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| Interview with Grit Lemke and Otto Alder | Questions: Thomas Renoldner  |
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Thomas Renoldner:
"Mrs. Grit Lemke, you are working for the Leipzig festival, may I know in which position?" |
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Grit Lemke:
"I am the spokeswoman of the Leipzig festival. I've been working for it since 1991, for the last years as head of Press/PR departement. Beside this I work as a freelance author for print media and documentary films." |
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Thomas Renoldner:
"The short name of your festival is DOKFESTIVAL Leipzig, so at first sight one might not easily understand, that your festival also presents animated films. How do you see the value of the animation section of your festival?" |
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Grit Lemke:
"We do highly appreciate the presence of animated films in our programme. It has absolutely the same status as the documentary. Since 1995 when we started to install a competition for animated film in our programme its importance has grown year by year. So the animation programme got an own venue which is one of Leipzigs nicest cinemas. You can see the value of the animation programme in the relations between documentary and animated films. There are much more animated films than documentaries in our programme. From 360 films in this years programme there are about 220 animated films. Last year we dedicated our annual retrospective to the German animated film - which was very successful and a great experience. Yet, the best proof for the value of animated film in our programme is the audience - it decides about it. An investigation 3 years ago found out that our audience's age average is about 30. These people are extremly interested in or even dedicated to animated film. Almost every screening there is sold out, and experts say that Leipzig has a very mature audience for animated film. There is also an audience award for animated film - not to mention the Golden and Silver dove and the "Sparkassen-Preis" for an exceptional animated film." |
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Thomas Renoldner:
"Could you give me a brief survey of the history of the LEIPZIG festival. Has the animation section been a part of the festival since the beginning?" |
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Grit Lemke:
The festival was founded in 1955 as a national festival for documentary film. In 1960 it became international and was extended from documentary to short films "for cinema and TV". It was always deeply connected with political problems, it was like a mirror of international relations and the part GDR used to play in it. Particularly the sixties were the time when Leipzig was a meeting place for documnentary filmmakers from all over the world, espacially a place were people from the Third world and Eastern Europe met those from the West. This was restricted by party officials in the seventies and eighties, so Leipzig lost this reputation. Yet, for people in the GDR and in Leipzig it stayed a "window to the world". The festival had to reorganise after the political change in 1989. There came a new director, new management. There was also the need to define a new concept because now Leipzig had to survive in competition with almost 100 other german festivals (in GDR there were 4!). It was in 1990 when the festival declared in its new regulation to be a festival for documentary and animated film. This is indeed unique." |
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Thomas Renoldner:
"Do you see any kind of connection between animated and documentary films?" |
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Grit Lemke:
"First: Every film focuses on a very special part of reality, seen through the eyes of an individual, the artist. It is art. The difference between the alleged "objective" documentary and the "subjective" and "artistic" animated film doesn't exist at all. The only difference I see is this one which lies in the basic material. The documentary filmmaker works with "real" images, the animation filmmaker draws or animates clay, puppets or something else. In every case it is a very individual process. The connection becomes obvious in our programme section "Animadoc". There are films in it which unite elements of both genres: documentary and animated parts. This connection may have different forms: It can be a montage of real and drawed images. Or an animated film can be based on a "true" story, a "document". And at this point there occurs again the - in documentary filmmaking - frequently asked question: Is it true? Or is it manipulation? The only answer can be: It's art!" |
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Thomas Renoldner:
"The International Festival for documentary and animated films in Leipzig offers every two years a competitive section of animated films. In the alternate years the animated films are shown as an international panorama. I assume, that Otto Alder would choose the same kind of films, independent from the question as to whether the screenings were competitive or non-competitive. What is the reason for such a policy?" |
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Grit Lemke:
"We offer our competition for animated film in alternation with the Stuttgart festival. When we started to integrate the animated film in our programme it gave us the opportunity to gain experiences in longer terms. The question was then also whether there could exist two events of this size and significance. Don't forget that this is also a question of finances. The expenses for culture in germany are cut every year. And like Stuttagrt we also have to rely on public funding. Nevertheless, this alternation could eventually be quit one day in future. We can only assure that animated film cannot be excluded from our festival's programme!" |
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Thomas Renoldner:
"I thank you a lot for your considered answers, they gave me a rather clear image of your festival conception. Next I will move to Otto Alder, the curator of the animation sections in Leipzig."" |
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Thomas Renoldner:
"Otto Alder, you are the curator for animation film at the annual Leipzig Film Festival for documentary and animated film, which holds a competition for animated films every two years. How extensive is the competition program, how many films have been entered, how many will be screened?" |
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Otto Alder:
"During the last year I saw about 1000 new animations and all of them were considered for competition. 48 films from 13 countries made their way." |
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Thomas Renoldner:
"For the competition program Leipzig has no international jury, but you alone decide on the animated films to be screened. Stansilav Ulver wrote in his article "The avant-garde and animation" (ASIFA News, Vol. 12, Number 1/1999): " about the panorama selection that you did for the Leipzig'98 Festival: "The experience from Leipzig certainly indicates that Alder's "one-man show" ("...the selection is subjective, I choose without any supervision or pre-selection commitee...") is not such a bad idea." I know that you are not a person to have a theoretical concept in mind, when you select films. Would you like to describe your subjective selection criteria?" |
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Otto Alder:
"First of all, the films must be technically, aesthetically and contents wise up-to-date. Basically I only select films how have a artistic impetus. That means, that my programmes exclusivly present animation art. There are nor commercials or commissioned films in the programme. If the subject of a film touches me, it has very good chances to be selected. On the other side, I will keep my real criterias secret." |
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Thomas Renoldner:
"Which additional animation programs have you invited for Leipzig'99 and what are the points of interest in these programs?" |
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Otto Alder:
"Besides competition, there are three international panorama programmes, geographical programmes (new films from Austria, Switzerland and Germany). There are also pretrospectives, historical programmes, films for kids, the Animadoc programme (animated documentaries, documentary films about animation and animators. etc.) This programmes have the function to round off the Leipzig Animation Programme. All together I will show 228 films from 25 countires. I hope very much, that my target, only having the best films from around the world in the programmes will become apperent. " |
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Thomas Renoldner:
"The term "international festival" usually indicates that it offers a worldwide selection of films. How "international" is Leipzig, where the audience is concerned? How many international guests (filmmakers and spectators) do you expect for this year?" |
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Otto Alder:
"Leipzig expects about 35 animation artists from ten different countries as guests. But all together the festival will have about 800 media professionals as guests. I don't know and don't mind at all if this means that Leipzig is international or not. More important for me is my audience. Most of the audience are ordinary people from Leipzig who buy tickets at the box office. That's also crucial for festivals." |
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Thomas Renoldner:
"I thank you both for the interview. The festival dates are October 26 - 31 1999. Let me wish your festival many guests - wherever they may come from - and success." |
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