Film ist mehr als Film

Film ist. is an assembly of found footage, mostly of material from different kinds of scientific and educational films. Films about the acrobatic flights of pigeons and testing the intelligence of apes; paper projectiles penetrating bubbles of air, and bullets passing through ostrich eggs; the dynamics of the diaphragm as one breathes, sings or makes music; and much more. These kind of images are rarely seen on movie screens as their original purpose was certainly a different one. Nevertheless, in this compilation they create a world of their own, a strange and fascinating universe.Gustav Deutsch: ‘In his last interview Louis Lumière said: “My work has always been in scientific research. I have never engaged in what is termed ‘production’.” Other film pioneers such as Georges Démeny and Etienne-Jules Marey also used their inventions as an instrument for scientific research work aboveall else. Since the initial chrono-photographic series, successive scientists in our century have taken advantage of all the possibilities of cinematography to explore the world, while at the same time incorporating parallel technical developments in image creation, such as X-ray film. The resulting pictures have not only changed our perception of the world, but also our ideas of life and death.’