|8|16|35|
The series |8|16|35| celebrates HoF Classics on film as unique cinematic moments. Once, the analog format was the technical standard for every screening. Today, curating this series is a veritable truffle hunt through the world’s archives. Some desired films may no longer be available. All the more, we are now thrilled for a wild ride with the following films that have made cinematic history.
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Beneath the Valley of the Ultra Vixens
Russ Meyer’s BENEATH THE VALLEY OF THE ULTRA VIXENS - IM TIEFEN TAL DER SUPERHEXEN is the third part of the sexploitation VIXEN trilogy, which celebrated its German premiere at HoF. Meyer’s double-D universe features strong women and weak men—a role reversal that was unusual for audiences in the 1960s and 1970s. Critic B. Ruby Rich described nude film pioneer Meyer as one of the first feminist directors in the USA.
Details
Director: Russ Meyer
14th Hof Film Festival (1978)
German version
Talentprobe
With the documentary TALENTPROBE, Peter Goedel presents the true precursor of today’s casting shows as a world premiere in Hof in 1980. We are at “Udo Werner’s talent audition for everyone” in Cologne’s Rheinpark. Singers face a crowd of 5,000 people equipped with whistles, trumpets, and other equipment, who mercilessly boo them if displeased. The goal is to finish the performance despite the resistance.
Details
Director: Peter Goedel
14th Hof Film Festival (1980)
The Intruder – Weisser Terror
Roger Corman’s films were frequently shown in Hof. In 1981, he personally attended the HoF for his retrospective, where his perhaps most significant film, THE INTRUDER from 1961, was presented. In a fictional small town in the southern USA at the end of the 1950s, a young white politician incites the population against black residents with violent slogans. From today’s perspective, the uninhibited use of the N-word and other racist insults by almost all the characters is particularly disturbing. THE INTRUDER is undeniably a document of its time, but at the same time, it seems like a foreshadowing of the present day. The storming of the Capitol in Washington on January 6, 2021, is just one frightening example of the film’s continued relevance.
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Director: Roger Corman
15th Hof Film Festival (1981)
German version
Terror 2000
After DAS DEUTSCHE KETTENSÄGENMASSAKER and 100 JAHRE ADOLF HITLER, TERROR 2000 is the final part of the “Germany trilogy.” Hate, love, sexuality, and death. Christoph Schlingensief is back in Hof. In his usual exaggerated manner, he draws with precision in exaggeration a picture of Germany in the year 1 after Rostock-Lichtenhagen. Among others, Dietrich Kuhlbrodt appears again, who will also be at the film festival this year and is portrayed in the film NONKONFORM. The relevance remains unsettling.
Director: Christoph Schlingensief
26th Hof Film Festival (1992)
The Virgin Suicides
THE VIRGIN SUICIDES - VERLORENE JUGEND is Sofia Coppola’s impressive feature film debut, which premiered in Germany at HoF. It is the melancholy counterpart to AMERICAN PIE. Sofia Coppola depicts the despair, longing, and hesitation of adolescents, along with their suburban cluelessness in the 70s. Notable performances by Kathleen Turner, James Woods, Kirsten Dunst, and Josh Hartnett make the film consistently painfully “beautiful.”
Details
Director: Sofia Coppola
34th Hof Film Festival (2000)
OV with English subtitles