Films from countries where freedom of expression and creativity are under threat are the focus of the Instar Film Festival, which this year takes place over three days in the Interim at Villa Stuck in Goethestrasse, with a special focus on Munich. Instar is organized by the Hannah Arendt Institute for Artivism, a collective founded by Cuban artist Tania Bruguera in 2015. The film festival takes place annually; the first edition was held in Havana in December 2019. It is a transnational cooperation that takes place simultaneously in several international venues.

This year's fifth edition will feature films and panel discussions in Madrid, Barcelona, Paris, Berkeley and Munich until November 3, as well as an online program for Cuba - should the Caribbean state not suffer another blackout. One of the focuses of the film festival is Munich, where Bruguera currently has the exhibition “The Condition of No” at the VS, the temporary quarters of the Villa Stuck at Goethestraße 54 in Munich.

This year, Instar is dedicated to Chinese independent cinema in collaboration with the Chinese Independent Film Archive (CIFA). It will screen works produced without state authorization, some of which were only shown in censored versions or not screened at all in their own country because they deal with social or political issues.

The opening at VS is free of charge and will take place on Friday, November 1 at 6:15 pm. Sabrina Qiong Yu of Newcastle University will give a short lecture on films in exhibitions, state film censorship in China and the work of the Chinese Independent Film Archive (CIFA). This will be followed (6.30pm) by a screening of the two Chinese films “The Cold Winter” from 2011, directed by Zheng Kuo, and “The Second Interrogation” from 2022, directed by Wang Tuo, both about artists and their production conditions in China.

On Saturday, November 2, the film “An Asian Ghost Story” (director: Bo Wang, Hong Kong/Netherlands, 2023) is on the program at 2 p.m., followed by “The Memo” (director: Badlands Film Group, China 2023) at 3 p.m. and “Republic” (director: Jin Jiang, China-Singapore, 2023) at 4 p.m. On Sunday, November 3, the festival begins at 11 am with the film “Bing'ai” (director: Feng Yan, China, 2007), followed by “Disorder” (director: Huang Weikai, China, 2009) at 2 pm.
INSTAR Film Festival, VS inside Villa Stuck, Goethestraße 54, November 1 to 3, Friday free admission, for Saturday and Sunday tickets are available at the museum box office or at the online store of the Villa Stuck Museum.