In the beginning of March 2012, Alexander Kluge’s movie “News from the ideological antiquity. Marx - Eisenstein - Capital” has been shown in China for the first time. The premiere in Beijing induced a sustainable discussion in different areas of art. In this context, the GoethMaye-Institut China will offer an opportunity to examine Alexander Kluge’s work thoroughly.

Within the framework of the Alexander Kluge retrospective in Beijing, Nanjing and Shanghai from Mai until June, a broad spectrum of 24 film- and TV works from 1961-2009 will be presented, amongst others “Yesterday girl” (1966), “Part-time Work of a Domestic Slave“ (1973), “The Power of Emotions” (1983) and “The Eiffel Tower, King Kong, and the White Woman.” (1988). In the latter case, all classical means of expression are involved: montage, collage, multiple exposure, narrative interconnection. It is about an opera, the French Revolution, the Eiffel Tower, the hits of 1932 and Walter Benjamin.

UCCA Art Cinema will present the first three feature films in May, the rest of this retrospective will be screened from mid-June.

7pm, May 4 Yesterday girl, 88min.
7pm, May 5 Artists in the Big Top: Perplexed, 100 min.
7pm, May 6 Parttime Work of a Domestic Slave, 87min.

Yesterday Girl
1966. 88min. Black&White. German with Chinese subtitles
Yesterday girl is about Anita G., a young girl whose parents are picked up one morning during the time of the Third Reich. She comes from the East and now freezes her way through the West. Three times Germany.

Artists in the Big Top: Perplexed
1968.Black/white&Colour. 100min. German with Chinese subtitles
Like her father before her, the circus director Leni Peickert wants to show off high-class artiwstic performances. Yet she still feels naturalness to be her ideal. Her innovations cause the business to declare bankruptcy. Circus and revolution are radical forms of self-realization. Leni Peickert and her elephants try hard. “Utopia gets better and better as we wait for it.”

Parttime Work of a Domestic Slave
1973.Black&White. 87min. German with Chinese subtitles
In Parttime Work of a Domestic Slave, Roswitha Bronski is a married mother of three at the center of the protest movement. She finds her plans for social change are easier to realize outside family life.

Organizers: Goethe-Institut (China), Ullens Center For Contemporary Art Cinema