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Impressions from Sehsüchte Student Film Festival
by Tomasz Raczkowski
Even though in Berlin there is no hibernation culture-wise – especially regarding cinema, as famous Berlinale traditionally takes place in February – you could say that this blooming spring is to some extent paralleled by an upsurge of cultural activity, with various festivals and events emerging more firmly throughout the city. This is perhaps particularly obvious this year, when calendar spring is accompanied by a significant reduction of COVID restrictions, giving enthusiasts of culture-consumption outside their own homes quite literally a fresh breath. Berlin hosts a fair number of film festivals and film-related events. One may sometimes find it a little cumbersome to navigate all of them, not to mention participating in everything interesting going on in Germany’s capital. There are more intriguing and worthwhile events going on than you can even register. While some festivals are more visible than others, when it comes to cinema, you can always find something really fascinating.Among the variety of what cinema communities were offered this April was the 51. Sehsüchte Student Film Festival. Not even in Berlin, but in the historically cinematic neighboring city of Potsdam, Sehsüchte resides as a respectable event. As the name indicates, Sehsüchte distinguishes itself by being almost entirely organized by students of Film University Babelsberg “Konrad Wolf”, in whose annual calendar it has been deeply rooted for five decades. Run by students, it focusses on young (student) filmmakers and audiences. Local students can access the festival rather freely and the general atmosphere seems rather casual and cool than uptight. The event invites all cineastes with a taste for student works.
Unfortunately, the wordplay in the festival’s name is not quite translatable into English. The combination of “seeing” and “longing” work exceptionally well in a year, when the festival returns to a physical edition after the COVID disruption affected the whole industry and culture. Despite it being my first time at Potsdam’s festival, I could feel the subtle vibe of relief that filled the air of Film University in the opening ceremony. Surely it also had another meaning, as coordinating such a huge event always posits a challenge. Achieving actual inauguration must be a milestone relief for staff members. Especially, since Sehsüchte is traditionally managed by the senior media students of its host university. The festival crew changes annually. 51st Sehsüchte became a successful event without major hiccups (minor ones always happen, and they don’t really matter as long as they don’t spread too much). This festival boasted a solid planning and cutting-edge programming, all met within a comforting free-spirited student vibe.
Moving on to what is most important – Sehsüchte’s program was filled with interesting film offers and non-screening events, which build a context-oriented profile of the festival. Much effort was put into surrounding the standard film sections with interesting talks about contemporarily relevant issues such as diversity, (in)equality and other structural challenges that film industry faces right now. Adding to that, panels dedicated to certain movie-making elements (say, script) and the historical setting of the festival in ‘a cinematic city of Potsdam’ stressed the complexity of cinema culture. The festival motto was Radiance, that according to organizers was meant to emphasize the key-role of new generations and new, fresh perspectives brought by them gradually for the film culture and industry. And it’s safe to say that 51. Sehsüchte lived up to this promise, by creating a vivid festival space for a variety of voices, questions and interests, all converged within five days of intense cinematic experience.
Film-wise it offered fascinating propositions. Structured into multiple sections not only by traditional short/feature and documentary/fiction divisions, but also considering genre, production format and target audience (kids and teens to be precise), the program covered vast grounds. Screening blocks were curated thematically. That means, some movies fit into more than one category and/or slot. Although it might be a little bit confusing when navigating through different slots, this method created an impression of programmers caring more about the viewers’ experience than formal purism – which is always something to be appreciated at film festivals.
Pictures included in this year’s program of Sehsüchte covered broad areas both thematically and aesthetically. With over 20 movies under my belt, I am quite satisfied with the variety of what I saw – which means that the festival curators acted up to their promise of stressing the importance of diversity also in this area, beyond the statements and declarations. Spanning from classical story-driven documentaries, through engaging fictional stories, experimental blends between facts and fiction to evocative commentaries on contemporary, confronting voices from Europe with those from such distant places as Georgia, Ethiopia, Thailand, Brazil – there was plenty to watch. Although some cinephiles may carry rather ambiguous connotations with a term ‘student film’, there was nothing to be feared at Sehsüchte. The program contained something for almost every taste, regardless if you love slow-paced, grim social dramas, dwelling on challenges of identity or pure cinematic fun. Each of those (and more) were to be found this April in Potsdam.
From my personal notebook I shall mention five works that made the program truly great. This list includes the winners of the narrative short and animated film sections, Lili Alone by Jing Zou and Noir Soleil by Marie Larrivé. The first one is a really sharp and touching intimate drama depicting a woman undertaking a last-resort job as surrogate mother in order to provide for her family, while the second is an originally drawn, severely melancholic take on generation-spanning existential stress. Despite being from different scopes of the cinema, for me both films share similarities in reaching real human emotions in a subtle, yet powerful way, that feel just like having a deep, intimate conversation with the characters. On a different note, Supernova by Steve Bache (narrative short competition and special genre section) provides an intriguing mix of stylish sci-fi developed around unobvious dynamics within a small group of female astronauts, meeting high dramatic stakes with stunning visual craft.
Also competing in the shorts section, The King by Maria Claudia Blanco assembles a chain of brief episodes from the everyday life of a struggling Chinese immigrant in France, bringing several seemingly separate plots to a powerful ending that could be shown at courses as a perfect example of how cutting the story in the right moments makes a difference. But perhaps the most impactful thing I experienced on Sehsüchte screen was Night by Ahmad Saleh – an animated short that received a special mention in its category. In 16 minutes of perfect stop motion puppet work, it produces tearing lamentation to the tragedy of thousands affected by war and brutality.
Those are just examples of original, fascinating offers that 51. Sehsüchte presented. As a living event, it appears that the festival emerged from COVID-related troubles perfectly unscathed and just as impactful as I can imagine it used to be for last decades. For someone who attends quite a few festivals of different kinds throughout a (normal) year, it shall become an event to visit in the future. It should not be overlooked by either Berlin nor foreign festival and cinema lovers. I genuinely hope that its titular “picture longing” will last for many more years.
