Archive notice: This article was originally published on October 10, 2007. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Everyone has done it before; it has happened to everyone before. Retelling films is a widespread art that flourishes in secret.
But that is changing now: TOTAL RECALL, the int. Festival of the Retold Film, offers everyone, whether film freak or soap fan, occasional cinema-goer or proven cineaste, the chance to tell a film of their choice in a publicly held competition. The audience is the jury and decides who wins the «Silver Linden».
Anyone can apply – simply Remember and Tell!
Apply as a reteller:
You have 10 min. to talk about your (favorite) film and may not use any aids.
Application and information at: http://www.total-recall.org, info@total-recall.org or from: Bernd Terstegge, telephone 0151 12747214
The Festival of the Retold Film
TOTAL RECALL – ON TOUR
10 Nov. in Düsseldorf
at the Künstlerverein Malkasten
Jakobistr.6A
16 + 17 Nov. in Berlin
at HAU1, Hebbel Am Ufer
Stresemannstr. 29
24 Nov. in Kassel
Kunsthochschule Kassel
Menzelstr.13
The idea of the festival by Bernd Terstegge and Axel Ganz is unusual and simple at the same time. In an age of media, image and stimulus overload, they return to the good old form of storytelling. From pantomime to stand-up comedy, from fairy-tale narration to film analysis – the strategies of film retellings are diverse.
FAZ: “A curious event this is, crosswise to trends and fashions… The rush is enormous and confirms the need to reflect publicly on the technically most advanced of the arts in a way that takes it back to the most elementary process of storytelling… The heart-refreshing festival, a temporary Hyde Park Corner of cineastes, brings to light a narrative form whose development has only just begun.“
History
In 1999, TOTAL RECALL took place for the first time in Düsseldorf, an experiment based on the observation that films live on in memory by being told about, exchanged about and something of Their effect passed on orally.
All this is a fixed component of everyday culture and itself a form of entertainment. There have now been 10 editions of the festival in 3 cities; more than 200 films of all genres have been retold by people aged 7-83 across all classes and professions.
The Silver Linden, which is awarded to the winner at the end, looks like a tree in whose crown a long strip of film has become caught. Not only because speech is silver and the Palme d’Or is already awarded elsewhere, but also because villagers met under the linden tree in the market square on summer evenings to tell each other stories.
http://www.total-recall.org: A portion of these cinematic miniatures is published on the festival homepage, thus providing an insight into the continuing-to-grow project outside the festival dates.
