Reproduktion

Reproduction

Forum 2024

How much does a place reveal about its history? How much can forbears and their descendants know about one another? And how much continuity is contained within progress? When Katharina Pethke became a professor at Hamburg’s University of Fine Arts, it set in motion a process of reflection and research. Before, she had studied there, and so too had her mother and grandmother. Each of the women believed they were breaking new ground and yet, consciously or unconsciously, through stance or in protest, continued to carry on a legacy. This essay film examines the three generations caught between social determination and artistic ambition, self-will and motherhood, production and reproduction. The university building and its sole sculpture by a woman artist purchased by urban planner Fritz Schumacher, “Frauenschicksal” (Women’s Fate), become a mirror as well as showcase for enduring ambivalences. A virtuosic and astute work from an established filmmaker, Reproduktion explores questions of feminine and artistic identity through the lens of Pethke’s personal experience, interweaving her family biography with the architectural history of the art and media campus.

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by Katharina Pethke Germany 2024 German 111’ Colour & Black/White World premiere | Documentary form

Crew

Director	Katharina Pethke
Screenplay	Katharina Pethke
Cinematography	Christoph Rohrscheidt
Editing	Simon Quack
Music	Nika Son
Sound Design	Lukas Brandes
Sound	Timo Selengia
Producers	Julia Cöllen, Frank Scheuffele, Karsten Krause

World sales

Pluto Film

http://www.plutofilm.de/ http://www.plutofilm.de/

Produced by

Fünferfilm

http://www.fuenferfilm.de http://www.fuenferfilm.de

Photos

Katharina Pethke

Born in Hamburg in 1979, she studied art history, German studies and visual communication in Hamburg and later at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne. From 2012 to 2019, she was Professor at the Hamburg University of Fine Arts. With Louisa she won the German Short Film Award in Gold and a Golden Dove at DOK Leipzig. Reproduktion is her first feature-length film.

Filmography

2011 Louisa; documentary 2016 Jedermann (Everyman); short film 2019 Dazwischen Elsa (Elsa In-Between); short film 2021 Jedermann und ich (Everyman and I); documentary 2022 Uncanny Me; documentary 2024 Reproduktion (Reproduction); documentary

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2024