This programme brings together the work of Jessica Sarah Rinland and Narcisa Hirsch, two filmmakers who, in different ways, explore attention, perception, and our place within the living world.

We are delighted to welcome Jessica Sarah Rinland back to Wolf, where she will present a selection of her most recent works as Berlin premieres. Alongside these, she has curated a group of films by Narcisa Hirsch—an influential experimental filmmaker born in Berlin in 1928, who lived and worked in Argentina. Much of Hirsch’s work has never been shown here, making these screenings a rare opportunity to encounter her films in Berlin. As Rinland is currently working on a book dedicated to Hirsch, she will also share excerpts from her writing, opening up another layer of dialogue between the two artists.

Thursday, June 4, 18:30
Programme 1:

Collective Monologue
by Jessica Sarah Rinland, Argentina, UK 2024, 104', Spanish with English subtitles

Intimate and fragmented moments unfold across a network of zoos and animal rescue centers in Argentina. As the histories of these institutions emerge, workers dedicate themselves—day and night—to the care of the animals that remain, forming bonds that blur the boundaries between human and non-human life.

With a form that is intricate and precise, yet pleasingly fragmented and open, Rinland’s hypnotic approach invites us to question not only how we look at animals, but how we coexist with them. (...) An unclassifiable, breathtakingly beautiful work that challenges us to reconsider our place in the world. (...) Transcends the boundaries between human and animal, capturing the infinite tenderness of relationships rooted in the pure immediacy of existence. – Cineuropa

Friday, June 5, 17:00
Programme 2: Films by Rinland & Hirsch

Darse Cuenta
by Jessica Sarah Rinland, 2008, 3'
An unidentifiable image appears and disappears in the middle of a road.

Sol de Campinas
by Jessica Sarah Rinland, 2021, 27'
Sol de Campinas follows archaeologists working over the past decade to excavate a ring of mounds surrounding a central plaza in what is now Acre, Brazil. Moving between field and laboratory, they interpret how this land was constructed, examining settlement patterns and the composition of anthropogenic soil that endures today.

Rafael en Rio
by Narcisa Hirsch, c. 1970s, 4'
Hirsch speaks a love letter to Rafael Maina as he lays on a secluded beach in Rio de Janairo, capturing an intimate encounter between body, landscape, and camera.

Rafael
by Narcisa Hirsch, 1975, 10'
A quiet, enigmatic study of a young man named Rafael. Through stillness, duration, and subtle shifts in presence, Hirsch constructs a portrait that resists narrative, focusing instead on perception, time, and the act of looking.

Querida Chick
by Jessica Sarah Rinland, 2021, 7'
A film-letter to Chick Strand.

Seguro que Bach cerraba la puerta cuando quería trabajar (Bach Probably Closed the Door When He Wanted to Work)
by Narcisa Hirsch, Argentina 1979, 27'
"'The faces of the other women, my friends, are so familiar. They are all mine. My face on the other hand, is less familiar.’ Narcisa Hirsch films her friends’ faces, including her own. Later, she records their voices as they respond to their own image, as well as her voice reacting to hers. Narcisa repeats this exercise often as she ages, each time reflecting on how she, as a woman is learning to ‘look at herself from the outside’." (Jessica Sarah Rinland)

Friday, June 5, 19:00
Programme 3

Come Out
by Narcisa Hirsch, 1971, 10'
"An out of focus image slowly comes into focus and zooms out while a sentence skips on a record until it becomes indistinctive and disappears. The words are from Daniel Hamm’s voice, one of the boys involved in the Harlem Six, from a recording by composer Steve Reich in 1966 also titled 'Come out'." (Jessica Sarah Rinland)

Expression of the Sightless
by Jessica Sarah Rinland, 2016, 7'
A blind man’s inquisitive hands explore the surface of a sculpture, translating vision into touch.

Taller / Workshop
by Narcisa Hirsch, 1975, 11'
"Narcisa Hirsch’s voice pans in a circular motion across her studio inviting us to imagine its details, all the while our gaze lies fixed on one wall. Narcisa made Workshop as a response to reading Andrée Hayum’s Film Culture review of Michael Snow’s A Casing Shelved (1970), a film which she had not seen." (Jessica Sarah Rinland)

Ý Berá – Bright Waters
by Jessica Sarah Rinland, 2016, 10'
Spanning different moments in human history, the film reflects on the Iberá wetlands in Argentina—the second largest in the world—through accounts of the organisms that inhabit this shifting ecosystem.

Potrero
by Narcisa Hirsch, 1973, 9'
"Over the course of one year, Narcisa Hirsch left a super 8 camera on a tripod in a paddock near her house in the Patagonia. When she was away, she gave instructions to activate the camera to a local farmer who looked after cows in the area." (Jessica Sarah Rinland)

Black Pond
by Jessica Sarah Rinland, 2018, 42'
Black Pond explores a common land in the south of England, once occupied by the 17th-century agrarian collective known as the Diggers. Today, it is used by a Natural History Society engaged in activities such as bat and moth trapping, mycology, tree measurement, and botanical walks. After two years of filming, Rinland shared the footage with the group, recording their reflections and memories, which form part of the film’s narration. Rather than offering a comprehensive history, the film traces a more intimate relationship between humans, land, and the ecosystems they inhabit.