Provocation of Reality

50th anniversary of the Oberhausen Manifesto

On 28 February 1962, 26 filmmakers, including the directors Alexander Kluge, Edgar Reitz and Peter Schamoni, affixed their signature to the Oberhausen Manifesto. It declared the collapse of conventional German film and demanded a renewal of West German filmmaking. The Oberhausen Manifesto marked one of the most important but perhaps least known chapters of German film history. Until now, there has been no attempt to systematically collect and preserve the cinematic works which the signers of the Manifesto produced during their most active professional years (1958-1967). In some cases, the archived films are in a desolate condition.
The goal of the project is to make the achievements and errors of those former “provocateurs” visible and accessible once again. The project will include an international symposium at the University of Vienna and produce several film series, a DVD edition, book and Internet platform. Starting in March 2012, film series will be shown in Paris, Oberhausen, Berlin, Munich and Vienna, at the New York MoMA, the Pesaro Film Festival and Goethe Institutes around the world.

Artistic director: Ralph Eue
Curator: Lars Henrik Gass
Artists: Christian Doermer, Bernhard Dörries, Rob Houwer (NL/D), Alexander Kluge, Pitt Koch, Dieter Lemmel, Ronald Martini, Jason Pohland (F/D), Edgar Reitz, Peter Schamoni, Haro Senft, Wolfgang Urchs

Venues and schedule:
HFF Munich, 28 Feb. 2012 (premiere)
Cinéma du Réel Paris, 22.3. - 3.4.2012
58th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, 26.4. - 1.5.2012
Kino Arsenal Berlin, May 2012
Austrian Film Museum Vienna, 2. - 10.6.2012
Persaro Film Festival, 25.6. - 2.7.2012
Museum of Modern Art and Goethe-Institut, New York, Autumn/Winter 2012