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Gul Kacmaz Erk - BERLIN 2020: Urban Filmmaking Workshop

Instagram takeover on 10 May 2020

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In March 2020, Belfast-based architect and scholar Gul Kacmaz Erk (Queen's University, www.cacity.org) ran a filmmaking workshop at ZK/U to open up a discussion about the city, with Dublin-based filmmaker Paddy Cahill (https://vimeo.com/paddycahill). 15 participants from five different countries (Austria, Denmark, France, Germany and Turkey) interested in cinema and architecture in the city would join the workshop in Berlin, but as COVID-19 reached Europe, the international participants could
not attend the workshop. The week long event took place anyway half on site and half online. The target of the workshop was to re-produce Berlin through a short film not longer than 3 minutes. It was open to all and no filmmaking experience was required. As a Berliner, or an outsider to the city, participants made a film in and about Berlin within the theme of urban memory. 

Dr Gul Kacmaz Erk is an architect and a senior lecturer in Architecture at Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK. Her interest in cinema has started more than 20 years ago, and she has been doing research on ‘architecture and film’ as well as ‘cinema and the city’ ever since. www.cacity.org and
https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/persons/gul-kacmaz-erk.

Paddy Cahill is a Dublin based documentary director primarily making films about art and architecture. 'Seán Hillen, Merging Views' won best short documentary at Galway Film Fleadh. 'Amanda Coogan: Long Now' premiered at the Dublin International Film Festival. https://vimeo.com/paddycahill.

Many thanks to Queen's University Belfast Engaged Research Seed Fund.

A Stroll in Berlin

A film by Cagdas Ozan Karabay

A Stroll in Berlin (Berlin'de Bir Cevelan) is a present-day adaptation of a book entitled Three Days in Berlin written by Ahmet Mithat in 1889 after his trip through Europe and Berlin. Ahmet Mithat Efendi (1844-1912) was an Ottoman journalist, author and publisher. In the film, contemporary city scenes of Berlin are combined with Mithat's 131-year-old narrative.

 

COVID-19 Divergent Memory

A film by Marlene Baldeweg-Rau

COVID-19 Divergent Memory looks at a city in transition. The film shot on 18-19 March incorporates Chancellor Angela Merkel's address on the 18th about the Coronavirus pandemic. There is a contrast between how Berliners are using space and Merkel’s message and the reality of businesses and institutions shutting down. This film observes what a transition looks like when the rules have changed for certain spaces. How use of space, perspectives and memory diverge.

Blue Anamorphosis

A film by Shyra De Souza

Blue Anamorphosis focuses on one stretch of blue drainage pipes located in Wedding, Berlin. Pipes appear and disappear constantly in Berlin, turning people's familiar experience of a neighbourhood to an uncanny one. Twisting and turning through the city, they stabilise the city’s foundation by siphoning ground water of a construction site and dumping it into the canal until the construction is over. They remain elusive to many, like a twisting, shifting line drawing only accessible in small sections at a time.