Peter KUBELKA (1934, Austria) received his film education in Vienna and Rome, was co-founder and curator of the Austrian Film Museum and is a member of the New York Film-makers' Co-operative. He is one of the best-known post-war experimental and documentary filmmakers and scholars. In 2005 he received the Austrian Decoration for Science and Art.<br />

Peter Kubelka

Martina Kudlácek

Diary like portrait in which friends reminisce about the grand old lady of the American avant-garde: Marie Menken (1909-1970). She inspired artists such as Brakhage and Warhol and was the model for Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf.

IFFR 2006

Notes on Marie Menken, 

Cinema Regained

Notes on Marie Menken

Pip Chodorov

Named after the experimental film classic by Len Lye, Free Radicals is an informative yet above all passionate film essay, as well as a fine introduction to the world of avant-garde film.

IFFR 2011

Free Radicals - A History of Experimental Cinema, 

Signals: Regained

Free Radicals - A History of Experimental Cinema

In his first film work, Kubelka evokes episodes of flirtation, courtship, and break-ups, played out against a series of non-corresponding audio excerpts.

IFFR 2012

Mosaik im Vertrauen, 

Mosaik im Vertrauen

Kubelka strips the images down to their black-and-white essentials, to create the ultimate abstract film choreography.

Adebar, 

Adebar

IFFR 1998

LopLop

Supposedly shot as a commercial for an Austrian beer, Kubelka drastically edited the material into a hermetic yet fascinating cinema object.

IFFR 2002

Schwechater, 

What (is) Cinema?

Schwechater

Under the guise of a conventional amateur travelogue portraying a safari, Kubelka confronts us with a cunning cultural analysis of the hunt for images.

Unsere Afrikareise, 

Unsere Afrikareise

Cecilia Miniucchi

Robert Dean

Cinéma Vérité portrait of the bloodiest of modern artists.

IFFR 2000

Nitsch 98, 

main programme short

Nitsch 98

This is a film composed entirely of solid black and solid white frames, strung together in lengths as long as 24 frames and as short as a single frame.

Arnulf Rainer, 

Arnulf Rainer

What (is) Cinema? TENT.

Arnulf Rainer, member of the Wiener Aktionists, is an artist of unique originality and intensity. His 'face art' constitutes the unique imagery of the film.

Pause!, 

Pause!

Discarded takes from advertising films are presented almost untouched, as documents that unwittingly offer valuable and humorous insights into the human condition.

Dichtung und Wahrheit, 

Dichtung und Wahrheit

An extremely gentle, patient, careful portrait of an iconic film artist, where the subject matter surpasses the biographical to reveal precious insights in the phenomenon of film. The audience is requested to make time, in order to witness and experience the creative use of time.

Fragments of Kubelka, 

Fragments of Kubelka

"Objects of art may be edible, like a buttered slice of bread or they may be inedible, like ordinary sculpture." Avant-garde monument Peter Kubelka has collected thousands of ethnographic objects which he uses in his lectures on issues such as “what is cinema” and “cooking as an art form” to illustrate the evolution of craft, thought and communication.

IFFR 2025
30 Jan – 9 Feb 2025

Peter Kubelka

Filmography

Peter Kubelka at IFFR

Unsere Afrikareise

Adebar

Arnulf Rainer

Nitsch 98

Schwechater

Adebar

Arnulf Rainer

Schwechater

Dichtung und Wahrheit

Notes on Marie Menken

Arnulf Rainer

Free Radicals - A History of Experimental Cinema

Adebar

Arnulf Rainer

Dichtung und Wahrheit

Fragments of Kubelka

Mosaik im Vertrauen

Pause!

Schwechater

Unsere Afrikareise

Peter Kubelka Presents: Bread, Butter and Other Metaphors