Scottish poet filmmaker Margaret Tait (1918–1999) has long been one of the best-kept secrets of British cinema. In intimate films attuned to the secret life of things, people, and landscapes, Tait sought to reveal the other side of existence – the side we only notice when our own presence in the world comes to the foreground. An independent mind and eye, she focused on what she saw before her, be it the streets of Edinburgh, the crashing sea on Orkney or a pair of old boots in a barn, shedding an singular light on the manifold dimensions of things.

These words come from Scottish artist and filmmaker Margaret Tait (1918–1999), who would have turned 100 on November 11th. With 11 short films on 11.11 and her only feature on 17.11, we are honoring her uniquely poetic work. The unique thing about Tait’s films is their interest in the unspectacular: “Her images are accessible (a thistle is inevitably a thistle), they are of the everyday and, on this level, a representation of things as they are.

The program Spring Portraits groups together filmmakers who at times deal loosely with the theme of portraits - either of people, places, atmospheres, and who mostly also have, in some way, a connection to the city of Berlin. Some are long established names, others are making their first film - what is important is that they share some sensibility - and a belief in films power as a medium to transcend mere representation whilst simultaneously capturing something of life's fleeting moments.

*all films will be shown on film