Jewish Film Heritage between Cultural Practices and Memory Institutions

Since 2022, the previously little-researched yet highly diverse subject of Jewish film heritage has been explored at the research location Potsdam. The project Jewish Film Heritage between Cultural Practices and Memory Institutions aims to conduct basic research on Jewish film heritage in a dialogical exchange with the relevant actors in the field: a) the film and cultural heritage institutions, in this case the Jewish museums, which determine the subject matter with their collection concepts; b) the (Jewish) filmmakers who both create Jewish film heritage and also shape it; c) the audience, which is just as involved in doing heritage through its active reception practice as researching academics.

The project Jewish Film Heritage between Cultural Practices and Memory Institutions pursues three overarching goals: Firstly, the autonomy of Jewish film heritage with its dual relevance as film and as a source of Jewish history and experience should be worked out and the different references and ways of working with this heritage should be considered from an artistic, scientific and museological/archival perspective. Secondly, the project aims to open up, secure and examine marginalized memories and endangered film collections and, last but not least, to make them accessible for research in other disciplines. Thirdly, this Jewish film heritage is to be brought to life by testing methods that make it part of a living (Jewish) film culture and thus part of a living, contemporary Jewish heritage.

The project follows the focus on the discursive formations of Jewish film heritage through its interdisciplinary, transfer-oriented approach, which is reflected in the structure of its three subprojects: the subproject Jewish Home Movies. Amateur Films in Jewish Museum Collections; the subproject Heritage Journey Films; and the artistic subproject Artistic Research on and with Jewish Film Heritage. All three projects, in their diverse methodological concepts and their different subject matters, point to the importance of moving family images as Jewish film heritage. Their objects, the amateur films of the Jewish museums, the results of the artistic research and the heritage journey films will be related to each other and brought into dialogue in a curated film series and in an exhibition.