HBAF 2019 Presents - Portraits in Motion

German photographer and storyteller Volker Gerling is a passionate creator of flipbooks and an intrepid traveller. His journeys are reminiscent of the days when cinema itself was itinerant, when projectionists would move from town to town and there were no movie theatres.

With these photographic flipbooks Gerling has found a form of presentation in which he literally combines film and photography in such a way that it created a completely new genre – with a breath-taking result.

Since 2003 he has walked some 4,000km on foot, inviting people to visit his travelling “thumb book cinema” exhibition and from time to time capturing the hidden magic of seemingly everyday encounters, transforming these into new photographic flipbooks.

In his show, Gerling projects the flipbooks onto a screen in a series of enchanting and precious moments when the people he photographed come to life, as he shares a gentle but profound reflection upon the transitory nature of the moment and the significance of these interpersonal encounters.

Performed in more than 16 countries, Portraits in Motion returns to NZ after sell-out shows from Kerikeri to Wanaka, and includes some beautiful NZ stories. Made possible thanks to Goethe Institut New Zealand.