Lichtblick-Kino - Cinema Space For Debate and Connection
Stattkino Berlin e.V. - Lichtblick-Kino
Germany
Films with post-screening talks are space for respectful and open debate in an increasingly polarized city. Two regular program threads: exBlicks is a monthly series of largely documentaries and features on current political topics, most recently the wars in Gaza and Ukraine. The series is curated and moderated by journalist Nadja Vancauwenberghe with filmmakers or political experts. Soundwatch is an annual festival and monthly screening series exploring interaction between music and moving image. Thematic focus: anti-fascist music, underground and subcultures in Central and Eastern Europe.
Founded in 1994 as Stattkino Berlin e.V., the cinema collective initially organized film series on political topics. Since 1998, the cinema is in a housing project in a former squat. Lichtblick also is also a hub for many projects and initiatives in Berlin’s cinema and cultural scene. Many former and current contributors are distributors, curators, filmmakers, musicians and artists, and the cinema program features local talent. The power of cinema and the neutral space of the movie theater foster a lively, tolerant, and open discussion with the audience. Two regular series film/talk series: co-curated with journalist Nadja Vancauwenberghe, founder of the English-language city magazine Exberliner, the film series exBlicks specifically for our international, English-speaking audience with works, some of which do not have a German distributor, but have already gained international recognition. The films are shown in English and the subsequent discussions with directors, actors, writers, and activists also take place in English. Soundwatch features music documentaries, audiovisual performances, music video programs and more which explore music as cultural resistance.