Revolt She Felt (film program)

Film(s) and conversation with Karina Griffith (Artist, Curator and Filmmaker Claudia von Alemann). 

In her book Ugly Feelings, Sianne Ngai introduces irritation as an affect of restrained rage. This film program explores how profound irritation, stripped of its ambiguity, was an agent for political change in the film works made in and around 1968 and thereafter. The anchor of this program is the film KATHLEEN UND ELDRIDGE CLEAVER IN ALGIER. Here the two activists develop their ideas about resistance at the Black Panther Party office they formed while in exile in Algiers. Filmed by feminist filmmaker Claudia von Alemann in January 1970, the Cleavers speak through clenched teeth about their political fight, linking it to West German policies. Irritation subverts the stereotypes of the „angry black woman“ or the „hysterical housewife“ to present a more palatable position of prolonged annoyance. Employed in moving image works, the feminist approach of translating anger into irritation is an effective and affective strategy for provoking friction, discourse and an engagement with revolutionary demands.

Film Program:

DIE KOLLWITZ UND IHRE KINDER [© HFF, Regie: Christa Mühl, 1971, 10 min]

KATHLEEN UND ELDRIDGE CLEAVER IN ALGIER [© Alemann Filmproduktion Köln, Regie: Claudia von Alemann, 1969, 22 mins]

DIE SCHÖNHEITSVERSCHWÖRUNG [© DFFB, Regie: Tsitsi Dangarembga, 1994, 14 min]

LANDING © DFFB/Okpako, Regie: Branwen Okpako, 1995, 10 min]

images: Ⓒ courtesy of alpha Nova galerie futura