Exprmntl 4 Knokke

Forum Expanded 2026

Turn of the year 1967/68: the 4^th International Experimental Film Festival is taking place at the Belgian seaside resort of Knokke. In addition to clips from the films, Claudia von Alemann and Reinold E. Thiel’s documentary above all shows the parallel events, the spontaneous performances, happenings and protest actions that took place there. They include the works of Harun Farocki, Jean-Jacques Lebel, Shirley Clarke, Holger Meins, Gustav Lamche, Armand Gatti and Mauricio Kagel, as well as of students from the Ulm School of Design, the DFFB and American underground filmmakers. The film captures the electrifying and inspiring atmosphere that made the festival legendary and provided a decisive impetus for independent film in Europe.
The film is being shown in a new digital restoration by the Arsenal Film Institute.

by Claudia von Alemann (Director), Reinold E. Thiel (Director) Germany 1968 French, English, German 42' Documentary form

Crew

Directors

Claudia von Alemann, Reinold E. Thiel

World Sales

Arsenal – Institut für Film und Videokunst e.V.

Berlin, Germany

Photos

Claudia von Alemann

Claudia von Alemann studied film at the Ulm School of Design with Alexander Kluge. Her early documentaries deal with international political issues, covering topics such as the role of film in May 1968 in Paris, Kathleen and Eldridge Cleaver’s time in Algeria, the efforts of women in the Vietnam War and the exploitation of female factory workers in West Germany. In 1973, together with Helke Sander, she organised and curated the First International Women’s Film Festival at the Kino Arsenal, Berlin. She worked in publishing, translating, teaching and as a freelance filmmaker and independent producer, directing feature films, experimental videos and documentaries.

Filmography (selection)

1968 Exprmntl 4 Knokke; Forum Expanded 2026 1969 Das ist nur der Anfang, der Kampf geht weiter (This ony the beginning, the struggle continues) 1970 Kathleen und Eldridge Cleaver in Algier (Kathleen and Eldridge Cleaver in Algiers) 1973 Es kommt drauf an, sie zu verändern (The point is to change it) 1977 Das Frauenzimmer (The Woman’s Room) 1981 Die Reise nach Lyon (Blind Spot); Berlinale 2019 1982 Nebelland (Land of Fog); Forum 1983 1987 Das nächste Jahrhundert wird uns gehören (The next century will be ours) 1988 Nuits Claires/Lichte Nächte (Light Nights) 1991 wie nächtliche Schatten/Rückfahrt (like shadows in the night/return to Thuringia) 2000 war einst ein wilder Wassermann (Shadows of Memory) 2016 Die Frau mit der Kamera (The Woman with the Camera)

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2026

Reinold E. Thiel

Reinold E. Thiel (1933–2022) was a film editor and writer. After completing his secondary education in 1953, he studied in Bonn and at the Free University of Berlin. From 1958 onward, he wrote for the journal “Filmkritik” and in 1963 became a founding member of the Friends of the German Cinematheque. From 1963 to 1971, he headed the WDR film department and was responsible for numerous film-historical productions, including Exprmntl 4 Knokke (co-directed with Claudia von Alemann) as well as his own works such as Kenneth Anger – Film as Magical Ritual. From the early 1970s onward, Thiel worked for more than two decades in development cooperation in Africa and the Middle East.