Category Archives: archiv

Jeder schreibt für sich allein

Jeder schreibt für sich allein

A film by Dominik Graf and Felix von Boehm. In German with English sub­tit­les on request.

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How sure can a per­son be of them­sel­ves? This is the cen­tral ques­ti­on of Dominik Graf’s new docu­men­ta­ry essay. Based on Anatol Regnier’s epony­mous book, this film deals with artists’ desti­nies and the imme­dia­te rea­li­ty of the Nazi era. What was it like to live in a dictatorship?

In Jeder schreibt für sich allein, we encoun­ter the bio­gra­phies of very well-known aut­hors, each of whom lived extre­me­ly indi­vi­du­al ambi­va­len­ces. For exam­p­le, Gottfried Benn and Erich Kästner, who were, at the same time, ban­ned from wri­ting to the Nazis, but repea­ted­ly sup­port­ed them in dif­fe­rent ways. Or Ina Seidel, best­sel­ling aut­hor and ardent Hitler fan, who was in a secret same-sex relationship. 

Jeder schreibt für sich allein is a film that high­lights that the tempt­a­ti­on of cla­ri­ty is often the grea­test stupidity.

Credits:

DE 2023, 169 Min., deut­sche Fassung engl. UT auf Nachfrage
Regie:
Dominik Graf, Felix von Boehm
Kamera: Florian Mag, Markus Schindler, Niclas Reed Middleton, Pierre Nativel, Sven Jakob-Engelmann
Schnitt: Claudia Wolscht

mit Anatol Regnier, Florian Illies, Géraldine Mercier, Albert von Schirnding, Christoph Stölzl, Henrike Stolze, Günter Rohrbach, Gabriele von Arnim, Julia Voss, Willy Kristen, Wendelin Neubert, Carlo Paulus, Simon Strauß, Clemens von Lucius, Lena Winter

Trailer:
Trailer JEDER SCHREIBT FÜR SICH ALLEIN – ab 24. August 2023 im Kino
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Passages

A film by Ira Sachs. In English and French with German subtitles.

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On the final day of his shoot in Paris, German film­ma­ker Tomas is visi­bly ten­se. He is all stern exacti­tu­de as he explains to his extras just pre­cis­e­ly how to posi­ti­on their hands or what their moti­va­ti­on is as they walk down a flight of stairs – right up until the final sla­te. At the wrap par­ty, Tomas falls first into the arms of his British hus­band Martin, but then he meets a young pri­ma­ry school tea­cher, Agathe. A dance deve­lo­ps into a flir­ta­ti­on and then into a pas­sio­na­te night tog­e­ther. The next mor­ning, Tomas proud­ly tells Martin that he has slept with a woman. As this one-night stand grows into some­thing more, the rela­ti­onship bet­ween the two men beg­ins to chan­ge. A tale of rela­ti­onships that is mark­ed by pas­si­on, jea­lou­sy and nar­cis­sism unfolds in which each shows scant sen­si­ti­vi­ty for the needs of the others.
Ira Sachs’ latest work, his sixth outing in Panorama, once again pro­ves his talent for careful­ly obser­ved rela­ti­onship dra­mas. There is a hint of French cine­ma and a tang of Fassbinder waf­ting around the three prot­ago­nists as their per­so­nal wounds con­stant­ly rede­fi­ne the power rela­ti­ons bet­ween them.

Credits:

FR 2023, 91 Min., Englisch, Französisch OmU
Regie: Ira Sachs

Kamera: Josée Deshaies
Schnitt: Sophie Reine

mit Franz Rogowski, Ben Whishaw, Adèle Exarchopoulos

Trailer:
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Vergiss Meyn Nicht

Vergiss Meyn Nicht

A film by Fabiana Fragale, Kilian Kuhlendahl and Jens Mühlhoff. In German.

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A new com­mu­ni­ty has emer­ged, thir­ty met­res abo­ve the ground in the tree­tops of the Hambach Forest. In 2018, this site beco­mes the focus of cli­ma­te poli­cy dis­pu­tes in Germany on account of a group of peo­p­le who have got invol­ved by living in self-built tree hou­ses in a bid to pre­vent the threa­ten­ed cle­arance of the forest. Film stu­dent Steffen Meyn docu­men­ted the­se acti­vists’ part­ly peaceful, part­ly radi­cal, part­ly aggres­si­ve strugg­le against the des­truc­tion of natu­re over a peri­od of two years with a 360-degree hel­met came­ra. But then he fell from a tree during a poli­ce evic­tion and died.
This docu­men­ta­ry by Meyn’s fri­ends and fel­low stu­dents Fabiana Fragale, Kilian Kuhlendahl and Jens Mühlhoff is based on his foo­ta­ge. In their film, the protagonist’s doubts come across just as cle­ar­ly as does his fri­end­ly per­se­ver­ance and his efforts to cope with the more mili­tant aspects of the move­ment. In addi­ti­on, the direc­tors con­duc­ted inter­views with acti­vists on whom the expe­ri­en­ces in “Hambi” have left their mark. How far, they ask, does acti­vism need to go? And how far should it go?

Credits:

DE 2023, 102 Min.,
Regie: Fabiana Fragale, Kilian Kuhlendahl, Jens Mühlhoff

Kamera: Carina Neubohn, Nora Daniels, Steffen Meyn
Schnitt: Ulf Albert

Trailer:
Vergiss Meyn Nicht [Offizieller Teaser DEUTSCH HD] – Ab 21. September im Kino
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Music for Black Pigeons

Music For Black Pigeons

A film by Jørgen Leth and Andreas Koefoed.

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Music for Black Pigeons is the first col­la­bo­ra­ti­on bet­ween Jørgen Leth and Andreas Koefoed. The film poses exis­ten­ti­al ques­ti­ons to influ­en­ti­al jazz play­ers such as Bill Frisell, Lee Konitz, Midori Takada and many others: How does it feel to play, and what does it mean to lis­ten? What is it like to be a human being and spen­ding your who­le life try­ing to express some­thing through sounds? The cha­rac­ters wake up, rehe­ar­se, record, per­form and talk about music. In some moments they are on the edge, the edge of exis­tence, con­stant­ly chal­len­ging them­sel­ves. They lis­ten. They devo­te them­sel­ves to fin­ding a space to crea­te a con­nec­tion to some­thing big­ger than them­sel­ves. Something that will out­last all of us. For the past 14 years, the film­ma­kers fol­lo­wed Danish com­po­ser Jakob Bro, wit­nessing his musi­cal encoun­ters with acclai­med and eccen­tric musi­ci­ans from across gene­ra­ti­ons and natio­na­li­ties. Through Bro’s com­po­si­ti­ons, the film’s cha­rac­ters explo­re the space of music—and in doing so ans­wer some of the ques­ti­ons the film poses, in a poe­tic, life-affir­ming and enter­tai­ning way.

Credits:

DK 2022, 92 Min., Englisch, Dänisch, Japanisch OmU
Regie:
Jørgen Leth und Andreas Koefoedmäki
Kamera: Adam Jandrup, Dan Holmberg, Andreas Koefoed
Schnitt: Adam Nielsen
mit: Jakob Bro, Lee Konitz, Thomas Morgan, Paul Motian,
Bill Frisell, Mark Turner, Joe Lovano, Andrew Cyrille, Palle Mikkelborg,
Jon Christensen, Manfred Eicher, Midori Takada

Trailer:
Music For Black Pigeons TRAILER DE
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Die Toten Vögel sind oben

Die toten Vögel sind oben

A film by Sönje Storm. In German and Low German with English subtitles.

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In a nor­t­hern German attic: boxes of pin­ned but­ter­flies, careful­ly hand-colou­red pho­to­graphs of the local flo­ra and fau­na, hundreds of stuf­fed and dus­ty birds – Jürgen Friedrich Mahrt (1882–1940) did a gre­at job. His coll­ec­tions echo a pre­sent that doesn’t exist any­mo­re. And yet all signs of an eco­lo­gi­cal cri­sis can be found buried in them.
Dead or ali­ve? There is an uncan­ny ele­ment in Jürgen Friedrich Mahrt’s pho­tos: One can’t always be sure whe­ther the ani­mal cap­tu­red in the frame is the result of hours of wai­ting or just a spe­ci­men staged to look life­li­ke. The ripp­les around the duck on the pond are miss­ing, the bird of prey looks sus­pi­cious­ly calm direct­ly into the lens. Mahrt crossed bor­ders. He sacri­fi­ced his duties as a far­mer to the urge to docu­ment natu­ral envi­ron­ments we hard­ly find in natu­re today. Ancient forests, enchan­ted moors, macro views of fat, colourful cater­pil­lars – almost magi­cal images that make one sad in view of a varie­ty irre­trie­v­a­b­ly lost. His gre­at-grand­d­augh­ter Sönje Storm has the quiet eccentric’s estate ana­ly­sed by experts, shows peat cut­ters, extinct spe­ci­es and a chan­ging coun­try­si­de. An excee­din­gly sti­mu­la­ting excur­si­on, con­ge­ni­al­ly accom­pa­nied by the scur­ri­lous elec­tro­ni­ca sounds of Dominik Eulberg and Bertram Denzel.
(Carolin Weidner, DOK Leipzig 2022)

Credits:

DE 2022, 85 Min., deutsch, platt­deut­sche OmeU
Regie: Sönje Storm
Kamera: Alexander Gheorghiu
Schnitt: Halina Daugird

Trailer:
DIE TOTEN VÖGEL SIND OBEN – Offizieller Trailer
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Asteroid City

A film by Wes Anderson. In English with German subtitles.

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Like Richard Linklater in APOLLO 10 ½ Wes Andersons ASTEROID CITY explo­res a mythi­cal Space Age that dreamt of a bright future very dif­fe­rent from the present.

Wes Anderson, in the vein simi­lar to David Lynch, makes films for hims­elf and an audi­ence that has alre­a­dy fal­len for his aes­the­tic and his quir­ky sto­ries and cha­rac­ters.

Just like in his past films, the plot is a Russian nes­t­ing doll of inter­la­cing lay­ers: the came­ra films a recor­ding of a TV pro­gram about the gene­sis of a play and the dif­fi­cul­ties and obs­ta­cles that need to be over­co­me by the pre­mie­re, but the core of the film is the plot of the play its­elf. The props are deli­ver­ed by a freight train during the ope­ning cre­dits, and the came­ra avo­ids any late­ral move­ments which could reve­al that the enti­re world is actual­ly just a paper mache faca­de.

At its core, the film is about a gathe­ring of dif­fe­rent peo­p­le in the year 1955 in a small desert town to com­me­mo­ra­te the anni­ver­sa­ry of the aste­ro­id impact that gave the city its name. The high­light is a rare astral event and in addi­ti­on to this, the best of a small group of juni­or sci­en­tists will be sel­ec­ted. For them it‘s an oppor­tu­ni­ty to be around simi­lar­ly ner­dy peers while their par­ents can talk to each other about what it‘s like having child­ren that are some­what stran­ge. All the gene­ra­ti­ons feel lost and ali­en­ated from their earth­ly lives and despera­te­ly want the­re to be some­thing in the stars that will give them mea­ning. Augie Steenbeck (Jason Schwartzmann), for exam­p­le, is devas­ta­ted by the death of his wife and hasn‘t been able to tell his child­ren about it, to the disp­lea­su­re of his father-in-law Stanley (Tom Hanks). Augie can only open up to his pavi­li­on neigh­bor, film star Midge Campbel (Scarlett Johansson), who has also lost her ori­en­ta­ti­on due to a pain­ful loss. When an ali­en (Jeff Goldblum) unex­pec­ted­ly lands during the cerem­o­ny, it leads to a lock­down as ins­truc­ted by the pre­si­dent as oppo­sed to a meaningful impe­tus. But lucki­ly, they can turn to the wri­ter or direc­tor of this play at that point, and if the crea­tors can‘t help eit­her, they go one step fur­ther, to the front of the thea­ter, may­be the­re will be some­bo­dy who can say some­thing hel­pful the­re. Or they can just not worry and see what hap­pens next. Sooner or later, the pro­blem will sol­ve its­elf.

With all of its exis­ten­tia­list con­side­ra­ti­ons, ASTEROID CITY is actual­ly a sweet and tho­rough­ly opti­mi­stic decla­ra­ti­on of love to the ver­si­on of the 1950s whe­re the­re was still hope for a bet­ter future in space and nuclear power and ever­y­thing, yes ever­y­thing, could be bought from a ven­ding machi­ne. The film is car­ri­ed by a spec­ta­cu­lar cast that have eit­her alre­a­dy been in other Anderson films (Tilda Swinton as a con­fu­sed astro­no­mer) or will hop­eful­ly pop up again (Steve Carell as the unshakeable hotel mana­ger). Since there‘s not­hing to ‘com­pre­hend‘ bes­i­des its per­so­nal emo­tio­nal reso­nan­ce, which Wes Anderson films often evo­ke, ASTEROID CITY is a cine­a­stic gift that gives a cozy fee­ling of hap­pi­ness in many shades.

Christian Klose | indiekino

Translation: Elinor Lewy

Credits:

US 2023, 104 Min., engl. OmU
Regie & Buch: Wes Anderson
Kamera: Robert D. Yeoman
Schnitt: Barney Pilling
mit: Tom Hanks, Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Bryan Cranston, Ed Norton, Adrien Brody, Liev Schreiber, Hope Davis, Rupert Friend, Maya Hawke, Steve Carell, Margot Robbie, Matt Dillon, Hong Chau, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Rita Wilson

Trailer:
Asteroid City | Offizieller Trailer | Ed (Universal Pictures)
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Black Box

A film by Aslı Özge. In German.

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During an emer­gen­cy, the resi­dents of an apart­ment buil­ding in Berlin drop all pre­ten­se of human decency.

Due to an unex­plai­ned inci­dent out­side an apart­ment buil­ding in Berlin, the poli­ce block the ent­ran­ces to the cour­ty­ard, and a ten­se situa­ti­on ensues. Uncertainty among the resi­dents fuels fears. Suspicion and panic spread; pre­ju­di­ce leads to pola­riza­ti­on. The cour­ty­ard is a micro­c­osm, with rela­ti­onships based on power and pro­fit. Perhaps the real dan­ger is not from out­side, but from within.

Credits:

DE/BE 2023, 120 Min.,
Regie: Aslı Özge
Kamera: Emre Erkmen
Schnitt: Patricia Rommel
mit: Luise Heyer, Felix Kramer, Christian Berkel, Timur Magomedgadzhiev, Manal Issa, André Szymanski, Sascha Alexander Geršak, Jonathan Berlin, Anne Ratte-Polle

Trailer:
BLACK BOX (Offizieller Trailer)
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Brother’s Keeper

A film by Ferit Karahan. In Turkish and Kurdish with German subtitles.

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Strict rules pre­vail at a remo­te boar­ding school in the moun­ta­ins of Anatolia whe­re Turkish tea­chers edu­ca­te gifted Kurdish pupils from the sur­roun­ding area. Once a week, the boys are allo­wed to show­er and, like ever­y­thing else here, this pro­cess is moni­to­red. One night, twel­ve-year-old Memo asks his fri­end Yusuf if he can sleep in his bed. But, afraid of gos­sip, Yusuf refu­ses. The next mor­ning, Memo is sick and can­not attend class. The school’s hea­ting has bro­ken down and an icy winter’s day takes its cour­se. Memo’s con­di­ti­on wor­sens. He is no lon­ger respon­si­ve and Yusuf is only allo­wed to talk when prompt­ed. Gradually, the events of the pre­vious night are reve­a­led.
Ferit Karahan’s fine­ly spun dra­ma illu­mi­na­tes a micro­c­osm mark­ed by pover­ty and fear. Surrounded by snow and frost, the emo­tio­nal cold­ness which pre­vails bet­ween tea­chers and pupils in this aut­ho­ri­ta­ri­an edu­ca­tio­nal insti­tu­ti­on beco­me almost phy­si­cal­ly tangible.

Credits:

Okul Tıraşı
TR 2021, 85 Min., Türk., kurd. OmU
Regie: Ferit Karahan
Kamera: Türksoy Gölebeyi
Schnitt: Sercan Sezgin, Hayedeh Safiyari, Ferit Karahan
mit: Samet Yıldız, Ekin Koç, Mahir İpek, Melih Selçuk, Cansu Fırıncı, Nurullah Alaca

Trailer:
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Auf der Adamant

A film by Nicolas Philibert. In French with German subtitles.

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The Adamant is a uni­que day-care cent­re. A floa­ting struc­tu­re loca­ted on the Seine in the heart of Paris, it wel­co­mes adults suf­fe­ring from men­tal dis­or­ders, offe­ring the kind of care that grounds them in time and space and helps them to reco­ver or keep up their spi­rits. The team run­ning it tri­es to resist the dete­rio­ra­ti­on and dehu­ma­ni­sa­ti­on of psych­ia­try as best as they can.
One of the gre­at docu­men­ta­ry film­ma­kers working today, Nicolas Philibert’s approach has ever­y­thing to do with get­ting clo­se to his sub­ject. Whether it is an indi­vi­du­al such as the oran­gut­an of Nénette (Forum, 2010), or a group of peo­p­le as in La mai­son de la radio (Panorama, 2013), his obser­va­ti­on over an exten­ded peri­od of time is moti­va­ted by a genui­ne and con­ta­gious inte­rest in all that moves within a com­mu­ni­ty. The ques­ti­on of trust is always cen­tral to a docu­men­ta­ry filmmaker’s work and Philibert’s stance is per­fect in that regard, espe­ci­al­ly for tho­se who might have reason to mis­trust their fel­low humans. This gent­le, enligh­tening film invi­tes us to join the wel­co­ming micro­c­osm of the Adamant. In their com­pa­ny we may, as one pati­ent sug­gests, deci­de in the mor­ning to make sure that we will have a good day.

Berlinale 2023: Golden Bear

Credits:

Sur l’Adamant
FR/JP 2022, 109 Min., frz. OmU
Regie, Kamera, Schnitt: Nicolas Philibert,
Regie unter Mitwirkung von Linda De Zitter

Trailer:
On the Adamant / Sur l’Adamant (2023) – Trailer (English Subs)
im Kino mit deut­schen Untertiteln
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Le Mali 70

A film by Markus CM Schmidt. In German, French, Bambara, English with German subtitles.

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In the 1970s, the­re was a vibrant big band music sce­ne in Mali that mixed Afro-Cuban jazz with tra­di­tio­nal music. The Berlin band Omniversal Earkestra redis­co­ver­ed the sound and set off on a jour­ney to meet the legends of the time and record an album with them that ends up being more of a cul­tu­re clash than expec­ted. An into­xi­ca­ting music film. Ysabel Fantounem Roadmovie durch Mali.

(DOK.fest München 2023, Ysabel Fantou)

Credits:

DE 2022, 92 Min., German, French, Bambara, English OmU
Regie & Schnitt: Markus CM Schmidt
Kamera: Martin Langner

Trailer:
LE MALI 70 – Offizieller Trailer
im Kino mit deut­schen Untertiteln
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