Beate Kunath

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Beate Kunath (2016)

Beate Kunath (born September 18, 1967 in Karl-Marx-Stadt ) is a German filmmaker , screenwriter and video artist. As a video artist, she appears under the pseudonym [bi: kei]. For her semi-documentary film Forbidden Fruit (2000), a collaboration with Yvonne Zückmantel and Sue Maluwa Bruce, she received several awards, including the Teddy Jury Prize at the 51st Berlinale 2001 .

Life

Beate Kunath (far right) during the filming of In the summer the old people sit (2008)

Beate Kunath showed an early interest in film and video work when she worked for the Fritz Heckert youth film club in Karl-Marx-Stadt from 1985, which after the political change in 1990 in Chemnitzer Filmclub e. V. was renamed. She initially supported the organization of a weekly film series. In 1994 she initiated the first film festival for lesbian and gay films in Chemnitz, which she curated until 2002.

At the same time she got a job as a media pedagogical employee in the youth welfare office of the city of Chemnitz, which she held until 2004. In the local media workshop , which merged with the Chemnitzer Filmwerkstatt in 1994 , she organized various video and film workshop formats in collaboration with Ralf Glaser, with the aim of working with young people to implement their ideas on film. Kunath's first short films were made during this time. Ralf Glaser, a filmmaker himself, had a great influence on her artistic development. Since 2004 she has also been a member of the board of directors of the Chemnitzer Filmwerkstatt.

From 1998 to 2008 operational Kunath with Frank Nimser café-pub difranco in Chemnitz Hainstrasse. In 2003, she and Lars Neuenfeld initiated the first edition of the cultural festival inspections in Chemnitz.

Beate Kunath works as a freelance filmmaker in Chemnitz and Berlin and is also a co-producer, editor and camerawoman. The Chemnitz city ​​magazine 371 described her as "the most renowned Chemnitz filmmaker".

plant

Film still from Forbidden Fruit (2000)

Beate Kunath's work includes short fiction and documentary films, music clips, video installations and photo series. The protagonists of their films, whether fictional or documentary, are women and their spaces of experience.

The semi-documentary film Forbidden Fruit was made in 2000 in collaboration with Yvonne Zückmantel and Sue Maluwa Bruce in Zimbabwe. It deals with the secret love affair between two women, Nongoma and Tsitsi, in a village in rural Zimbabwe. When the relationship is discovered, Nongoma has to flee to town. The two women don't meet again until two years later. Co-writer Sue Maluwa Bruce took on the role of narrator. The film was shot in Mutare in English and Shona . At the presentation of the Teddy Jury Prize for the film at the 2001 Berlinale, the jury described the film as a “courageous and remarkable tale of a love story between two lesbians and its social impact in rural Zimbabwe”.

Documentaries from 2008

In 2008 Kunath's first documentary feature-length film was made, a cooperation with Ursel Schmitz, ... outright . Irmtraud Morgner in Chemnitz , a poetic approach to the childhood and youth of the writer Irmtraud Morgner in her hometown of Chemnitz. Kunath and Schmitz interviewed Morgner's contemporary witnesses and related them in the film to passages from their novels and stories.

For the film This One Day Together, which was completed in 2013 , Kunath toured the international twin cities of Chemnitz over the course of five years and visited women in Akron , Ljubljana , Mulhouse , Usti nad Labem , Tampere , Taiyuan , Düsseldorf , Volgograd and Chemnitz with the Camera born on the same day as you. Her interest lay in portraying the everyday life of women of her generation in very different life situations and environments. "It shows universal problems such as illnesses, making decisions, looking for a job and getting older, which concern people beyond any definition of age."

Another cooperation with Ursel Schmitz is the documentary Hurra! It's a girl! The 875-year history of the city of Chemnitz is traced on the basis of formative female personalities. This film also contains a reference to Irmtraud Morgner, who not only received a short portrait alongside 24 other women, but is also immortalized in the framework of the film: the woman on the red scooter, who is on the trail of historical women in Chemnitz the city, based on the first-person narrator from the short story Das Duell in the episode novel Hochzeit in Konstantinopel (1968).

Raw Chicks, Berlin (2017)

Together with the illustrator Eléonore Roedel , Beate Kunath launched the RAW Chicks event series in the RAW Tempel Club in Berlin-Friedrichshain in 2012, which focuses on women in experimental electronic music. Conceptual video works are created for the parties, with which Kunath accompanies live acts as VJ under the pseudonym [bi: kei]. This has resulted in collaborations with musicians such as Fågelle and Ksen, who have taken them to concerts at festivals such as Heroines of Sound in Berlin and Performing Sound in Salzburg.

Encounters with electronic musicians living in Berlin as part of the series of events triggered the documentary Raw Chicks.Berlin, which premiered on April 22, 2017 in Berlin . The film shows eleven of these musicians in portraits and was also created with the aim of giving female musicians more visibility. In an interview with Broadly-Vice magazine, Beate Kunath explains what attracted her to carrying out the film project: I found the "different facets of these music producers important and the enormous range of electronic music that we discovered through the search for acts for our series of events . The musical spectrum ranged from experimental to noise-based electronic to electro-acoustic music. To see this range of women represented with their own music in a documentary was super exciting as a filmmaker. "

Martina Caspari sees the film in the magazine Imaginations as a contribution “that redefines what home and belonging can mean in the context of an interesting electronic music scene that originated in Berlin. The boundaries between language and gender are explored through the use of a new language (electronic music) and Berlin appears consistently as the topos of women's efforts. It is of course not a utopia - but the place where the relocation of the self takes place ”. It was co-funded through crowdfunding.

In cooperation with Eléonore Roedel, video clips were created in 2019 on songs by the poetry band Landschaft around the poet Ulrike Almut Sandig and the Ukrainian poet, musician and cultural activist Grigory Semenchuk (Brat).

Beate Kunath was appointed as a jury member in various film committees, for example as a jury member for the international film festival for children and young audiences Schlingel in Chemnitz, as a member of the teddy jury at the Berlinale 1999, from 2012 to 2018 at the German Film and Film Festival Media evaluation in Wiesbaden, at the Film Advisory Board at the Cultural Foundation of the Free State of Saxony and in 2020 at the 20minmax short film festival in Ingolstadt .

Filmography (selection)

Feature and experimental film

  • 1993 In between, 4 min. (Short film)
  • 1997 Chance to Seal Our Love, 16 mm, 44 min.
  • 1997 The Walk, 6 min. (Experimental film)
  • 2000 Forbidden Fruit, 30 min. (Short film)
  • 2002 Original Message, 18 min. (Short film)
  • 2002 The Moon and His Two Wives, 4 min. (Animation film)
  • 2006 Sunday morning, 7 min. (Short film)
  • 2006 Toronto Mov., 7 min. (Experimental film)
  • 2006 wall clock, 6 min. (Short film)
  • 2006 # 01 hygienist, 4 min. (Short film)
  • 2007 # 02 The neighbor, 4 min. (Short film)
  • 2008 In summer the old people sit, 23 min. (Short film)

documentary

  • 1999 One of eight, 30 min.
  • 2000 Timbuktu 2000, 24 min.
  • 2008 together with Ursel Schmitz: ... outright. Irmtraud Morgner in Chemnitz, 77 min.
  • 2009 My Own Private Library, 49 min. (Film diary)
  • 2010 Saxony visits Wuhan / China, 98 min. (Video diary)
  • 2013 This one day together, 96 min.
  • 2017 Raw Chicks, Berlin, 105 min.
  • 2018 together with Ursel Schmitz: Hurray! It's a girl !, 145 min.

Music video

  • 1997 Mongrel Bitch: Perpendickular, 4 min.
  • 2008 Marlen Pelny: November Sky, 8 min.
  • 2014 Mimicof: Microscopium, 5 min.
  • 2015 Soundmonsters: Chaos, 3 min.
  • 2019 Landscape (Grigory Semenchuk and Ulrike Almut Sandig): Russenwald

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

  • 2002 Brighton Beach - England / UK , photographs, Difranco Chemnitz
  • 2006 Certain Times , photographs, Kulturhaus Tietz Chemnitz
  • 2016 single things , photographs and video works, gallery in Weltecho Chemnitz
  • 2017 Strommast , as part of the exhibition series Partnerstädtische Kunst, Hotel an der Oper Chemnitz, joint event of the galleries e.artis contemporary and Galerie Borssenanger

Group exhibitions

  • 2003 paper_work (photo series) within the scope of inspections , cultural festival on the Sonnenberg in Chemnitz
  • 2014 Phone Booth - Toronto 2006 (photo series) and My Own Private Library (video) as part of I like it Raw - What the FAK (group exhibition), Galerie Neurotitan in Haus Schwarzenberg in Berlin
  • 2015 Phone Booth - Toronto 2006 (photo series) as part of FAK Berlin in the Gängeviertel Hamburg
  • 2019 betwixt and between (photo) and stay behind (video) as part of coming home - news from alumni , Galerie Borssenanger in Chemnitz
  • 2020 Onomichi / Japan (photo series) as part of I like it Raw - FAK Upgrade 2.0 , Galerie Neurotitan Berlin

Prizes and awards

Work grants

Film awards

The Walk

  • 1999 JugendKunstBiennale of the Saxon-Bavarian city network , 1st sponsorship award
  • 1999 Vita-Filmpreis Chemnitz, 3rd place

Forbidden Fruit

  • 2001 51st Berlin International Film Festival , Teddy Jury Prize
  • 2001 15th International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival Bologna, Special Jury Mention
  • 2001 Identities , Queer Film Festival Vienna - FEMMEDIA Prize, Best Short Film

The Moon and His Two Wives

  • 2013 Special Prize from Wunderland - Berlin's first storytelling festival

Web links

Commons : Beate Kunath  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b chezz: Chemnitz Celluloid - Part 7: Beate Kunath. In: 371stadtmagazin.de. Cartell, May 1, 2009, accessed June 22, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Sebastian Schneller: Alternative film award: Techno thunderstorm after the gala. In: tagesspiegel.de. February 18, 2001, accessed June 22, 2020 .
  3. ↑ a b My Own Private Library. In: torinofilmfest.org. Retrieved June 26, 2020 (English).
  4. ↑ Chemnitz a contentious home - Beate Kunath. In: stadtstreicher.de. January 1, 2011, accessed April 13, 2020 . Link to the e-booklet at issuu.com, issue No. 3/2014, p. 24.
  5. ↑ Bye Bye difranco! Café difranco on Hainstrasse closes. In: 371stadtmagazin.de. Cartell, February 1, 2014, accessed June 20, 2020 .
  6. ^ André Winternitz: Art and culture festival "Inspections" in the allotment garden section. In: rottenplaces.de. August 17, 2018, accessed June 20, 2020 .
  7. ↑ a b Vera Jakubeit: One Day: Sisters in the Sister Cities. In: 371stadtmagazin.de. March 1, 2014, accessed June 26, 2020 .
  8. ↑ Martin P. Botha: Queering African Film Aesthetics: A Survey from the 1950s to 2003 . In: Nwachukwu Frank Ukadike (Ed.): Critical Approaches to African Cinema Discourse . Lexington Books, Lanham, Boulder, New York, Toronto, Plymouth 2014, ISBN 978-0-7391-8093-8 , pp. 84 .
  9. ↑ Film data sheet Forbidden Fruit (2001). In: berlinale.de. Retrieved June 22, 2020 . At Google Books
  10. ↑ Teddy Award Jury Prize: Forbidden Fruit . In: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin (Hrsg.): 51st Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin - The prizes / The Awards (catalog) . Berlin 2001, p. 22 .
  11. ^ J. Zichner: Between Akron and Taiyuan: A common day and 46 years. In: Stadtstreicher - Chemnitz magazine. March 1, 2014, accessed June 27, 2020 .
  12. ↑ Ute Neubauer: Düsseldorf: A look at the twin city Chemnitz with the documentary "Hurray" it's a girl! In: report-d.de - Internet newspaper Düsseldorf. April 12, 2019, accessed June 27, 2020 .
  13. ↑ Jana Peters: The fate of women on the canvas. In: Freiepresse.de. March 10, 2018, accessed June 27, 2020 .
  14. ↑ Ulrike Rechel: Music & Party in Berlin: The Raw Chicks Parties in the R19. In: tip-berlin.de. June 14, 2013, accessed June 26, 2020 .
  15. ↑ Heroines Edition # 6 (2018). In: heroines-of-sound.com. Retrieved June 26, 2020 .
  16. ↑ Visuele muziek (ook voor dode dieren). In: gonzocircus.com. December 13, 2018, accessed April 13, 2020 (Dutch).
  17. ↑ Fågelle & BI: KEI. In: performingsound.com. Retrieved June 22, 2020 .
  18. ↑ Nadine Schildhauer: Women on regulators. In: missy-magazine.de. January 25, 2017, accessed June 26, 2020 .
  19. ↑ Kristina Kaufmann: Raw Chicks. Berlin - Director Beate Kunath on her documentary as a music producer. In: spex.de. January 19, 2017, accessed June 26, 2020 .
  20. ↑ Jana Demnitz: Electro scene: Beat and sounds for more visibility. In: tagesspiegel.de (video). February 6, 2017, accessed June 26, 2020 .
  21. ↑ Broadly Staff: "Raw Chicks.Berlin" shows why the Berlin club scene is so unique. In: Broadly-Vice. January 13, 2017, accessed June 26, 2020 .
  22. ↑ Martina Caspari: Beate Kunath's “Raw Chicks.Berlin” (2017), Review. In: Imaginations: Journal of Cross-Cultural Image Studies. May 30, 2018, accessed June 26, 2020 .
  23. ↑ Beate Kunath: Raw Chicks. Berlin: Portrait of female music producers. In: startnext.com. Retrieved April 13, 2020 .
  24. ↑ Short film jury for 2020. In: 20minmax.com. Association for the Promotion of Film Culture - Von der Rolle e. V., accessed on June 22, 2020 .
  25. ↑ Of fish and films. Poetry film. In: 371stadtmagazin.de. January 1, 2007, accessed June 26, 2020 .
  26. ↑ In summer the old people sit. In: ag-kurzfilm.de. Federal Association of German Short Films, accessed on June 26, 2020 .
  27. ↑ individual things [20160716]. In: weltecho.eu. The shore e. V. and Oscar e. V., accessed on June 26, 2020 .
  28. ↑ Matthias Zwarg: The silent power of pictures. In: Freiepresse.de. Medien Union, July 19, 2016, accessed on June 22, 2020 .
  29. ↑ Event horizon. In: hoteloper-chemnitz.de. Retrieved June 26, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Kunath, Beate
ALTERNATIVE NAMES bi: kei
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German filmmaker and screenwriter
DATE OF BIRTH September 18, 1967
PLACE OF BIRTH Karl Marx City