Preparations are underway for the premiere of the Stolperstein films on January 26 and 27 at Puschkino. Titled 'Unseen!', this year's production series sheds light on stories that have long remained in the shadows of memorial culture. The films give voice to women forced into prostitution at Buchenwald concentration camp, and to Kurt Koch from Halle, a gay man whose story has never been told. One production follows Michal Saar Bleiweiß on her journey from Israel to Halle for the installation of a Stolperstein in memory of her father Manfred Katz, and explore with Tanya Yael Raab how antisemitic body norms continue to shape beauty ideals and the pursuit of self-optimization today. Another production documents the attacks on the Stolpersteine in Zeitz, capturing the civil courage of a city that refuses to look away.

On the occasion of the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust 2025, the Puschkino Halle, in cooperation with the City Museum of Halle (Saale), the Jewish Community, and the Master's program in Multimedia and Authorship, presented four short film productions from the film series "STOLPERSTEINE - Films against oblivion" on January 27, 2025, at 6 PM.

The four short films are the result of a creative process that originated within the Master's program in Multimedia and Authorship seminar Media Practice: Format Development 'STOLPERSTEINE'. In my role as artistic director of the seminar, I introduced the audience to the themes of the films. Together with my colleague Maren Schuster, I curated the program which is based on the quote: 'I am always running behind'. Irene Eber – the protagonist of the Film THE JOURNEY from whom this quote originates – said it in the context of a felt sense of deficiency:

"Had there been no war, I could have gone to school. I would have finished much earlier. I would have received my doctorate, my degree, much earlier. I would have started much earlier, but I am always running behind. I have lost time and I will never catch up."

This persistent feeling of running behind - from different, yet distinctly female perspectives - is the main metaphor within the framework of the films we curated for the screening as well as part of the panel discussion with one of the filmmakers Evi Lemberger after the screening.

The Stadtmuseum Halle holds a film screening on the occasion of the German day of remembrance for the victims of National Socialism on Thursday, January 26, 2023 at 6 p.m. Three films by students from the master's program Multimedia and Authorship at the Department for Media and Communication (Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg) from the series "STOLPERSTEINE – Filme gegen das Vergessen // Films against oblivion" will be shown. As artistic director of the STOLPERSTEINE films this year, Leef Hansen will moderate the event and introduce the films to the audience.