Bayna Hayakel Studio Baalbeck, Director: SISKA, Germany, Lebanon 2018, 42 min, DCP, original version with English subtitles, original languages: Arabic, French, English

Wednesday, June 4, 2025, 7 pm

Blue Salon, Room 012, HfG Karlsruhe

Free admission, donation requested

As part of a workshop at the HfG Karlsruhe, the artist Siska will be presenting two films that deal with archives and archaeology. The films are “In the Ruins of Baalbeck Studios” (2017) and “J€sus $aves” (2024, in progress). Through archaeological research and filmic codes, Siska questions processes of archiving, memory and historiography. An introduction and Q&A round off the program.

In Bayna Hayakel Studio Baalbeck, director Siska explores the lost archive of Studio Baalbek, once the largest film studio in the Arab world. It documents the decline of Lebanese film heritage after the civil war and sheds light on the heyday of cinema in the 1960s-70s, when many Egyptian filmmakers emigrated to Lebanon. J€SUS $AVES examines Hollywood's archaeology and Arab fetishism in cinema. The starting point is Cecil B. DeMille's buried film set “The City of the Pharaoh” from The Ten Commandments. Through 16mm footage, the film reflects on cultural appropriation, identity and Hollywood's influence on ethnicity, gender and power.

The film evening is a cooperation between the Blauer Salon and the Department of Scenography and Exhibition Design at the HfG Karlsruhe. Moderated by Prof. Constanze Fischbeck.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

The Kino im Blauen Salon, the student cinema of the Hochschule für Gestaltung, has been run by students since 2017 and has been a registered association since the beginning of 2024: https://kinoimblauensalon.de/de/news.

More about the film series in summer semester 2025:

Kino im Blauen Salon, the student cinema of the Hochschule für Gestaltung, invites you to the new program for the summer semester! Our film program, which was awarded 1st prize by the Deutsche Kinemathek, is now in its 18th semester! Time to take a brief look back... In our early days, cineastes were few and far between in the Blauer Salon, whereas today the room seems almost too small. But we have always remained true to our ideals: Analog film screenings in 35mm & 16mm, joint voluntary work with free admission and a relaxed HfG atmosphere. And the summer open-air cinema on the lawn in front of the HfG is already in its 6th round, this time at the end of May! So it's time not to look back, but to look forward: To another summer semester full of cinematic-poetic cinema highlights:
Our main interest this summer is poetry, because the nights are getting longer, the horizon endless and there's something in the air. But what does cinema have to do with poetry? Find out in our “Cinema Poetico” series, in which we set off on multiple narrative strands, meandering perspectives, visual detours and everything that lies between the lines. The series presents a hand-picked selection of classics and hidden gems that form the silent branches of cinema.
There are also nightly excursions with our “Midnight Movies”, the legendary Kult Sneak, experimental short film programs, workshops, specials, guests and, of course, the highlight of the cinema year, the open-air cinema in front of the HfG, under the motto “Freedom in Change”. See you soon at the movies!