Cristina Perincioli
Encyclopedia
Cristina Perincioli is a Swiss
film director, writer
, multimedia producer and webauthor. She lives in Berlin
, Germany since 1968.
, as third child of the renowned sculptor Marcel Perincioli and his wife Hélène Perincioli-Jörns, a Handweaving Artist. She is the granddaughter of the bernese Sculptor Etienne Perincioli. In 1968, Cristina Perincioli moved to Berlin to study at the Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin
(dffb - German Film and Television Academy). This motivated her to documentary films (Nixon
in Berlin, Occupation of a Student Residence, Kreuzberg is Ours, Population Explosion) and feature films. Her docufiction about a women's strike, For Women: Chapter 1, from 1971 is one of the first contributions to Women's cinema
in West Germany
; the film won the “Award of the Film Journalists” at the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen
1972. Harun Farocki
writes: "You can see how much fun liberating knowledge can be."
In 1969 she was active in the anarchist journal agit 883, co-founder of both the Lesbian movement
in 1972 and 1973 of the first “Women's Center”, and 1977 of the "Rape Crisis Center”, all in (West-)Berlin. In 1975 she wrote with her partner Cäcilia Rentmeister
the screenplay for the first feature film about a lesbian relationship produced for German television ("Anna and Edith", ZDF
/Second German TV Channel).
In 1977 Perincioli founded the Sphinx Filmproduktion GmbH, with Marianne Gassner as a production manager. The documentary fiction The Power of Men is the Patience of Women (ZDF
/ Second German TV Channel, 1978) is also shown internationally. From an interview with Perincioli:
Michael Althen described 2008 in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
functions and effects of the film as a "... documentary fiction in which residents of Berlin's first women's shelter replay and comment their experiences with domestic violence. It's not about an individual fate, but about recurring patterns of violence and regret on men's side, about guilt and shame on women's side, about humiliating experiences in offices and the whole vicious circles of social and emotional dependencies. The film is strongest when articulating the silence of the social environment and lack of moral courage."
Perincioli published as radio- and book author. Inspired by research in London and Harrisburg, USA, she contributed to the public debate and awareness about domestic violence
and about the risks of nuclear energy.
From 1990 she developed interactive storytelling
, and on this basis, a first adventure game
with interactive video
(1992), and created seven computer serious games
for the public space ("Loud is Out", “Oh, the Few Drops", "Female, Male - and In-Between”, "Culture Tester Rebellion")
She has taught film production at KIMC Kenya Institute of Mass Communication in Nairobi
and the Universität der Künste Berlin, Computer Animation
at the Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin
(dffb - German Film and Television Academy), the Film School in Potsdam-Babelsberg
and the Merz Academy of Art and Design Stuttgart
, and Multimedia Design at the School of Design in Bern and Basel until 1997.
From the late 1990s on, Perincioli ventured to use interactive media for "sensitive issues" such as sexual and domestic violence; she created - employing user-friendly methods such as Discovery learning
- award-winning web platforms for understanding, counselling and preventing violence, funded by the German Federal Environmental Foundation, the Foundation Deutsche Jugendmarke, the Daphne Programme of the European Commission and the German Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth.
for her thesis film at the Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin
(dffb - German Film and Television Academy) "For Women: Chapter 1". Gwendolyn Audrey Foster writes about her directorial work: "Cristina Perincioli is an important figure in the tradition of Straub, Huillet an Fassbinder ..." (in "Women Film Directors. ... An International Guide" 1995, p. 306). Best rating for the CD-ROM "Save Selma" (Serious Game: prevention for children on the subject of sexual abuse) in Feibel's “Software For Children”-Ratings 1999 and 2000. For her web platform "www.4uman.info" to prevent violence in relationships (in English and German), Perincioli received at the 6th Berlin Crime Prevention Day 2005 the Securitas Award for the "innovative character of the site in violence prevention." Her website www.spass-oder-gewalt.de about prevention of sexual violence among young people in 2007 received the Thuringian Women Media Award.
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
film director, writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, multimedia producer and webauthor. She lives in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, Germany since 1968.
Life and career
Cristina Perincioli was born in Bern, SwitzerlandSwitzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, as third child of the renowned sculptor Marcel Perincioli and his wife Hélène Perincioli-Jörns, a Handweaving Artist. She is the granddaughter of the bernese Sculptor Etienne Perincioli. In 1968, Cristina Perincioli moved to Berlin to study at the Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin
Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin
The Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin is a film school in Berlin, Germany.In the German film school ranking of FOCUS , the dffb - together with the Academy of Media Arts Cologne and the international filmschool cologne - were ranked as 2nd after the Film Academy Baden-Wuerttemberg...
(dffb - German Film and Television Academy). This motivated her to documentary films (Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
in Berlin, Occupation of a Student Residence, Kreuzberg is Ours, Population Explosion) and feature films. Her docufiction about a women's strike, For Women: Chapter 1, from 1971 is one of the first contributions to Women's cinema
Women's cinema
The term women's cinema usually refers to films made by women. Above all, it designates the work of women film directors and, to a lesser degree, the work of other women behind the camera such as cinematographers and screenwriters...
in West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
; the film won the “Award of the Film Journalists” at the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen
International Short Film Festival Oberhausen
The International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, founded in 1954, is one of the oldest short film festivals in the world and one of the major international platforms for the short form...
1972. Harun Farocki
Harun Farocki
Harun Farocki is a German filmmaker.He has made over 90 films, the vast majority of them short experimental documentaries...
writes: "You can see how much fun liberating knowledge can be."
In 1969 she was active in the anarchist journal agit 883, co-founder of both the Lesbian movement
LGBT social movements
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender social movements share inter-related goals of social acceptance of sexual and gender minorities. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and their allies have a long history of campaigning for what is generally called LGBT rights, also called gay...
in 1972 and 1973 of the first “Women's Center”, and 1977 of the "Rape Crisis Center”, all in (West-)Berlin. In 1975 she wrote with her partner Cäcilia Rentmeister
Cäcilia Rentmeister
Cäcilia Rentmeister is a German art historian, culture scientist and researcher of cultural conditions of women and of gender...
the screenplay for the first feature film about a lesbian relationship produced for German television ("Anna and Edith", ZDF
ZDF
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen , ZDF, is a public-service German television broadcaster based in Mainz . It is run as an independent non-profit institution, which was founded by the German federal states . The ZDF is financed by television licence fees called GEZ and advertising revenues...
/Second German TV Channel).
In 1977 Perincioli founded the Sphinx Filmproduktion GmbH, with Marianne Gassner as a production manager. The documentary fiction The Power of Men is the Patience of Women (ZDF
ZDF
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen , ZDF, is a public-service German television broadcaster based in Mainz . It is run as an independent non-profit institution, which was founded by the German federal states . The ZDF is financed by television licence fees called GEZ and advertising revenues...
/ Second German TV Channel, 1978) is also shown internationally. From an interview with Perincioli:
- "When in 1974 I saw the first shelters for battered wives in England, I started in Berlin to interview women about domestic violenceDomestic violenceDomestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner violence , is broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation...
and found an unsuspected level of abuse. We - women from the women's movement and committed journalists - began from now on, to mobilize the public by radio and television broadcasts and by the book `Violence in Marriage´. 1976 the first women's shelter opened in (West-)Berlin. In 1978 we shot this film together with women from the shelter, acting their own experiences. Internationally successful, the film supported the women's shelter movement in GermanyGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, AustraliaAustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, CanadaCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, the U.S., SwitzerlandSwitzerlandSwitzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, AustriaAustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, SwedenSwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
and IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. The title became a slogan."
Michael Althen described 2008 in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , short F.A.Z., also known as the FAZ, is a national German newspaper, founded in 1949. It is published daily in Frankfurt am Main. The Sunday edition is the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung .F.A.Z...
functions and effects of the film as a "... documentary fiction in which residents of Berlin's first women's shelter replay and comment their experiences with domestic violence. It's not about an individual fate, but about recurring patterns of violence and regret on men's side, about guilt and shame on women's side, about humiliating experiences in offices and the whole vicious circles of social and emotional dependencies. The film is strongest when articulating the silence of the social environment and lack of moral courage."
Perincioli published as radio- and book author. Inspired by research in London and Harrisburg, USA, she contributed to the public debate and awareness about domestic violence
Domestic violence
Domestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner violence , is broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation...
and about the risks of nuclear energy.
From 1990 she developed interactive storytelling
Interactive storytelling
Interactive Storytelling [IS] is a form of digital entertainment in which users create or influence a dramatic storyline through actions, either by issuing commands to the story's protagonist, or acting as a general director of events in the narrative...
, and on this basis, a first adventure game
Adventure game
An adventure game is a video game in which the player assumes the role of protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and puzzle-solving instead of physical challenge. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based media such as literature and film,...
with interactive video
Interactive video
The term interactive video usually refers to a technique used to blend interaction and linear film or video.-Interactive video on broadband:Since 2005, interactive video has increased online as the result a number of factors including:...
(1992), and created seven computer serious games
Serious game
A serious game is a game designed for a primary purpose other than pure entertainment. The "serious" adjective is generally prepended to refer to products used by industries like defense, education, scientific exploration, health care, emergency management, city planning, engineering, religion,...
for the public space ("Loud is Out", “Oh, the Few Drops", "Female, Male - and In-Between”, "Culture Tester Rebellion")
She has taught film production at KIMC Kenya Institute of Mass Communication in Nairobi
Nairobi
Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi County. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is...
and the Universität der Künste Berlin, Computer Animation
Computer animation
Computer animation is the process used for generating animated images by using computer graphics. The more general term computer generated imagery encompasses both static scenes and dynamic images, while computer animation only refers to moving images....
at the Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin
Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin
The Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin is a film school in Berlin, Germany.In the German film school ranking of FOCUS , the dffb - together with the Academy of Media Arts Cologne and the international filmschool cologne - were ranked as 2nd after the Film Academy Baden-Wuerttemberg...
(dffb - German Film and Television Academy), the Film School in Potsdam-Babelsberg
Potsdam-Babelsberg
Babelsberg is the largest district of the Brandenburg capital Potsdam in Germany. The affluent neighbourhood named after a small hill on the Havel river is famous for Babelsberg Palace and Park, part of the Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin UNESCO World Heritage Site, as well as for Studio...
and the Merz Academy of Art and Design Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
, and Multimedia Design at the School of Design in Bern and Basel until 1997.
From the late 1990s on, Perincioli ventured to use interactive media for "sensitive issues" such as sexual and domestic violence; she created - employing user-friendly methods such as Discovery learning
Discovery learning
Discovery Learning is a method of inquiry-based instruction and is considered a constructivist based approach to education. It is supported by the work of learning theorists and psychologists Jean Piaget, Jerome Bruner, and Seymour Papert...
- award-winning web platforms for understanding, counselling and preventing violence, funded by the German Federal Environmental Foundation, the Foundation Deutsche Jugendmarke, the Daphne Programme of the European Commission and the German Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth.
Awards
1972 Perincioli received the “Award of the Film Journalists” at the International Short Film Festival OberhausenInternational Short Film Festival Oberhausen
The International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, founded in 1954, is one of the oldest short film festivals in the world and one of the major international platforms for the short form...
for her thesis film at the Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin
Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin
The Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin is a film school in Berlin, Germany.In the German film school ranking of FOCUS , the dffb - together with the Academy of Media Arts Cologne and the international filmschool cologne - were ranked as 2nd after the Film Academy Baden-Wuerttemberg...
(dffb - German Film and Television Academy) "For Women: Chapter 1". Gwendolyn Audrey Foster writes about her directorial work: "Cristina Perincioli is an important figure in the tradition of Straub, Huillet an Fassbinder ..." (in "Women Film Directors. ... An International Guide" 1995, p. 306). Best rating for the CD-ROM "Save Selma" (Serious Game: prevention for children on the subject of sexual abuse) in Feibel's “Software For Children”-Ratings 1999 and 2000. For her web platform "www.4uman.info" to prevent violence in relationships (in English and German), Perincioli received at the 6th Berlin Crime Prevention Day 2005 the Securitas Award for the "innovative character of the site in violence prevention." Her website www.spass-oder-gewalt.de about prevention of sexual violence among young people in 2007 received the Thuringian Women Media Award.
Movies
- Striking my Eyes, Bern/Schweiz (1966)
- Nixon Visit and Highschool Fight (Weekly Newsreel Collective) (1968)
- Occupation and Self-Administration of a Student Residence (with Gisela Tuchtenhagen) (1969)
- For Women: Chapter 1 (writer, director), a Documentary Fiction (1971)
- KreuzbergKreuzbergKreuzberg, a part of the combined Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough located south of Mitte since 2001, is one of the best-known areas of Berlin...
is Ours (camera) (1972) - Women Behind the Camera (co-author) (1972)
- Anna and Edith (book, along with Caecilia Rentmeister), Feature Film, ZDF-TV (1975). Published on DVD by Edition Salzgeber
- The Power of Men is the Patience of Women (writer, director, producer) feature film/documentary fiction, ZDF-TV (1978). Published on DVD.
- Population Explosion, KIMC Nairobi, Kenya (1985)
- With Woman's Weapons (1986)
Writings (selection)
- Interviews on the topic of “Domestic Violence: Cases of Abuse" (Germany), and reportages and interviews on “Life in the Women´s Shelter in England", in: Sarah Haffner (Ed.): Domestic Violence - And What Women Do About It, Wagenbach, Berlin 1976
- Women of Harrisburg, Or: We don't let Us Talk Out of Fear, Rowohlt, Reinbek 1980, further editions 1986, 1991. Total book circulation 20.000.
- Eye and Ear - Computer and Creativity. A Compendium of Computer Graphics, Animation, Music and Video, co-author (Cillie) Cäcilia RentmeisterCäcilia RentmeisterCäcilia Rentmeister is a German art historian, culture scientist and researcher of cultural conditions of women and of gender...
, DuMont, Cologne 1990 - "From Anarchism and Lesbianism to the Women's Center. Why had the Tomato to Fly so Far?", in: Heinrich Boell Foundation and the Feminist Institute (HGIN): How Far was Flying the Tomato? A Reflective Gala of the Women of 68, Boell, Berlin 1999.
Websites
- www.save-selma.de - Exemption strategies from sexual abuse. For young people
- www.gewaltschutz.info - Information for victims of domestic violence and for counselors. Website in seven languages: English, German and five other languages
- www.ava2.de - "Anti Violence Awareness": Information, tools and videos for new methods of intervention in domestic violence, more effective assistance and offender programs, for police, health and social care, councils and women's representatives
- www.4uman.info - Violence in relationships: awareness raising and information for men. In English and German
- www.spass-oder-gewalt.de - Prevention of sexual violence among young people: Learning platform for young people
- www.weiss-die-geiss.de - Tri-national dairy goat Wiki
- www.perincioli.ch - Sculptors Perincioli. 100 Years Life and Works at Berne, Switzerland - Works, Biographies, Records and Reception of Etienne and Marcel Perincioli
Literature
- Jutta Phillips, Marc Silberman: If others do not pull out a little power, the film is for the Recycle Bin, in: Aesthetics and Communication, No. 37, Oct. 1979, p.115 ff
- Marc Silberman, Gretchen Elsner-Sommer: Two Interviews with Christina Perincioli in JUMP CUT. A REVIEW OF CONTEMPORARY MEDIA. no 29, February 1984, pp. 52-53 [3]
- Julia Knight, Women and The New German Cinema, London 1992, article on Cristina Perincioli
- Gwendolyn Ann Foster, Women Film Directors. An International Bio-Critical Dictionary. Westport, USA 1995, pp.305-306: article on Cristina Perincioli
- Documentary Film about C. Perincioli and U. Sillge, by Anke Schwarz, Sandra (Luka) Stoll und Roman Klarfeld, Das Burlebübele mag I net, Berlin 2008
External links
- Cristina Perincioli personal website
- Cristina Perincioli at filmportal.de
- Cristina Perincioli in der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek (German National LibraryGerman National LibraryThe German National Library is the central archival library and national bibliographic centre for the Federal Republic of Germany...
) - Cristina Perincioli in: Das Zweitausendeins Filmlexikon, Kategorien "Regie" und "Drehbuch"