Celluloid-based filmmaking is alive and well in Europe, thanks to a network of film labs dedicated to both the preservation of technology and cinematic experimentation! This two-night program on October 27th and 28th features work from three of these cooperatives: L'Abominable in La Courneuve, France; Labor Berlin in Berlin, Germany; and Labo Bruxelles in Brussels, Belgium.

While the artists associated with these labs produce work in a variety of styles, the films selected for these two evenings are similar in that they demonstrate extremes of the photographic process. In Mahine Rouhi and Olivier Fouchard's Tahousse, and Emmanuel Lefrant’s Parties visible et invisible d'un ensemble sous tension, filmed landscapes are manipulated in color and texture toward otherworldliness and abstraction respectively. In Els van Riel's Gradual Speed, winner of the Gus Van Sant Award for Best Experimental at the 2014 Anna Arbor Film Festival, the image in each vignette appears through time much like a photograph developing while the hum and crackle of vibrating dust erupts on the optical track.

After three successful editions LaborBerlin once again presents DIFFRAKTION, its very own annual showcase of new works on film by its members and friends. This year, DIFFRAKTION will encompass a full­day event with various film programs, talks, film performances and live music. 

LaborBerlin is a nonprofit, independent film collective, open to any and every individual interested in artist­run initiatives and analogue film practices. With this in mind, the goal of this event is to be an open invitation to anyone that’s interested in preserving the artistic use of analog film, and in supporting collective initiatives that seek to make these types of practices open, accessible, non­hierarchical and non­commercial.

We believe that the present moment, when most traditional film labs are closing and digital media has become the dominant option for audiovisual production, is not a time of crisis for analog film but a moment of opportunity. Film and the knowledge around it, now free from the demands of the commercial sector, can begin a new life as a truly independent medium to be openly shared and collectively developed. However, with this opportunity come many morechallenges. Which is why we want to present this event as an open forum for discussions and suggestions on how to overcome the challenges that LaborBerlin, and many other organizations like it, face today. LaborBerlin in particular is currently at risk because of upcoming rent hikes. Therefore this event also serves as a fundraiser to guarantee that we can keep an open and economically accessible space.