01.07.2022 - 26.02.2023
The world under the surface of the sea has always fascinated people. Numerous filmmakers also dive down again and again to offer their audience very special images. Whether documentary filmmaker Jacques Cousteau or James Cameron, who is currently creating a whole new underwater world for his "Avatar" sequel - with their films, they show people a fascinating world that is now the focus of a new special exhibition at the DFF. Until 08 January, everything in IM TIEFENRAUSCH revolves around "film under water". All film and underwater fans are invited to take a sensual journey into the cinematic world of the deep. In doing so, the exhibition promises an intoxicating experience, a world of images underwater to be experienced with all the senses: coral forests glowing in all colors, fascinating shoals of jellyfish, gigantic squids, elegant dolphins, overwhelming whales, frightening sharks, enchanting mermaids, mysterious fish men, monsters, ghosts, aliens and lovers, sinking ships, people trapped in submarines and magical worlds of wrecks and ruins.
As soon as you enter the exhibition space, which resembles a shimmering blue moving-image aquarium, the central motifs and themes of underwater film can be experienced sensually. Young and old alike will be fascinated by the exotic creatures and imaginative underwater scenes they encounter as they tour the exhibition. A finely composed interplay of moving image, light and sound creates an audiovisual experience that turns the title into a program.
The exhibition is dominated by a huge, semi-transparent canvas circle in the center of the room. Anyone who enters is surrounded by a flickering, ceiling-high three-quarter circle that immerses one completely in the world of water: curator Michael Kinzer has put together an extensive compilation of underwater film scenes for this purpose, offering an aesthetic adventure of the deep guided by the senses. An underwater flicker cast from the walls back onto the glossy vinyl floor creates the illusion of being deeply immersed in the blue noise, even floating in the vastness of the sea.
Other projections and monitors delve into a range of topics and genres, such as famous underwater documentarians like Hans Hass and Jacques Yves Cousteau. A spatially separated "black lagoon" is dedicated to the nasty or not child-friendly scenes in underwater films. Children are therefore not allowed here: lots of blood flows, sharks bite, orcas capsize boats, limbs are lost and people show their fear. In another separate, completely dark room, a sound installation by sound designer Rana Eid (Lebanon) can be experienced, which brings the underwater world to life acoustically.
There is an extensive accompanying program to the exhibition with exciting themed tours, workshops, film series and lectures. These events allow a thematic deepening and considers the film under water also under scientific, art historical and ecological aspects. The broad interdisciplinary spectrum reflects the versatility of the underwater theme and appeals to different target groups.
