Can Dialectics Break Bricks Cinema: Die Beunruhigung / Apprehension (Lothar Warneke, 1982)

By: börek - May 2nd, 2019  Filed under: Filmavond

Sunday May 19th 2019, Can Dialectics Break Bricks Cinema: Die Beunruhigung / Apprehension (Lothar Warneke, 1982). 100 minutes. In German with English subtitles. Doors open at 20.00, Jeffrey’s intro and film start at 20.30

These days we have such a prejudiced view of the former East Bloc, as if it was totally a one-sided thing that never changed, and in our arrogance, we demonize it without the slightest idea what we are talking about. Believe it or not, in the former East Germany there was an effort to make a cinema that was free of propaganda – both the so-called ‘Soviet realism’ of Russia, but also the fake romantic propaganda of Hollywood. And in two areas the East German cinema thematically excelled – they were ‘anti-war’ and ‘pro-women.’ So in the GDR there was an entire genre exploring the real-life situation of women. By contrast, in the so-called “democratic” west women were mostly relegated to side roles in movies – often as secretaries or housewives or love interests. Today we have female super-hero films, but they are as ridiculous as the former roles, and are about as empowering as a shot of arsenic. Because of the recent ‘me too’ movement, there have been a few more films highlighting the female situation… but they don’t hold a candle to what was happening in East Germany 40 years ago.

What is this film about? It doesn’t have a huge overarching story, but rather focuses more on a specific situation. Our main character Inge is a mid-thirties social worker and a single mother, magnificently portrayed by actress Christine Schorn. She is told she has breast cancer, possibly malignant. The entire film is about her thoughts and emotions, her conversations and behavior. It is based on an autobiographical novel by the popular GDR writer Helga Schubert. The style is stripped-down, allowing real discussions to occur about real things. In a way, this film is like a cinematic detox session that cuts the audience off from all spectacle, cheap tricks and quick thrills. Personally, I found it exhilarating. It’s a biting flick, made even more heart-wrenching by its unsentimentality, and Its documentary-like edge also makes it valuable as a poignant document of East Berlin in 1981.

Film night at Joe’s Garage, cozy cinema! Free entrance. You want to play a movie, let us know: joe [at] lists [dot] squat [dot] net

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Can Dialectics Break Bricks Cinema: Latest from the DaDa-ER

By: börek - July 30th, 2018  Filed under: Filmavond

Sunday August 5th 2018, Can Dialectics Break Bricks Cinema: Latest from the DaDa-ER (Letztes aus der DaDaeR). Directed by Jörg Foth, 1990, 86 minutes. In German with English subtitles. Door opens at 20:30, film and presentation from 21:00.

After the Berlin wall fell the East-German film scene went haywire, since there was suddenly a small window of time that meant it was no longer under the authority of the previous GDR government, and as of yet were not forced to become commercial by the capitalist system. In this small period they knocked out some truly wild and exceptional off-beat cries of rebellion. This film is a marvelous example. It couldn’t have been made a year earlier when the GDR was still strong, and it wouldn’t have been made a year later when the DEFA studio was bought by a French conglomerate.

What we have here is a avant-garde picaresque story of two East-German clowns rummaging through the ruins of the GDR, and although the clowns seem relieved that everything is loosening up, at the same time everything is falling apart and they also show no interest in the glamor and spectacle of the ‘other’ half of Germany. This film was made at a very acute point in time. The main forces behind this freewheeling creation were two visionary performance artists – Steffen Mensching and Hans-Eckardt Wenzel. The are both the writers and the main actors in this surreal flick about two clowns trying to survive the last days of East Germany. Their journey is almost like Dante’s inferno, as they are let out of prison, and they venture through garbage dumps and down rivers into unbelievable situations. Each stage of their quest is set up like a cabaret piece, complete with songs they sing that describe their plight. They find themselves in an almost no-man’s land, and their observations are critical of both East and West Germany.

The title of the movie is a play of words merging of the word ‘Dada’ and the DDR (Deutsche Demokratische Republik). This highly unique flick also surprisingly features Rainer Werner Fassbinder regular Irm Hermann in a cameo role. Another outrageously rare screening of totally forgotten cinema.

Film night at Joe’s Garage, cozy cinema! Free entrance. You want to play a movie, let us know: joe [at] squat [dot] net

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Rosa Luxemburg (1986)

By: börek - June 1st, 2018  Filed under: Filmavond

Sunday 17 June 2018, Movie night: Rosa Luxemburg (1986). Die Geduld der Rosa Luxemburg, by Margarethe von Trotta. German with English subtitles | 123 min.
Doors 20:00 | Film 20:30

“Freedom is always the freedom of the one who thinks differently.”

Rosa Luxemburg (1871-1919): german-polish socialist, docorate in a time when women couldn’t graduate on German universities, speaker of the Left in the Labour Partry 20 before women in Germany gained the right to vote, co-founder of the Spartakus group, icon of the student movement in Germany. Margarethe von Trotta’s film “The patience of Rosa Luxemburg” tells her story, but als paints a clear picture of the economic and social situation in Germany before the First World War.

Von Trotta didn’t work to on the basis of the ledgend. She didn’t deal with the different views of her, didn’t explain anything, didn’t justify anything. She lets Rosa Luxemburg speak for herself. The basis of the scenes and dialogues in the film are mainly the 2500 letters Luxemburg send to friends and comrades. The film only shows what can be documented in such a way – the film is radical and subjective because it is only commit to one truth: the truth of Rosa Luxemburg herself.

Film night at Joe’s Garage, cozy cinema! Free entrance. You want to play a movie, let us know: joe [at] squat [dot] net

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Movie night: Girls in Uniform (1931)

By: börek - May 1st, 2018  Filed under: Filmavond

Sunday 27 May 2018, Movie night: Girls in Uniform / Mädchen in Uniform (Leontine Sagan, 1931).
German with English subtitles | 98 minutes.
Doors 20:00 | Film 20:30

At a boarding school that turns the daughters of soldiers into future mothers of soldiers, 14-year old Manuela falls in love with one of her teachers.
“Mädchen in Uniform” was groundbreaking in having an all-female cast; in its sympathetic portrayal of lesbian “pedagogical eros”; and in its co-operative and profit-sharing financial arrangements (although these failed). Unsurprisingly it was banned in Nazi Germany, and only re-released on television in 1977, some 20 years after a much toned-down remake with Romney Schneider.

Film night at Joe’s Garage, cozy cinema! Free entrance. You want to play a movie, let us know: joe [at] squat [dot] net

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Benefit Dinner Volkseten Vegazulu for Pan-European meeting for practical solidarity

By: börek - March 1st, 2018  Filed under: Benefiet, Volkseten/Voku

Monday March 5th 2018, Benefit Dinner, Volkseten Vegazulu, 7pm.

Today’s Voku in Joes Garage is dedicated to the “Pan-European meeting for practical solidarity” that is going to take place in Cologne on the of the 17th and 18th of March, around the day of the prisoner.

Doors open at 7 pm. We will prepare a nice soup, vegan dishes and dessert, play canned music and distribute some information about the practical solidarity weekend in March.

From the invitation for the weekend in March:

In 2017, one comrade from Barcelona was sentenced to seven and a half years of prison in Aachen. She is now in Willich prison.

During our work of mutual solidarity that extended throughout Europe, we quite often realized that there is a common wish for better getting to know each other and to jointly express our solidarity with those affected by repression. This led to the idea to make use of the weekend around the day of the prisoner, on 18th of March 2018, for collective activities in Cologne and Willich.

Herewith we would like to invite you for a day-long discussion with comrades from various radical-left movements in Europe on 17th of March and a rally in front of the prison in Cologne on the 18th. A solidarity concert takes place on the evening of the 17th.

We want to broaden our perspectives across national borders, to oppose Fortress Europe with our radical-left perspective, far away from nationalism and the state. The trial in Aachen showed once more that European countries and their agencies do closely cooperate when prosecution and repression is pursued. On day-to-day social, economic and political levels, we do experience the devastating effects of that pan-European cooperation.

However, this might also lead to solidarity and friendship and the desire for gaining consciousness about the various European realities. We are very much interested in making practical transborder solidarity a matter of fact, by talking and discussing about common and diverging experiences and positions of social struggles, with repression and prison.

More Infos:
E-Mail: solidarity1803 [at] riseup [dot] net
All Infos on squat.net RADAR: https://radar.squat.net/en/events/tag/solidarity1803
Complete invitation as pdf: English Version |  German Version […Lees verder]

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VegaZulu Freedom for Peike

By: börek - December 15th, 2017  Filed under: Benefiet, Volkseten/Voku

Thursday December 28th 2017, VegaZulu Freedom for Peike, Volkseten Vegazulu, 7pm.

Peike is one of the activists who got arrested during the G20 demonstration in Hamburg last summer. He got charged with severe bodily harm to a police officer after allegedly throwing bottles. Even though the officer in question admitted in court not to have been hurt at all. Subsequently he got charged with resisting arrest go moving himself into a foetal position when the cops tried to arrest him. The court convicted Peike for 2 years and 7 months imprisonment, in spite of public outrage over the severity of the sentence. He has been held in captivity ever since the G20.
Recently all over Germany, police razzias have been taking place, rounding up more G20 activists. This is an ongoing struggle.
All yields from the benefit will go to support the case of Peike. This will also be the last voku of the year in Joe’s. Please do come!

United We Stand https://unitedwestand.blackblogs.org/
Globalinfo https://www.globalinfo.nl/tag/64-g20
Freedom for Peike and all other prisoners https://freepeike.noblogs.org/

Donations:
VB SOLIDARITEITSFONDS
NL25 INGB 0007 6604 36
o.v.v. G20

Volkseten Vegazulu is a people’s kitchen, every monday and thursday, all year long. We are remaining closed if no one is volunteering to cook. Keep an eye on this page to make sure we are open. Door opens at 7pm. Vegan food for 4€ or donation. All benefits go for social & political struggles. No reservation.

Have you ever considered cooking at Joe’s Garage with your friends? We’re always looking for cooks. Any help is welcome in the kitchen. Experience not required. Enjoying it is a must. If you want to know which days are still available in the schedule, send an email to joe [at] squat [dot] net and book yourself the night. You can, of course, also participate by rolling up your sleeves and doing the dishes.

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Solidarity with G20 prisoners – OIA+KALI Queer Feminist Rap

By: börek - October 1st, 2017  Filed under: Benefiet, Muziek, Volkseten/Voku

Monday the 16th of October 2017, Solidarity with G20 prisoners – OIA+KALI Queer Feminist Rap. Volkseten Vegazulu at 7pm. Between 9 and 10pm, Queer Feminist Rap on the stage.

OIA (Gran Canaria, Spain) + KALI (Limache, Valparaíso, Chile) are 2 interdisciplinary artists who seek to deliveeir music and rap a countercultural, antifascist, feminist and queer message that breaks the canons andes of the body established by the neoliberal system. Ni una menos on https://youtu.be/XtFgy7zo1ww

What: benefit VOKU for all the political prisoners of the G20 protests
Where: Joe’s Garage, Pretoriusstraat 43, 1092 EZ Amsterdam
When: Monday the 16th of October, at 19

Why:
’Society has failed when it imprisons those who question it’
Last July hundreds thousands of people took the streets in Hamburg, to speak out against the one-liberal policies of the G20. Right form the start there was a systematic and targeted criminalisation of activists. Escalation from the side of the police, false statements from the state, and framing in the media distracted the public debate from the political message of the activists and aimed to break the movement on the streets. […Lees verder]

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Benefit voku: Solidarity with G20 prisoners

By: börek - October 1st, 2017  Filed under: Benefiet, Volkseten/Voku

Monday 9 October 2017, Benefit voku: Solidarity with G20 prisoners. Music with Abigail Lapell and Shawn William Clarke, indie folk from Candada. Volkseten Vegazulu, 7pm then update about the G20 prisoners. Music from 8:30pm till 10pm.

During the G20, political and economic leaders of the world gathered in order to plan the continuation of their wars, exploitation of people and animals, and the destruction of the environment. To revolt against this is necessary and gives hope. Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in Hamburg to obstruct these festivities for the elite. The German state, in an attempt to criminalise a few individuals, has now rapidly changed the topic to bottles and fireworks which were thrown (or not) during the riots. Not very convincing as a distraction for the real problems in this world. From the first day, the actions against the G20 were met with harsh repression. Hundreds of people were hurt and arrested due to police violence and the tactics of escalation.

For more info check out:
https://freepeike.noblogs.org
https://www.fireandflames.com/en/united-we-stand-solidarity-campaign-against-the-summit-repression/
https://unitedwestand.blackblogs.org/

Support Peike and all other prisoners – act and show solidarity!

Donations:
VB SOLIDARITEITSFONDS
NL25 INGB 0007 6604 36
o.v.v. G20

Volkseten Vegazulu is a people’s kitchen, every monday and thursday, all year long. Door opens at 7pm. Vegan food for 4€ or donation. All benefits go for social & political struggles. No reservation. In July and August, the people’s kitchen is closed on thursday.

We’re always looking for cooks. Any help is welcome in the kitchen. Experience not required. Enjoying it is a must. If you want to know which days are still available in the schedule, send an email to joe [at] squat [dot] net and book yourself the night. You can, of course, also participate by rolling up your sleeves and doing the dishes.

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