Karsten Visarius
Publicist and film critic
Country of origin:
Germany
Born in 1952. Studies in literature and languages in Marburg. 1980-1990 free lance film and tv critic, writing for the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" and the "Frankfurter Rundschau". Book chapters on Roman Polanski, Akira Kurosawa and Wim Wenders. Head of the Film Cultural Centre in the Joint Evangelical Association for Media Communication (GEP) in Frankfurt am Main (1990-2017). Co-editor of the filmbook series "Arnoldshainer Filmgespräche" (till 2009). Manager of the Evangelical Film Jury in Germany (till 2017) and Executive Director of INTERFILM.
Articles
For the first time INTERFILM was present at the Mostra dell'arte cinematographica, the International Film Festival in Venice (August 27-September 6, 2008). During the festival INTERFILM organised a panel discussion on Chinese cinema of today, in cooperation with the Organisazione protestante del cinema Roberto Sbaffi and the Italian Catholic film organisation Fondazione Ente dello Spettacolo. Karsten Visarius, Executive Director of INTERFILM, presented a keynote speech which is published below.
In April 2023, INTERFILM organised a seminar in Budapest focussing on the history of Hungarian cinema. Karsten Visarius introduces the films presented in the programme and attempts to bring up some aspects of their political and social background.
In his report about the Forum section of the Berlinale 2024 Karsten Visarius focusses on documentaries as Romuald Karmakar's "The Invisible Zoo" and Alexander Horwath's "Henry Fonda for President", mentioning a number of outstanding feature films as well.
"I have forgotten the feeling of seeing," says Viera Čákanyová at the beginning of "Poznámky z Eremocénu" (Notes from the Eremocene). In the cinema, a sentence like that can send a shudder through your limbs. Karsten Visarius reports about the Forum section of the Berlinale.
The Prix Interculturel 2022 of the Interfilm Academy München goes to "Love Eat and Everything in Between" by Soham Kundu. The jury of the Interfilm Academy awarded in addition a Commendation to "I Was Attacked" by Sara Massieu.
On 8 October 2022, the INTERFILM General Assembly took place as an online meeting. After reports by President Julia Helmke, Jury Coordinator Dietmar Adler and Executive Director Karsten Visarius, the members elected the new INTERFILM Board and Presidency for the years 2022-2025.
At the 24th Black Nights Film Festival in Tallinn 2020, the Ecumenical Jury chooses "Armugan" by Jo Sol as best film of the Competition.
The General Assembly of INTERFILM in Erlangen 2019 elected a new Board and confirmed Julia Helmke as INTERFILM President.
On the occasion of the church reception at the 67th International Film Festival Mannheim Karsten Visarius gave a speech on the motif of the "soul" in film