"Forever...Forever" short film in VistaRama65 | Read more at in70mm.com The 70mm Newsletter |
| Written by: Martin Reinhart, February 2026. All material copyrighted by Johann Lurf, 2026, and published with permission | Date: 11.02.2026 |
 Johann Lurfs new 70mm short film "Forever…Forever" will premiere at the Berlinale, at the Delphi Filmpalast (Berlin, Germany), February 18, 20262026 70mm 21 Minutes 1:2,20 DTS 5.1 The short film shows 20 minutes of condensed time. The constantly changing light of a landscape was captured over a period of 22 months, where the sun’s path leads through the year and becomes visible as it moves through the seasons. The rhythm of day and night pulsates in harmony with the celestial bodies. On the constantly rotating surface of our Earth, we are exposed to planetary time spans that are infinite in human terms. Introduction We are all bound by our human perception of time. Elementary cosmic events take place on the margins of our perception because of their continuous and unalterable reality. Film can shift the scale by using cinematic techniques such as time-lapse, long exposure and sound. Experiencing the time scale in a planetary dimension makes it possible to understand the movement of celestial bodies. What we always knew since the dawn of time without ever being able to see, is the seasonal shift of the sun’s path along the horizon. Forever...Forever puts the heaven’s happenings in the center of a 21 minute short film. By increasing the exposure duration of each frame by frame, the perceived passing of time continually accelerates. We can finally experience a time scale inaccessible under normal circumstances. To create a film sequence documenting a landscape over the course of one year or more with an accelerating time-lapse, a camera needs to automatically increase the exposure time and measure the light for correct exposure of each of the frames. Beginning with exposure times of only a few seconds and ending with exposures of 24 hours, the path of the sun itself becomes animated behind the horizon. • Go to PDF press kit Johann Lurf 2026 Forever...Forever - Press Kit 2026-2-3 | More in 70mm reading: Presenting the K65K 65mm Camera "A Year Along the Abandoned Road" - One Year in 12 Minutes and 70mm About "Chapter 51" - in70mm.com EXCLUSIVE The making of "Isle of the Dead" "Black Ox" - The first feature-length film in Japan to use 65mm film (in parts) "Violet" Partly Photographed in 8-perf 65mm Vistamorph® An alternative large negative format to 65mm origination in70mm.com News Peripheral Vision, Scopes, Dimensions and Panoramas in70mm.com's Library Presented on the big screen in 7OMM 7OMM and Cinema Across the World Now showing in 70mm in a theatre near you! 70mm Retro - Festivals and Screenings |
 "Forever…Forever" shows 20 minutes of condensed time. The constantly changing light of a landscape was captured over a period of 22 months, where the sun’s path leads through the year and becomes visible as it moves through the seasons.Press UK Over the course of twenty-two months, Johann Lurf fixed the gaze of a specially developed 65mm camera on a single fragment of the world: the Ottenstein Reservoir. What begins as a quiet observation of nature gradually transforms into a monumental image of cosmic motion. At first, the lake appears familiar – a place suspended between sky and water. But as the exposures grow longer, the dimensions themselves shift: stars begin to draw delicate lines, the sun inscribes bright arcs, the moon traces soft, almost calligraphic diagonals. The water surface becomes a perfect mirror that folds sky and landscape symmetrically into one another – above and below, light and shadow, becoming and fading. As in ★, Johann explores the relationship between vision and cosmos, but here no archive emerges; instead, a sequence of images forms that becomes an astronomical figure in its own right. The reservoir turns into a planetary clock whose hands are made of light – a calm, precise choreography that evokes utopian architectures such as Tatlin’s Tower, without ever citing them directly. The visual structure is accompanied by a sound composition by Jung An Tagen, built on the rhythms of day and night cycles, weather phenomena, and the movements of celestial bodies. This constellation of image and sound opens a resonance space that extends far beyond the visible. It recalls Laurie Spiegel’s Kepler’s Harmony of the Worlds, an electronic interpretation of Kepler’s cosmic harmony, included on the Voyager Golden Record – and long since beyond our solar system. Finally, the panorama freezes into diagonal bands of pure light: traces written by sun and moon over many months. A film that does not narrate, but reveals how time and sky intertwine – a harmony of the world that ultimately unfolds with unexpected force. | |
 The rhythm of day and night pulsates in harmony with the celestial bodies. On the constantly rotating surface of our Earth, we are exposed to planetary time spans that are infinite in human terms.Press DE Über zweiundzwanzig Monate hinweg richtet Johann Lurf den Blick einer eigens entwickelten 65mm-Kamera ununterbrochen auf ein einziges Stück Welt: den Ottensteiner Stausee. Was zunächst wie eine stille Beobachtung der Natur erscheint, verwandelt sich im Laufe der Zeit in ein monumentales Bild kosmischer Bewegung. Zu Beginn wirkt der See vertraut – ein Ort zwischen Himmel und Wasser. Doch je länger die Belichtungen werden, desto stärker verschieben sich die Dimensionen: Sterne ziehen feine Linien, die Sonne schreibt helle Bögen, der Mond graviert zarte, fast kalligrafische Diagonalen. Die Wasseroberfläche wird zu einem vollkommenen Spiegel, der Himmel und Landschaft symmetrisch ineinander zurückfaltet – oben und unten, Licht und Schatten, Werden und Vergehen. Wie schon in ★ interessiert Johann die Beziehung zwischen Blick und Kosmos, doch diesmal entsteht kein Archiv, sondern eine Bildsequenz, die selbst zu einer astronomischen Figur wird. Der Stausee verwandelt sich in eine planetarische Uhr, deren Zeiger aus Licht bestehen: eine ruhige, präzise Choreografie, die an utopische Architekturen wie Tatlins Turm erinnert, ohne sich darauf zu berufen. Die visuelle Struktur wird begleitet von einer von Jung An Tagen komponierten Tonspur, die auf Tages- und Nachtwechsel, Wetterphänomene und die Bewegungen der Himmelskörper aufbaut. Diese Verbindung von Bild und Ton öffnet einen Resonanzraum, der weit über das Sichtbare hinausreicht. Sie erinnert an Laurie Spiegels „Kepler’s Harmony of the Worlds“, jene elektronische Annäherung an Keplers Musik der Sphären, die auf der Voyager Golden Record Platz fand – und damit längst unser Sonnensystem verlassen hat. Am Ende erstarrt das Panorama in diagonalen Bahnen reinen Lichts: Spuren, die Sonne und Mond über viele Monate geschrieben haben. Ein Film, der nicht erzählt, sondern sichtbar macht, wie Zeit und Himmel ineinandergreifen – eine Harmonie der Welt, die sich schließlich mit unerwarteter Kraft entfaltet. | |
 VistaRama65 Camera. Picture by Martin PutzThe Structure of the Film The camera was mounted facing east for capturing the morning sun every day. The camera started exposing on April 6th 2023 at 5:30 am with an exposure time of 8 seconds per frame, gradually ramping up exposure times from frame to frame, we pass 9 seconds, we reach 10 seconds exposures per frame, and so on... After dawn the end of the first roll was reached with exposure times already at 21 seconds. The exposure times were continuously increased throughout the film: the first roll of film captured the first day, the second roll captured the following night as well as the following day, the third roll already recorded the following two nights and days, etc... The start of the film in spring lets the sun slowly rise in the middle of the frame. All nights unfold in front of our eyes calmly, we witness the whole year without interruptions. We pass through weather changes, cloud formations are moving rapidly over our heads changing their directions swiftly, all mirrored in the lake making enhancing our perception of the sky’s motion. As time passes faster, the change of night and day becomes rhythmic, contrasting each other. All sounds support every movement. The rhythm of day and night does not stop to accelerate and intensifies throughout the picture. After 19 minutes of the film were continuously recorded in almost 8 months, on December 1st 2023, the exposure times were still getting longer and longer and film recording entered a new phase: each exposure lasted 24 hours or 86.400 seconds. Thus when played back, we see time passing 10.000 times faster than in the beginning of the film. The structure of the film reaches a plateau as the camera continued to expose all day and night long, 24 hours per frame, until the camera was stopped 423 days later, on January 27th 2025. This last sequence of the film, recorded in 423 days, lasts 423 frames in playback or only 17 seconds in our real-time. These 17 seconds reveal the motion of the sun’s path across the sky: from winter on the right side of the frame, through spring in the middle of the image to the left, where it rises in summer. Here the path of the sun changes its direction and moves back through autumn in the middle of the frame to the right of the frame, or winter again.. Of course we can continue this cycle Forever...Forever | |
 VistaRama65 Camera Station at Ottenstein reservoirThe Score of the Film Each visual element was assigned with a specific sound by Jung An Tagen. The arrangement is based on the structure of the film, the rhythmic and a-rhythmic cycles observed in the 22 months of recording, so that each element can hold the tension on its own as well as resonate in harmony when joint appearances occur. All sound was synthesised to synesthetically support the planetary rotation-based movement in the film. Filming Location and Camera Station The filming site was carefully selected: a landscape shaped by human intervention, with a hydroelectric power station in the center of the image. The camera station was placed facing East, making the sun rise exactly behind the power plant at equinox. The plant’s dam wall is seen from the incoming side of the river Kamp, which fills the Stausee Ottenstein. An all-weather camera station was purposefully built at the lake’s shore, which housed the camera for two years - shielding the camera from rain and wind, during thunderstorms and even a flood while the camera was running. | |
 Final concept sketch of VistaRama65 from 2019. VistaRama65 - 27 perf sketch Schneider 48mm Super Angulon XLA New Film Format: VistaRama65 To record the full circle of one year requires a stationary camera and can be done in two ways either digital or analogue: A digital camera would record millions of pictures which need to be blended in postproduction. As digital sensors create visual noise during long-time exposures, the necessary intervals between the images would be much longer than the exposed time-spans recorded, resulting in a loss of visual information of motion. A photochemical emulsion can be exposed for hours without aggregating visual noise. With the right filter, the shutter can stay open for as long as we like, capturing all photons entering the lens over extended periods of time. The only intervals necessary are the short periods needed for the film transport to each next frame. Long time exposures create motion blur in the areas of movement in the frame. Motion blur is a key to perceive fast movements fluidly in motion pictures. Film history offers a large variety of incredible film formats and aspect ratios, but there was one missing: spheric widescreen in horizontal 65mm film. The larger image allows for super-sampling, to create finer film prints resulting in higher details. Super-Sampling Reduction processes or super-sampling has a successful history of creating high-resolution imagery downscaled from a larger negative. Printing 1:1 from a 35mm negative to positive print and even 65mm negative to 70mm print creates a second generation - with reduced details. To counteract this effect, a larger negative than the projection print is made, which can retain more details even in a smaller positive. Super-sampling also works in digital imaging but was used already in film history under the brand VistaVision with famous examples from Hitchcock to the special effects of “Star Wars” and recently with films like “The Brutalist" or “One Battle After Another”. | |
 VistaRama65 Camera. Picture by Martin PutzThe VistaRama Camera The purpose built new camera is a versatile tool for time-lapse, animation and special effects. It is freely programmable in film motion and exposure times and can work through complex tasks based on timestamps. It measures the light and filters it automatically, allowing for correct exposures of exposure times from 6 seconds to 24 hours, or even more. The camera can be remotely operated and monitored over extended periods. The wide-angle lens captures a larger field than that of human vision, allowing to encompass all positions of the sunrise during one year from summer- to winter solstice at mid-European latitude. The camera, its function and general layout was conceived by Johann Lurf. The filter system was planned by Martin Reinhart and designed by Leo Coster. All mechanical details were planned, designed and built by Georg Hirzinger starting in June 2020, finishing the camera’s mechanical part in February 2021. Electronics and wiring was planned and assembled by Leo Coster shortly after. The camera’s logic control system was planned by Leo Coster. Initial programming of the controls software was started by Matthias Strohmaier and finished by Noah Essl early 2023. | |
 3 perf hand processed exposure testsTesting the New Camera The frame size can be set freely between 1 and 30 perforations per frame, which is especially important for economic exposure tests. The width of the frames can be set to the width of only one perforation, resulting in a narrow strip just enough for calibrating the camera - or future experiments. Technical Data of the Camera • Lens Schneider Super Angulon XL 47mm • f -stops f11 / f16 / f22 fixed • Gradual Filter ND 0 - ND 13 • Vacuum Pressure Plate • Reel Capacity 1000 ft or 305m • Film Stock All 65mm Kodak Negative Motion Picture Films: 50D (5203) / 250D (5207) / 200T (5213) / 500T (5219) • Exposure Time Min 6 Seconds (currently) • Exposure Time Max 24+ Hours and more • Light Meters 5 External Spotmeters 1° - averaged with outliers discarded • Power 110V / 230V AC • Battery External 12V (also as backup UPS) • Control External MacBook Pro via Ethernet • Dimensions 99 x 40 x 50 cm • Weight 88 lbs or 40 kg without film loaded Even More 65mm-Formats are Possible! 65mm frame sizes currently available: • 1p For exposure tests • 3p For exposure tests • 6p Super 65 1:2,20 wider & taller than 5p standard - for 70mm 5p reduction prints • 15p IMAX 1:1,43 • 18p VistaRama65 1:1,66 Flat • 21p VistaRama65 1:1,85 Flat • 27p VistaRama65 1:2,39 / 1:2,35 / 1:2,20 Scope • 30p IMAX 3D 2x 1:1,43 (stereo lens currently in planning phase) • 30p VistaRama65 1:2,76 The camera can be oriented horizontally for 15-30p or vertically for 1-6p | |
 The first roll processed at Pinewood proved the camera works, a new film format is born!Processing and Scanning 65mm 27p The thirteen 1000ft rolls for the film Forever...Forever were processed at the Kodak Lab London. Scanning was done by Nulight Studios in Bristol by Silja Momsen and Sam Livingstone. The 27p wide frames were scanned with the Golden Eye 4 Scanner in 10K by 4K. The last sequence of the film was shot in 30p with broader frame lines, so that the bleeding of the sun at the side of the images does not affect the adjacent frame. As the day and night rhythm was shot on the same film stock of Kodak Vision 3 250D, extra care for the exposure range had to be taken care of. Humidity and temperature affected the stability in some parts of the large image area. This could be helped with the Diamant Film Restoration software by HS-Art and Franz Höller from Graz. Colour Grading The colours were adjusted by Andi Winter at .film. film in Vienna. The challenging task to work with the DPX sequence master in 9788 x 4096 proved to be rewading by the finest image details. Sound Mix In the pre-mix each sound object was placed in the cinematic space according to the landscape in the film. Nora Czamler from Menura Film in Vienna worked through all frequencies from the score for all Atmos, 7.1, and 5.1 masters as well as mastering Dolby SRD-EX for digital 6.1 on 35mm film. | |
 Credits• A film by Johann Lurf • Score Jung An Tagen • Camera Conception Johann Lurf & Martin Reinhart • Camera Construction Georg Hirzinger • Camera Logic Leo Coster • Logic Programming Noah Essl, Matthias Strohmaier • Everything Electric Christian Zagler, Erich Binder • Camera Station Johann Binder, Hannes Traudl, Michael Füringer • 65mm Processing Kodak Lab London • 65mm Scan Nulight Studios Bristol - Silja Momsen, Sam Livingstone • Colors .film.film. Vienna - Andi Winter • Sound Mix Menura Film Vienna - Nora Czamler • Graphic Implementation Katarina Schildgen, Paul Gasser • 70mm Film Prints FotoKem Burbank • 35mm Film Prints NFI Budapest • Support Laura Wagner Thanks My work on this film for over six years was a journey between ideas and ideals, try-outs and failures, complications and solutions. I had the incredible luck to have people around me who believed in the idea, the project and the film. Here I would like to mention some of them dearly: Walter Moser, Michael Boxrucker, Barbara Fränzen, Diane Dufour, Brice Bischoff, Peter Schernhuber, Lewis Baltz Research Fund, Kevin Lutz, Michael Ledolter, Susanne Stöger, Dietmar Schwärzler, Richard Zeinzinger, Susanne Lurf, Brad Ohlund, Gerhard Wandl, Norman Shetler, Esther Lurf, Gut Ottenstein, Gunter Oehme, Martin Putz EVN, Christopher Mondt, Lindi Dedek, Axel Töpfer, Arthur Summereder, Olga Yakimenko, Christian Mitterbauer, Annemarie Wagner, Dedo Weigert, Georg Oberlechner, Karl Wagner, Irmgard Hannemann-Klinger, Itai Margula, Jean-Pierre Gutzeit, Karl Hufnagl, Peter Sprenger, Sophie Thun, Susanna Kraus, Steffen Mahler, Thomas Bergmann, Thomas Freiler, Viktoria Schmid, Mark Toscano, Kodak Film Lab London: Antonio Rasura Ruhan Lottering, Russell Higgs, John S Osborne, Mitchell Martin, Nico Rasura, Andrew Hill FotoKem Burbank: Andrew Oran, Christian Straub, James Manke, Don Capoferri, Alex NFI Budapest, Robert Nagy Thank you!, Johann Lurf in February 2026 Johann Lurf Is an artist and filmmaker, using the moving image to analyse and restructure space and film. His practice involves observational and documentary filmmaking especially in the field of structural film, as well as an approach to found footage which is strongly oriented on filmic language itself. Born in 1982 in Vienna Johann Lurf has studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna and had an Erasmus term at the Slade School of Fine Art in London in 2008. He graduated from Harun Farocki’s film class in 2009. He received the State Grant of Austria for Video and Media Art and participated in the Artist-in-Residence programs at the MAK Center for Arts and Architecture in Los Angeles 2011, the SAIC in Chicago 2015 and in Tokyo and Rotterdam 2016 as well as in Israel in 2019. In the same year he received the Berlin Scholarship of the Akademie of Arts Berlin. His work has been recognised with awards and is shown in numerous exhibitions, cinematheques and festivals. From 2021-2024 he was part of the artistic research program Unstable Bodies at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. His work has been exhibited and screened internationally and was honored with awards at numerous festivals. | |
| Filmography • Forever...Forever (2026) 21’ 70mm / 35mm • Revolving Rounds (co-directed with Christina Jauernik) (2024) 11’ 35mm 3D • Cavalcade (2019) 5’ 35mm 3D • ★ (2017) 130’ 4K • Capital Cuba (2015) 12’ 35 mm 3D • EMBARGO (2014) 10’ 4K 3D • Twelve Tales Told (2014) 4’ 35 mm 3D • Pyramid Flare (2013) 5’ 35 mm Vertical Cinema • Picture Perfect Pyramid (2013) 5’ 16 mm • RECONNAISSANCE (2012) 5’ HD 3D • A to A (2011) 5’ 35 mm 3D • Endeavour (2010) 16’ SD • The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over the Lazy Dog (2009) 3’ 35 mm • 12 Explosions (2008) 6’ SD • VERTIGO RUSH (2007) 19’ 35 mm • pan (2005) 2’ HD • (untitled) (2003) 3’ 8K "Forever...Forever" premieres in February 2026 at the Berlinale - Forum Expanded 70mm prints are available in the US & EU 35mm prints will be available in May 2026 The film is distributed by sixpackfilm Vienna Official Website: johannlurf.net/foreverforever | |
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