realeyz   |    Thursday, der 5. February 2015

Today, the 65th Berlin International Film Festival opened to the usual media hoopla and scrutiny. Also celebrating round anniversaries but not yet of pensioner age are the International Forum of New Cinema (in its 45th edition) and Forum Expanded (happy 10th birthday!), a sidebar for moving images that explore the space between cinema and fine arts. Both of these sections are organized by Arsenal – Institute for Film and Video Art. Arsenal also operates a two screen cinematheque-style movie theater, programming films that show cinema’s rich history, diverse present and future, a future which may not even be grounded in the cinematic space, but migrating to all types of screens, large and small, in urban space, proprietary public locations and the privacy of the home. A distribution arm, archive and various formats of knowledge production and transferral all work hand in hand with the festival and cinema activities to make new/different/alternative/undiscovered/… moving images in all its shapes and sizes accessible and, most importantly, seen, by audiences.

In this transitional age from analogue to digital, Arsenal doesn’t consider them polar opposites or antagonists, but rather two aggregate states of moving images. On its  exclusive VOD channel on realeyz Arsenal moves into digital distribution. The channel presents highlights of past Forum editions (BESTIAIRE, DAY OF THE SPARROW, SUNNY LAND, IN COMPARISON) as well as works by filmmakers such as Angelika Levi, Eva Heldmann, Heinz Emigholz and Stephan Geene which exemplify different approches to documentary and narrative cinema.

Arsenal co-director Stefanie Schulte Strathaus talks about the film selection for the Arsenal VOD channel and about the interplay between digital and analogue in the Arsenal’s mission and day to day work.

Introduction

On Film Preservation in the Digital Age

The Archive and the Audience