Fundamentalism is one of the most disconcerting phenomena of our time. The film cultural centre at the GEP and the Protestant Academy Arnoldshain organised a symposium with international participation on the topic from the 7th to the 10th December 2006. The conference that was attended by a very committed audience set two main focuses. One of them was a comparison between Islamic fundamentalism – at the moment a main interest of public attention – and types of Jewish and Christian fundamentalism whose increasing political influence has created a fateful entanglement in the Middle East and also aggravates the political climate in theirs states of origin.  What the different fundamentalisms have in common are an understanding of the respective holy  scriptures that is true to the letter and a pre-modern and intolerant literalism that lets every attempt of a dialogue fail. This intolerance becomes dramatic when it is turned on others in an aggressive way – which is not true for many fundamentalist groupings. The speakers from the USA, Great Britain, France, Austria, Switzerland and Germany agree  that in doing so, the fundamentalists do indeed use the techniques and mechanism of modern times, if only as a means of strategic counter-reaction in most cases. Thus, Islamism abashes the “West” with its demand for justice.

One of these strategies is the successful use of modern visual and news media. The second main focus of the conference was dedicated to this aspect that, in films, fundamentalism represented a cultural as well as an immediately emotional level for the discussion. “Paradise Now” by Hani Abu-Assad (Palestine) on the topic of suicide attackers, “Silent Waters” by Sabiha Sumar (Pakistan) and “Kadosh” by Amos Gitai (Israel) on the fate of women who are driven to death by religious ideologies, or “Dogville” by Lars von Trier (Denmark) – a didactic play on the victim and vengeance fantasies: they sketch out bitter, tragic and accusatory counter-images and counter-stories to fundamentalist violence as well as to the globally circulating media images – and the reflexes on which they count. One-dimensionality is poison, only complex attitudes are suitable: according to the ending podium of the conference, between friend and enemy, there is no clear-cut division. The different cultures are deeply and inextricably linked, here and everywhere.