B3_PressKit_0810_2021
B3 Biennial of the Moving Image 2021
15 to 24 October
Frankfurt Rhein-Main & online
Film, art, games, XR, AI, conference, masterclasses
Program, tickets and livestreams at www.b3biennale.com
Festival Center: Astor Film Lounge MyZeil
Press schedule
14 October 2021, MyZeil Shopping Mall Frankfurt
B3 press tour
Topic: B3 cooperation with the MyZeil shopping mall – art in the public space:
artworks from the B3 Moving Image Forum and the B3 Talent Forum turn vacant stores at MyZeil into temporary galleries
With:
Angela Dorn, Hessian Minister for Science and the Arts
Anna Schoeppe, Managing Director of HessenFilm und Medien GmbH
Bernd Kracke, Artistic Director of B3
Artists from the B3 Moving Image Forum, including Igor Simic (SRB), Funmilola Fagbamila (USA), Sandra Mann (GER), and Johannes Grenzfurthner (A)
15 October 2021, 7 pm, Astor Film Lounge MyZeil
B3 2021 Opening Gala featuring:
- Presentation of the B3 BEN 2021 Awards to Oliver Stone & Hito Steyerl
- Opening film of B3 2021: Queen of Glory (USA, 2021)
- Musical Act: Craig Walker (Archive) unplugged
- Moderation: Bärbel Schäfer
16 October 2021, 4 pm, Astor Film Lounge MyZeil
Fireside chat with Black Lives Matter co-founder, playwright and actress Funmilola Fagbamila (USA) (ca. 60 min. with Q&A and online streaming)
16 October 2021, 7:30 pm, Astor Film Lounge MyZeil
Lecture on "How to make a star. Hollywood Stories." With Adrian Wootton, CEO Film London und British Council; (30min, live and streamed). Followed by the screening of Warner Film Classic "The Maltese Falcon“.
17 October 2021, 8:30 pm, Astor Film Lounge MyZeil
Screening of "Masking Threshold" (Horror, A 2021) followed by Q&A with director Johannes Grenzfurthner. (90 min running time plus 30 min Q&A, live and as online stream.)
Press contact
Susanne Tenzler-Heusler
T: +49 173 378 6601
M: presse@b3biennale.de
www.b3biennale.de
B3 Biennial 2021: overview (as of 7 October 2021)
From 15 to 24 October, the 6th edition of the B3 Biennial will offer the world's film, art and media professionals an international platform for innovation, exchange and visibility. The festival is aimed at students, graduates, professionals and the art-, film- and media-loving public. B3 2021 will take place as a hybrid edition. A total of around 80 contributors from 25 countries are taking part.
For the art program (B3 Moving Image Forum), 40 works by 25 artists from 20 countries have been selected. The conference program will feature 50 speakers from 10 countries. The B3 film program presents around 35 short and feature-length films from 20 countries, including 32 international and German premieres.
B3 Moving Image Forum: the art program of B3 2021
Identity is the focus of the B3 Biennial 2021. In its art program, "B3 Moving Image Forum“, 25 artists will shed light on this subject, showing 40 works and asking the question: What does identity mean for the individual, what for the collective? What connects us, and what becomes binding? What is the role of narration and its artistic implementation in this context?
The works from the "Moving Image Forum" can be experienced online and at 2 venues:
At MyZeil shopping center, a new partner of B3, 25 artworks from the art program "B3 Moving Image Forum" will transform 5 vacant stores into temporary galleries. The goal is to give people the opportunity to rediscover public and inner-city space through art. Among the works are some from a new B3 project: The "B3 Talent Forum“ is dedicated in a special way to promoting emerging creative talent.
In addition, 10 works by artists from the "B3 Moving Image Forum" will be shown in the THE ARTS+ area at the Frankfurt Book Fair. Since 2018, the B3 Biennial, the Frankfurt Book Fair and the creative festival THE ARTS+ have been strategic partners.
B3 Moving Image Forum - selected artists
In the video IRRECONCILABLE DIFFERENCES (2021), Canadian artist Sin Wai Kin (aka Victoria Sin) persisflates the visual language of identity categories such as gender and race. In the film series NARRATIVE REFLECTIONS ON LOOKING, the artist in turn explores the question of gender and femininity as social constructs.
The artistic work of Tabita Rezaire (France/French Guiana) focuses on themes of colonialism and technology and their impact on identity, technology, sexuality, health, and spirituality.
Jonathan Monaghan (USA) addresses unconscious fears resulting from technology and consumerism in his video installation DEN OF WOLVES. He also dedicates himself to CryptoArt, making him a highly sought-after artist.
Jonathas De Andrade (Brazil) works with installation, photography, and video, describing the lasting consequences of the cultural change that has profoundly altered Brazilian society due to various political decisions that were made in the 20th century.
Photographer Sandra Mann (GER), who has just been awarded the Goethe Plaque of the City of Frankfurt, deals in her series WALDLIFE with the relationship of people to each other, to nature, to the environment, and to wildlife.
The puppet and collage animation CHRILLERICHE by Shirin Damerji (GER) plays with national clichés and reflects the artist's personal experience of living between two cultures.
The coexistence of two cultures within one identity is also at the core of British-Ghanaian artist Anita Safowaa's work A SINGLE BRACELET DOES NOT JINGLE.
In his work IL-WIDNA, British artist Joseph Wilson uses a combination of live action, VHS footage, animation, and archival footage to portray the realities of life for queer people in the late 1980s and 1990s in the UK.
In addition, as usual, B3 reflects current trends pertaining to the moving image in its exhibition and conference modules. For example, Russian digital artist Faraday (Sergey Barabanschikoff) presents an NFT making reference to the famous Matryoshkas, entitled RUSSIAN DOLLS.
Conference program: fireside chat with Oliver Stone
About 50 speakers from 10 countries will take part in the B3 online conference program. In a virtual fireside chat on October 18 at 8 pm, Academy Award winner and recipient of the B3 BEN Award 2021, Oliver Stone, will speak about creativity, his oeuvre and his take on the current world situation.
Can sex save the world? - Selected conference highlights
Saturday, 16 October, 11 am
Opening Master Class with Doris Dörrie (film director, producer, writer; GER):
Doris Dörrie is among the most important German writers and filmmakers of our time. At this year`s B3, she will speak about her work and her perspective on the creative industries. She will also talk about how to channel creativity so that the result appeals to others and, in the best of cases, touches them too.
Saturday, 16 October, 4 pm (live at Astor Film Lounge MyZeil & streaming)
Fireside Chat with Funmilola Fagbamila (actress, activist; USA):
Black Lives Matter co-founder Funmilola Fagbamila talks about her own identities and what it means to create subversive art as a Nigerian-American woman. There is a lively cultural dialogue on the topic of "cancel culture." Funmilola explores why this phenomenon seems to exist in our information age, where news is presented as headlines and tweetable statements - as opposed to nuanced breakdowns of complex issues.
Sunday, 17 October, 4 pm
Fireside chat with Jasmin Hagendorfer (artist and creative director of Porn Film Festival Vienna; AT): Fuck each other not the planet: Sex is one of the most intimate and political subjects of human existence. We are sexual, technological, narrative, and political beings. We should openly ask ourselves whether good sex or porn can save the world. Sure! say activists of the sexecology movement. Their motto is: Mother Earth should be our mistress! That's a different perspective on the issue than clichéd tree huggers and ridiculed activists. Another activist group, for example, aptly calls itself "Fuck For Forest." Jasmin Hagendorfer will dive into different film projects and lifestyles of sustainable sexuality and also talk about the Vienna Porn Film Festival and why this event is a game changer, especially with its focus on ethical feminist pornography.
Tuesday, 19 October, 2 pm
B3 Games Panel:
Protection of minors versus computer games: China as a role model? With Thorsten Unger, CEO Wegesrand; Dixon Wu, Hong Kong, organizer of the Retro.hk Gaming Expo in Hong Kong; Marian Härtel, gaming lawyer / business consultant in the fields of e-sports & Asia.
Children and young people in particular are drawn to the computer screen. Especially online games that never end and let you meet friends virtually, harbor the danger of excessive consumption. But if you want to be a successful gameer, you need to practice.
Asia is considered a pioneer in online games and e-sports. But now the world's largest games market is putting on the brakes: since September, young people in China have only been allowed to play online for three hours a week. What's behind this drastic measure? Does it make sense? And could and should this tough protection of minors serve as an example for the German-speaking gaming realm? How do you reconcile moderate media consumption and virtual sports?
Selected speakers from the conference program
Oliver Stone is one of the most renowned US filmmakers. He is also known for his socio-political films. He has won three Oscars, among other wards, and is this year's Honorary Laureate of B3.
Funmilola Fagbamila is a Nigerian-American playwright, actress and lecturer. Her international stage play about the complexity of Black political identity, THE INTERSECTION, has been praised by thinkers and artists such as Angela Davis and Erykah Badu. In 2020, Funmilola traveled to Paris at the invitation of the French president to discuss France's plan to come to terms with the country's colonial history.
Doris Dörrie, born in Hanover, studied theater and acting in California and New York, but then decided she preferred directing. Parallel to her film work (most recently the feature film Cherry Blossoms and Demons), she has published short stories, novels, a book about writing, and children's books. She teaches Creative Writing at the Munich Film Academy and frequently gives writing workshops. She lives in Munich.
Producer Gretchen Landau heads Drop of Water Entertainment, an L.A.-based film and television production company for entertainment that inspires and excites audiences worldwide. Her productions include the Netflix Original documentary FEMINISTS: WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?, FOLK and several short films. She is Associate Producer of A DECENT HOME and Producer of the feature film CHARLOTTE, based on a play by Charlotte Salomon. She was Production Supervisor for the film DISTANT VISION by Academy Award winner Francis Ford Coppola.
Dr. Julie Carpenter is a scientist in San Francisco and a Research Fellow in California Polytechnic State University's Ethics + Emerging Sciences Group, a non-partisan organization that focuses on the risks, ethical, and social implications of emerging sciences and technologies. Her projects include working with VICE on Q, the world's first gender-neutral voice for technology use.
Sandra Mann is one of Germany’s most renowned artists and photographers. She uses a wide range of artistic forms of expression such as photography, installation, sculpture, video. Her artistic concepts address the relationship of people to each other, their relationship to nature, the environment, wildlife or gender issues. Her work and teachings are shaped by her researching the fundamentals of photography, visual language, and image perception. She also curates exhibitions at home and abroad.
Rob Kraitt, talent manager at Casarotto Ramsay Associates Limited in London, has wide ranging experience representing writing and directing talent; and selling books for film & television adaptation. He has participated on panels and masterclasses for the Edinburgh International Film Festival, the Writer’s Guild of Great Britain and the International Screenwriter’s Festival amongst others. He was also part of the BFI’s delegation to Shanghai and Beijing in 2015. Rob started his career as a script editor and consultant for many top film production companies in the UK including Working Title, Focus, Pathé Productions, Miramax and Ruby Films as well as the European Media Development Agency. Prior to joining Casarotto in February 2011, he was Head of Media and Associate Director of A P Watt Literary Film & Television Agency.
Jonathan Monaghan is a contemporary visual artist who uses computer animation software to create his work. His animations have been exhibited at The State Hermitage Museum, Sundance Film Festival, and Palais de Tokyo.
Jordan McGarry is Head of Talent Development and Production at Film London. She is responsible for Film London's production and talent development strategy, including the agency's short and feature film productions, as well as its various training initiatives.
Frederic Boyer has been Artistic Director of the Tribeca Film Festival since 2012, Les Arcs European Film Festival since 2009 and RIFF in Reykjavik since last year. Previously, he was Artistic Director for two years and Program Director of Directors' Fortnight in Cannes for six years.
Adrian Wootton is Chief Executive of Film London - the agency responsible for developing the film and media industry in the capital. Adrian has been Deputy Director of the British Film Institute (BFI), Director of the London Film Festival (LFF) and the National Film Theatre (NFT).
Wendy J. N. Lee is a writer, director and Emmy-nominated producer. She has worked with Netflix, YouTube Originals, Anonymous Content, Boardwalk Pictures, All3 Media, MTV Networks, Ogilvy & Mathers, Vanity Fair, Coca-Cola, and Fox Searchlight, among others. She is a contributor to the Netflix documentary "Feminists: What Were They Thinking?" and has won over 30 awards for her original comedy, drama and documentary projects.
Anita Safowaa is a London-based interdisciplinary artist with British-Ghanaian roots. Her work focuses on observing and critiquing under-documented cultural experiences and their preservation by reinterpreting key moments through a range of media including film, reflective writing and new media technologies.
Bobette Buster is a lecturer, producer and writer whose workshops are booked by leading media companies such as Disney/Pixar, Sony, BBC and Google. Her TEDx talk "The Radical Act of Storytelling" has over 150,000 views. She wrote the book "DO STORY: How to Tell Your Story So The World Listens" and produced the documentary "Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound," which premiered in 2019 at Cannes Classics, Tribeca Film Festival, BFI London Film Festival and more.
Inka Winter is an erotic filmmaker and the founder of ForPlay Films (www.forplayfilms.com), an independent porn production company run exclusively by women. She aims to change repressive social norms around sexuality. Her background in costume design and styling informs her aesthetic. Her humorous YouTube channel SEXUCATION provides information on topics such as contraception, cunnilingus, polyamory, and communicating during sex.
B3 film program: between culture shock and Covid
This year`s opening film at B3, QUEEN OF GLORY (USA 2021), addresses the B3 focus on identity in a special way. The Clash of Cultures, life in or between different cultures, the struggle for diversity or self-assurance in confused times - all this is reflected in the 35 short and feature-length films. Our extraordinary premieres include the Polish short GROUP THEORY (2021); the comedy-thriller FIRST DATE (USA, 2021), and the Finnish documentary IVONNE (2020). The consequences of the current Covid-19 pandemic for artists are reflected in the German short film CORONA SICK (2021).
The full film program is available via streaming on the B3 website www.b3biennale.com. Tickets are 5 euros per film.
The B3 opening film, QUEEN OF GLORY (USA 2021), is a comedy directed by Nana Mensah, starring Ward Horton, Nana Mensah and Elia Monte-Brown. The film tells the story of Sarah Obeng, the brilliant child of Ghanaian immigrants who drops out of her Ivy League PhD-program to follow her married lover to Ohio. The film received the Best New Narrative Director & Special Jury Prize at Tribeca Festival 2021
Fucking with nobody (Finland, 2020) is a Finnish comedy directed by Hannaleena Hauru from a screenplay by Hauru and Lasse Poser.
After Hanna loses a film gig to her nemesis Kristian, she joins forces with her sister and friends to create a parody romance on Instagram between herself and the young actor Ekku.
Naurun varjolla (Finland, 2020) is a Finnish comedy directed by Reetta Aalto from a screenplay by Anna Ruohonen.
A woman who has lost her job also feels lost in life. After taking a class on stand-up comedy, she joins a competition tour for novice comedians.
Corona Sick (Germany, 2021) is a short film by Chris Brügge about the consequences of the corona pandemic for artists. The world of an artist is fine ... acting, stage, audience are the elements of her life. But everything changes due to corona. Not her body, but her mind is infected: by fear and madness....
Superior (USA, 2021) is a drama directed by Erin Vassilopoulos, starring Alessandra Mesa, Anamari Mesa and Pico Alexander. Protagonist Marian is on the run. She returns to her hometown, looking up her twin sister, Vivian. The lives of both sisters are about to change.
Mayday (USA, 2021) is the debut of director Karen Cinorre. In her fantasy thriller, she mixes genres and beguiles us with a unique world in which options are manyfold and women take their destiny into their own hands. MAYDAY is both a feminist fever dream and an ambitious reinterpretation of the war film, defying expectations and asking what empowerment really consists of.
In A Glitch in the Matrix (USA, 2021), documentary filmmaker Rodney Ascher explores the question "Are we living in a simulation?" with the help of testimonials, philosophical evidence, and scientific theories.
First Date (USA, 2021). In this perfectly staged classic thriller, directing duo Manuel Crosby and Darren Knapp skillfully mix elements of black comedy, teen romance, shoot 'em up action and coming-of-age story into a truly entertaining movie that won`t bore you for a second.
B3 Live with three events at festival center Astor Film Lounge Frankfurt
Live at the cinema: horror meets Humphrey Bogart
Frankfurt cineastes can look forward to two extraordinary live events as part of the B3 film program. On October 16, 7:30 p.m., cinema expert Adrian Wootton will take a look behind the scenes of Hollywood using the famous film noir classic THE MALTESE FALCON as an example and asking "How do you make a star?" The restored version of the 1941 detective film that made Humphrey Bogart the perfect star in his 42nd film role will be screened. Adrian Wootton is Chief Executive of Film London and the British Film Commission (BFC) and a recognized expert on various film/television and literary topics, including Hollywood, crime fiction and Italian cinema.
Fear is at the core of Austrian film artist Johannes Grenzfurthner's latest work MASKING THRESHOLD. More precisely, "the reactionary fear of degeneration, decadence, regression, cultural decay, historical decay and, last not least, the racist fear of 'contamination'," as the director explained in an interview. The plot: In his makeshift home lab, a wary IT expert conducts a series of experiments in an attempt to cure his severe hearing impairment. Where will his research lead him? MASKING THRESHOLD blends chamber drama, scientific procedural, unboxing video and DIY YouTube channel, offering sweeping vistas of existential pain and decay. Peek into the world of the nameless protagonist in this eerie tale that is by no means for the faint of heart.
The German premiere takes place on 17 October at 8:30 p.m. The screening is followed by a live Q&A with the director.
Fireside chat with Black Lives Matter activist Funmilola Fagbamila
On Saturday, October 16, at 4 p.m., the fireside chat with U.S. activist Funmilola Fagbamila will take place at the Astor Film Lounge. The Black Lives Matter co-founder talks about her own identities and what it means to create subversive art as a Nigerian-American woman. There is a lively cultural dialogue on the topic of "cancel culture." Funmilola explores why this phenomenon seems to exist in our information age, where news is presented as headlines and tweetable statements - as opposed to nuanced breakdowns of complex issues.
Funmilola Fagbamila is a Nigerian-American playwright, actress and lecturer. Her international stage play about the complexity of Black political identity, THE INTERSECTION, has been praised by thinkers and artists such as Angela Davis and Erykah Badu. In 2020, Funmilola traveled to Paris at the invitation of the French president to discuss France's plan to come to terms with the country's colonial history.
Premiere: B3 Talent Forum - fostering of international emerging talent
The new "B3 Talent Forum" proves the B3 Biennial`s special dedication to promoting emerging creative talent. The Forum combines two new formats: the initiative "HessenLab" and the cross-university graduation promotion program "HAB-Hessen". It gives participants an additional opportunity to present themselves - also internationally - and to network.
The HessenLab initiative was launched in close cooperation of B3 and HessenFilm und Medien GmbH. The goal is to build a platform for young professionals and creative talents from the fields of film, art, XR and games with a special focus on regional, national and international networking. 20 international creative talents will present and develop a project of their own during an online mentoring program, exchanging content and viewpoints with experts and fellow participants. Besides helping the artistic reflection of project ideas, this training program will also focus on building international networks and initiating co-productions. The program is mentored by international art and media professionals including Austrian film director Johannes Grenzfurthner; photographer Sandra Mann (GER); Frederic Boyer, Director of the Tribeca Film Festival; and Jordan McGarry, Head of Talent Development and Production at Film London.
Hessen's Minister for Science and the Arts, Angela Dorn, attaches particular importance to the sustainable promotion of young talent and of Hessen as a film and media location:
"We want all bright and creative minds to be able to develop their full potential, because then they create things that enrich and propel us all forward. This allows us to enjoy unique artistic experiences and also a dialogue with many different voices of society, through the means of art. To do this, artists need artistic freedom and good funding - and that's why we want to support young artists and media creators in networking and entering international markets, while at the same time presenting Hessen as a superior place for creative work and education. HessenLab, HAB-Hessen and the B3 Talent Forum can make an important contribution to this."
The second important part of the B3 Talent Forum is HAB-Hessen. The HAB-Hessen initiative is a cross-university graduation support program for students in art, film and media programs at Kunsthochschule Kassel, Hochschule für Gestaltung Offenbach, Hochschule Rhine-Main and Hochschule Darmstadt. All these schools belong to the Hessian Film and Media Academy (hFMA) network. An advisory board of high-profile film and media professionals will accompany the HAB funding: Anna Schoeppe (GF HessenFilm und Medien GmbH); Anne-Kathrin Brinkmann (ZDF/arte); and Stefan Weil (co-owner and managing director of Atelier Markgraph GmbH Frankfurt).
"I am very happy about the strong support we receive from Minister Dorn, about the close cooperation with the universities from the network of the Hessian Film and Media Academy (hFMA) and about the alliance with HessenFilm to establish this groundbreaking support for creative talents in Hessen. The B3 strengthens this initiative with its expertise, offering an attractive, international platform for establishing long-term ties among professionals from the various media and creative industries on the one hand and young creatives on the other, as well as promoting international exchange between them," states Prof. Bernd Kracke, President of the Offenbach University of Arts and Design (HfG) and Artistic Director of the B3.
Oliver Stone and Hito Steyerl receive B3 BEN main awards
Two first-rate individuals from the international film and art world will receive this year's coveted BEN Award of the B3 Biennial of the Moving Image.
US-American director, screenwriter and producer Oliver Stone (*1946) receives this year’s B3 BEN Award in the category Lifetime Achievement (Honorary). The three-time Academy Award winner has written and directed over 20 feature films, including some of the most influential and iconic films of recent decades, among them “Platoon” (1986) “Natural Born Killers” (1994) or “Snowden” (2016).
As a documentary filmmaker, Stone equally initiates debates on global political issues. For example, he has portrayed Fidel Castro in three films (including "Commandante," 2003); examined relations between Israel and Palestine ("Persona Non Grata," 2003); and conducted a four-part conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin. For his series "South of the Border" (2009), he interviewed Hugo Chavez and seven other presidents of South American countries; in the ten-part documentary "The Untold History of the United States" (2012), he reinterprets American history.
His most recent work, "JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass" (2021), premiered in July.
"Oliver Stone has made film history. He has repeatedly taken a stand on the issues that afflict humanity, such as war, violence, power, terror, surveillance. Stone represents the B3's claim to combine the highest artistic quality with socio-political relevance in the best possible manner," says B3's artistic director Prof. Bernd Kracke.
The filmmaker and author Hito Steyerl (*1966) is this year's recipient of the Honorary BEN Award in the category Art. Her work includes texts, performances, multimedia installations and essayistic documentaries in which she deals with postcolonial critique, feminist representational logic as well as the influences of globalization on the financial, labor and commodity markets. She is considered one of the most socially critical and very political artists of our time.
"In her works, Hito Steyerl takes an active stance on political, societal and social processes using a variety of artistic means. In doing so, she always works at the interface of visual art and film as well as theory and practice. She captivates in her works through the use of different media and art forms. She creates art that is moving in the best sense of the word," says Prof. Bernd Kracke.
BEN Awards
Since 2013, the B3 Biennial of the Moving Image has been honoring established artists and emerging talents with the internationally acclaimed BEN Awards. Works by B3 Biennial participants that deal with new narrative techniques in a particularly innovative way vie for the main and emerging talent prizes. The prize was designed by South African artist Trevor Gould. Previous main prize winners are Laurie Anderson (2013), Brian Eno (2015), Jonas Mekas & Ingvild Goetz (2017) Steve McQueen (2019), and 2020 Willem Dafoe and Anne Imhof.
About B3 – An Alliance for the Moving Image
As a cross-media, cross-genre and international moving image festival offering film screenings, exhibitions, conference and workshop programs as well as various competition formats, B3 addresses the discourse on all trends and developments pertaining to the moving image in the areas of film, art, games and VR/XR. The aim of the Biennial, which was launched in 2012, is on the one hand to create a broad interdisciplinary alliance for the moving image, and on the other hand to offer the international cultural and creative industries a comprehensive platform for innovation and exchange. The B3 Biennial of the Moving Image is organized by the Offenbach School of Design (HfG) and funded by the Hessian Ministry of Science and Art (HMWK). Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain and Wirtschaftsförderung Frankfurt are main sponsors. Partners include Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain, Wirtschaftsförderung Frankfurt as well as Sylvia and Friedrich von Metzler. Strategic partners are the Frankfurt Book Fair, THE ARTS+, Film London and many more. Main event partners are ASTOR Film Lounge MyZeil, MyZeil Shopping-Center, and Satis&Fy.
