers in Ireland,
as well as a plethora of visual artists
who have taken a cinematic ‘turn’. The
Oberhausen festival director seemed a
little bewildered by the Irish films that
are sent to the festival (with the exception
of Ken Wardrop who won an award
in Oberhausen in 2005) when I questioned
him about it, but is eager to see
more. With the Arts Council of Ireland’s
recent funding stream to support nonnarrative
film projects, I am looking
forward to what might be screened in
Oberhausen from Ireland in 2011.
The theme of this year’s festival
was an ambitious early cinema programme
“From the Deep: The Great
Experiment 1898–1918”. An eclectic
potpourri of early silent films from Europe,
most have never seen the light
of the projector since they were first
made and some have never screened
at all. Subversive comedy, magic shows
with dismembered bodies, and actuality
footage of the Suffragettes, made the
early ‘cinema of attractions’ seem just
as experimental as the contemporary
films. This was particularly the case as
a special programme of damaged films
was included highlighting ideas of time
and nostalgia inherent in the medium,
while bringing some otherworldly sense
beyond science and aesthetics into play.
As well as the early cinema
screenings, there were four “No Wave”
profile programmes, which included
two early films by Ireland’s experi mental
filmmaker Vivienne Dick, Guerillere
Talks and She Had her Gun All Ready.
These films and the other 10 or so in
the programme were closely tied to the
music scene of late ’70s lower east side
New York. Although difficult to define
under one label as the ‘movement’ was
neither premeditated nor coherent, in
this kind of programme they could be
viewed as countercultural utopian artefacts
as well as films in their own right.
The “No Wave” films presented unlikely
correlations that echoed with the early
cinema programme with a strange mix
of naïve wonder and intelligent subversion,
and a preoccupation with experimentation
as though mainstream film
did not exist yet! Of course, the “No
Wave” filmmakers were certainly more
self-conscious in their style. Although
many films here were a treat to see,
certain key works were also omitted,
leaving the feeling that “No Wave” was
about style over substance which more
content-inspired “No Wave” filmmakers
would surely debate was not the case.
This was my first experience of the
Oberhausen festival and it has quickly
become ‘my’ festival, as I plan to return
every year. International in scope, it still
manages to operate on a very human
scale, perhaps because of its location
– there is not much else to do in Oberhausen
besides the festival, so there is a
summer-camp immersion atmosphere,
where for one extended weekend, a
tiny nation seems to develop, a fantasy
of citizens who live their lives through
all things celluloid and digital. So what
more can I say – a call to arms ye filmmakers
of Ireland: get your montage
skills flexing and send your submissions
to the filmmakers’ film festival.
•
Treasa O’Brien is a filmmaker, writer and
curator. She lives in London and Ireland.
© Film Ireland 2010
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