[Frameworks] Petra Lottje + Curtis Burz - AUF DER SPUR - ON TRACK Directors Lounge Screening

[Klaus W. Eisenlohr]

directors lounge special screening
Petra Lottje + Curtis Burz
auf der spur - on track
video works
Thursday, 29 Sept 2011
21:00
Z-Bar
Bergstraße 2
10115 Berlin-Mitte
Directors Lounge presents a programme with Petra 
Lottje and Curtis Burz. The artists have the 
differing backgrounds of Fine Art practice, and 
the documentary tradition of European Cinema 
consecutively, and they both address the problems 
of social relations. These relations may be seen 
as "on track" or "off track". It is ambivalent as 
the specific uses of media and recordings open 
the work for different interpretations. In both 
bodies of work we may find a very personal take 
on their subject and a strong artificiality in 
the produced media images.

In "Jedes Zimmer Hinter Einer Tür" (Every Room 
Behind A Door) Petra Lottje stages the female 
part of dialogues in diverse films, using the 
German dubbing voices and borrowing her lips to 
the sound like it is practice with the "playback 
mime singers" on TV. However, the lip-sync is not 
perfect in some parts, the settings seems not to 
fit correctly but still, and over time, the 
viewer gets the impression of honest enacting 
instead of parody. One reason for that impression 
may be the very understated acting of Petra 
Lottje. Her minimal gestures and mimic, reminding 
of Buster Keaton, leave ample space for 
projections by the viewer. (Buster Keaton's 
"poker face" was a novelty in cinema at that 
time. Some film critics see him as the starting 
point of modern cinema, where the actor on 
close-up shows only minimal expressions in order 
to become the mirror for emotional projections by 
the viewers). Thus over time of watching the film 
"Jedes Zimmer Hinter Einer Tür" and the programme 
as a whole, the acting of Lottje seems to become 
more and more "real".

The distinct kind of artificiality of Curtis 
Burz's film creates a similarity to Petra Lotje's 
work. The stories, told by individuals, turn into 
fiction, and in some ways become role models. 
Curtis uses this technique mainly for protection 
of his interview partners, to keep their 
anonymity. Partly, he also shoots on original 
locations, which gives the pictures an 
authenticity the viewer can feel, on the other 
hand, it also reminds of TV techniques. The kind 
of artificiality, however, does not dilute the 
stories, but transforms them into short fiction, 
with the result of the viewer having the choice 
to identify, or not to do so. In any case, Petra 
Lottje also has shifted her subject from the 
every dominating theme of Hollywood, love, to the 
questions of perspectives in life. ("Vorher, 
Jetzt & Später" / Before, Now and Later and 
"Loope"). As a conclusion, with their work both 
artists address the reality of media, which has 
such a deep impact on our view of the world, and 
of life. More over, if we read Burz's stories as 
fiction, the interpretation could go further 
saying that the story side-lines, which in 
mainstream and soap films just give some spicy 
colourful backgrounds to the plot, really are 
stories that should be told from their own 
first-person point of view.
(Klaus W. Eisenlohr Sept 2011)

More infos:
http://www.richfilm.de/filmUpload/1-framesLottje.html

Artists Links:
Petra Lottje:
http://www.lottje.de
Curtis Burz:
https://www.facebook.com/IchHabeDirNieErzaehltWomitIchMeinGeldVerdiene

Links:
Directors Lounge
http://www.directorslounge.net
-- 

Klaus W. Eisenlohr, Osnabrücker Str. 25, D-10589 Berlin, Germany



email:			klaus at richfilm.de
and film production:		http://www.richfilm.de


phone:			int.- 49 - 30 - 3409 5343 (BERLIN)
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