Alexander Kluge Films GME Distributes Featured in Upcoming Series at e-Flux Screening Room

ALEXANDER KLUGE. SOURCE: GARTENBERG MEDIA ENTERPRISES.

On June 13th, 15th, and 18th, e-Flux Screening Room will mount the series Phoenix Cinema: Meeting with Alexander Kluge, which takes place in-person, in four parts, at e-Flux, and in six parts online through July 17th. The series examines not only Kluge’s filmography, but his role in the art world at large, with the programs Alexander Kluge and Cinema, Alexander Kluge and the Art World, and the two-part event The Dragonfly’s Eye. GME distributes Kluge’s features YESTERDAY’S GIRL (1966) and PART-TIME WORK OF A DOMESTIC SLAVE (1973) on a DVD publication with Edition Filmmuseum that includes five of the German artist’s short films as bonus features: BRUTALITY IN STONE (1961), TEACHERS (1963), AN EXPERIMENT IN LOVE, AN VERTOV (both 1998), and SAM REMEMBERS PAPA KONG (2006).

As noted on e-Flux’s website:

Phoenix Cinema offers a unique opportunity to delve into the extensive body of work of Alexander Kluge, a renowned figure in post-war German cinema, literature, and cultural theory. This comprehensive program explores Kluge’s multifaceted legacy, tracing his influential roles in cinema, art, and theory over the past six decades and presenting new works… Kluge’s cinematic career began in the 1960s, and he played a pivotal role in the emergence of the New German Cinema movement. In 1962, Kluge was one of the filmmakers who signed the Oberhausen Manifesto, which called for a new kind of German cinema that challenged traditional storytelling and addressed contemporary social issues.

ALEXANDRA KLUGE IN THE 1973 FILM PART-TIME WORK OF A DOMESTIC SLAVE, DIRECTED BY HER BROTHER, ALEXANDER KLUGE. SOURCE: GARTENBERG MEDIA ENTERPRISES.

The two features by Kluge that GME distributes to universities in North America star the filmmaker’s sister, Alexandra Kluge, in the leading roles. YESTERDAY GIRL follows a young East German woman who travels to West Germany in search of a better life. Encountering troubles with the law, she is ultimately unable to deal either with a Communist regime or a free-market economy. In PART-TIME WORK OF A DOMESTIC SLAVE, a married mother of three finds herself at the center of a protest movement and discovers her plans for social change are easier to realize outside of the familial and domestic sphere.

Kluge’s participation in the Oberhausen Manifesto is also represented in our library, with his 1961 film BRUTALITÄT IN STEIN (a collaboration with filmmaker Peter Schamoni) included in the 2-disc DVD publication THE OBERHAUSEN MANIFESTO.

Excerpts from YESTERDAY GIRL and SAM REMEMBERS PAPA KONG play in the first e-Flux program, Alexander Kluge and Cinema, on June 13th at 7pm.