Kestner Cinémathèque
In our Kestner Cinémathèque, as part of our educational programme, we show various short films that have been selected by the artists and curators as referential accompaniment to the exhibitions.
August 10th - Oktober 13th, 2024
Vita Activa: The Spirit of Hannah Arendt by Ada Upschiz, 2015, 2:05h
In her documentary Vita Activa: The Spirit of Hannah Arendt (2015), Israeli filmmaker Ada Ushpiz has placed Arendt's complex writing and thinking - the spirit of Hannah Arendt - at the center of the story.
Ushpiz undertakes the daunting task of making Arendt's multi-layered writing more comprehensible through film - clarifying her thinking around concepts such as “the banality of evil” and the annihilation of thought by Nazi ideology - while also capturing in broad strokes the biographical facts of Arendt's life. As a documentary about Arendt's words and life, the film strives for an interpretation of both.
Ushpiz underscores her primary interest in Arendt's ideas and their enduring relevance by opening her film with words on screen rather than images: “The banality of evil [...] is at the center of a global moral and political debate that has spanned more than half a century [...] Hannah Arendt died in 1975 and never experienced the enduring relevance of her ideas.”
Key points of the documentary are: “The prevalence of totalitarian elements in non-totalitarian regimes; the danger of ideology, any ideology; the necessity of pluralism; the banality of evil in today's world.” The latter point is illuminated by archival material from the Eichmann trial, interviews with Arendt and others who knew her, and contemporary voices of supporters and opponents who explain the foundations of Arendt's political theory.
Ada Ushpiz is a filmmaker and journalist. After a bachelor's degree in literature and philosophy at Tel Aviv University, she completed her studies in directing at the London Film School in 1974, followed by a BA in history. From 1969 to 1999, she worked as a socio-political editor for the Israeli daily Haaretz. In the 70s and 80s, Ada Ushpiz produced various documentaries for Israeli television. Her documentary film “Asurot” (“Locked Up”, 2001) was shown at over 50 international film festivals and won several awards.