Tribes of Cologne | Die Stämme von Köln
Filmed over several years in the course of an ethnographic research TRIBES OF COLOGNE (D 2011, 90 min.) follows an association of about 80 clubs from the Rhineland whose members re-enact the historic life worlds of ›foreign‹ or ›ancient‹ peoples as a leisure time activity. Originating from the carnival the Cologne Tribes form a diverse local network drawing together such versatile interests as historical reenactment, amateur anthropology and alternative spirituality, namely shamanism. The audiovisual research project investigates how the performances of the club members translate a wide range of globally circulating popular media such as historical dramas, adventure novels, travel literature, TV documentaries, museum exhibitions and catalogues as well as on ethnographies or historical sources into bodily actions and material artifacts. By focusing on the media practices of remediation that shape the reenactments of the Cologne Tribes the project seeks to raise questions on the ambiguity of mimetic practices as modes to experience alterity, as embodied knowledge production, as subversive political strategy or as cultural appropriation.
The documentary feature was part of my dissertation at the University of Siegen . It is complemented by a textual ethnography following the narrative structure of the film and an image atlas (Cologne Tribes. Media Ethnography of Mimetic Practices, in preparation for 2020). Film, text and photography are employed in accordance with their specific media capacities to generate practice-based knowledge as well as for formation the of theory.
Tribes of Cologne | Die Stämme von Köln
Documentary Film | D 2011 | 90 min.
Credits
Director Anja Dreschke Image Anja Dreschke | Olaf Hirschberg | Sebastian Woithe Editing Julia Wiegand | Gerrit Lucas | Volker Gehrke Sound Thorsten & Alex Czart | Christoph Matthiä Dramaturgical Advice Gesa Marten Research Advice Erhard Schüttpelz Production Management Julia Meyer Producers Olaf Hirschberg | Tom Schreiber Production 58Filme Editor (TV/WDR) Jutta Krug Funding Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, WDR Distribution Real Fiction Film
Nominated for the ›Intangible Culture Prize‹ and the Richard Werbner Award for Visual Ethnography at 12th RAI International Festival of Ethnographic Film, 2012
Screenings
Cinema | TV | Festival
13.05.2011 Premiere: Radstadion Open Air, Cologne
19.05.2011 Cinema release: Filmpalette, Köln | 8 weeks theatrical distribution in Germany
26.06.2011 12th RAI International Festival of Ethnographic Film, London
28.09.2011 Days of Ethnographic Cinema, Moscow
19.11.2011 10. Münchner EthnoFilmfest, Munich
04.12.2011 Filmfestival An-/Verwandlungen & Tages des Ethnologischen Films, Grassi Museum, Leipzig
10.12.2011 Intima lente Festival di Film Etnografici, Caserta/Italy
09.02.2012 German TV | WDR Westdeutscher Rundfunk
24.04.2012 Sputnik-Kino, Filmclub Berlin
04.05.2012 4. Etnofilm Festival, Rovinj, Croatia
22.05.2012 Zebra-Kino, Konstanz
31.01.2013 German TV | WDR Westdeutscher Rundfunk
17.02.2014 Goethe-Institut, Novosikirsk, Russlia
18.02.2014 Goethe-Institut, Akademgorodok, Russia
27.02.2014 German TV | SWR Südwestdeutscher Rundfunk
21.02.2016 Filmclub 813, Köln Cologne
23.02.2017 German TV | SWR Südwestdeutscher Rundfunk
18.05.2017 Lichthaus-Kino, Weimar
Academic
05.06.2012 Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunschweig
05.11.2012 Universität Koblenz Landau, Institut für Kulturwissenschaft
04.12.2012 Université de Lausanne, Institut de sciences sociales des religions contemporaines, Schweiz
22.01.2013 Universität Siegen, Graduiertenkolleg ›Locating Media‹
24.05.2013 Universität Köln, Institut für Ethnologie
05.07.2013 Universität Halle, MPI, Tag der Wissenschaft
27.02.2014 Université Fribourg, Theologische Fakultät, Schweiz
03.04.2014 Universität Leuven, Institute for Anthropological Research in Africa, Belgien
26.08.2014 Cusanuswerk Lingen
06.11.2015 Universität Bern, Graduate School of the Humanities
23.11.2016 Universität Köln, Institut für Theater und Medienkultur
26.01.2017 Universität Mainz, Institut für Film-, Theater-, Medien- und Kulturwissenschaft
Exhibition
25.04. – 01.06.2017 Goethe-Institut Toronto, Exhibition ›Heinrich Zille: Fun Fair‹
Reviews (selected)
›Wie bei den Hottentotten. Kölner Tribalismus: Der WDR zeigt einen erstaunlichen über die Sehnsucht nach dem Eigenen im Fremden‹, Rezension von Oliver Jungen, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 08.02.2012; ›Karnevalistische Wissenschaft‹, Rezension von Reiner Knepperges, CARG0 Film/Medien/Kultur Magarin 18, 2013; ›Schnauz trägt Fell. Ethno-Subkultur in Kölner Karneval‹, Rezension von Meike Laaff, Die Tageszeitung (taz), 09.02.2012; ›Absonderliches. Die Kölner Stämme in der Filmpalette‹, Choices 07/11; Rezension von Martin Klein, Stadtrevue, 05/2011; ›Rezension‹, epd Filmdienst, 06/2011. ›The Past as Carnival‹, Rezension von Cornelius Holtorf, Time and Mind: The Journal of Archaeology, Consciousness and Culture 5:2: 195-202.