Commented film screening with Dr. Claus Löser (film critic and founder of Ex.Oriente.Lux. film archive, Berlin) and Alexander Pehlemann (publisher of Zonic Magazine, Leipzig)

Between 1979 and 1990, the punk and post punk music scenes of the GDR were closely connected to the underground film scene. Beyond the official media output supervised by the government, painters, performance artists, lyricists, and musicians made use of the narrow film camera and later video camera, in order to search for new forms of expression. Government regulations and censorship were ridiculed within these works, which also documented the counterculture and art of the everyday. The “Cinematic Underground in the GDR” programme compiles and comments on selected artefacts of this crucial time period. It displays the interdependence between various scenes, arts, and genres, and features rare curiosities like dramatic readings, performances, and concerts, as well as art films and videos of musicians and underground bands. A wide breadth of exclusive material, never before publicly screened, will be presented, including the collection from Dr.Claus Lösers’s archive, entitled “Ex.Oriente.Lux”.