The latest film by Hartmut Bitomsky is, just like much of his early work, a original film essay about film and film history. Just as in earlier films, he makes inventive use of the potential offered by the medium video to analyse films.The history of the UFA is the story of a risky financial venture in the twenties and a propaganda instrument in the thirties. Bitomsky’s approach stands out because he involvesthis social and political context in investigating and dissecting films. In this way the UFA – the largest film production company in Germany – stands for Germany between the wars and hence for the traumatic period of the Third Reich. Bitomsky also takes advantage of the opportunity to question prevailing opinions among the writers of film history. He takes a fairly open-minded look and primarily seeks his answers in the film images themselves.Bitomsky shows many UFA films in a kind of video installation on several monitors and allows a scanning camera go from film to film. He also leafs through photo albums, looks at posters and brochures and talks to the odd expert.Bitomsky made two versions of this film; the French co¬producer La Sept demanded a shorter version. The original version, also broadcast by German television, will be screened at the festival.
