Second Truth

An award-winning short silent film series in which artists, filmmakers, musicians and journalists from around the world address social and political hotspots of our time in short videos.

Julian Friedrich | September 2021 | #project #theater #person #puppet theater #actor #puppeteer #director

Under the label “Second Truth”, artists, filmmakers, musicians and journalists from all over the world deal with social and political hotspots of our time in short videos. The resulting music films (melts) manage entirely without words and are a mixture of music clip and short film.

TRUTH IS RELATIVE

In this age of social media, we witness the implications of these statements day in and day out. Our networking has created a public space that remains unregulated to this day. In contrast to the so-called conventional media such as newspapers and analog television, in this new space each of us becomes a broadcaster in a war for the truth and the sovereignty of interpretation of our reality. Those who interpret for us the events of the world (whose obligation it is to report what actually happened) are becoming increasingly important to us and our consistent view of the world.

The people who publish Melts under “Second Truth” want to broaden our view – to offer us an alternative as well as a “second” view of the truth.

“True is always only that which is true at a given time.”

MELTS

“Second Truth” calls its contributions “Melts” and.

defines them as follows:

A Melt consists essentially of three elements: an attitude represented by a person, a theme posed by a socio-political issue, and a commentary through music.

When these three elements come together, according to Second Truth, the result is a visual, political essay – a short, forceful treatise on the issues of our time. In this way, news and headlines that normally rush past us and no longer leave a lasting trace in our everyday lives should once again become an emotional, tangible story that opens us up, makes us empathetic, and – in the best case – lets us get back into conversation with each other. At least in theory, this sounds tempting at a time when our societies are becoming increasingly divided.

CINEMA, CONCERTS

If the short films and their backgrounds are not enough for you, you will start to wonder at the latest when “Second Truth” talks about presenting all these films together with small making-ofs in a brilliant, thoroughly choreographed concert. Moreover, these concerts are not to take place at music festivals or in clubs, but in art house cinemas, some of which are struggling to survive. “Second Truth” sees itself in tradition with the cinematic explorers that emerged in the 19th century, who in particularly dramatic ways the

accompanied the actions of the silent film in a particularly dramatic way. In Japan, the so-called Benshi achieved such great fame that they were sometimes presented on posters together with the respective films.

A NEW FORMAT

The way “Second Truth” brings together world politics, theater, cinema and concert is virtually the core mission of Art Crossing Borders. It brings film back to its roots in a universal form that can be understood across national borders and shapes a new art form. This path is exceedingly arduous. Anyone who has dealt with the production of films knows how tedious and energy-sapping this undertaking is. It doesn’t really make a difference whether you produce a full-length blockbuster or a short film. The work on the material and the idea remains mostly the same.

Art Crossing Borders would like to accompany “Second Truth” on its journey, because as a new format it can become a shining example for the art world by addressing the audience’s issues in a new way. In today’s world, the idea of coming together, physically and also mentally, is a noble and important goal.

Important works

#01_gravity

01 Gravity

“01 – Gravity” is a lovingly drawn animated film by Katharina Potratz. Without pointing fingers at anyone, we accompany a young refugee boy on his way to a new country. A country that is divided.

The film received numerous awards and is the first in the silent and short film series “Second Truth” by Julian Friedrich, who also wrote the song “Gravity”. In the text he writes about the thoughts and longings of a generation lost between globalization and war, older than it should be.