Contemporary German Documentary Cinema (1999 – 2007): the Rural Represented, the Regional Defamiliarised and Heimat Revived Christina Bruns PhD The University of Edinburgh 2009 I declare that this thesis is entirely my own work. Christina Bruns 2 Abstract The thesis identifies a development integral to contemporary German documentary cinema that has not yet been taken into academic consideration: namely a new will to depict the regional, the rural, or Heimat. I have organised the research under precisely these three thematic motifs: the rural (Chapter One), the regional (Chapter Two), and Heimat (Chapter Three). The importance of the rural and the regional has to date been largely overlooked by academics in the field of film studies. Yet in the context of Germany they are key cultural markers – both are fundamental to the deep‐rooted German cultural concept of Heimat. Heimat, on the other hand, has attracted the recent attention of film scholars; their focus, however, has been mainly limited to historical analyses. I have implemented a number of theoretical frameworks in order to model a much‐needed understanding of this emerging German cinema. My examination of representations of the rural is rooted in a geographic approach to the medium of film, with an emphasis on the shaping (or lack thereof) of cinematic landscapes. My investigation of representations of the regional benefits from ethnographic concepts such as Other‐ing and exoticism. My discussion of a revival of Heimat on screen is based on historical analyses of the genre of the Heimat film. These theoretical 3 frameworks are guided by close textual analysis of eight case study films spanning the period 1999 – 2007: Die Blume der Hausfrau (Dominik Wessely, 1999), Out of Edeka (Konstantin Faigle, 2001), Schotter wie Heu (Wiltrud Baier and Sigrun Baier, 2002), Herr Wichmann von der CDU (Andreas Dresen, 2003), Ich kenn’ keinen – Allein unter Heteros (Jochen Hick, 2003), Die Blutritter (Douglas Wolfsperger, 2004), Durchfahrtsland (Alexandra Sell, 2005), Full Metal Village (Sung‐Hyung Cho, 2007). The thesis not only identifies and analyses this new development in German cinema but also contextualises it in an academic framework. 4 To my parents with love and thanks 5 Table of Contents Acknowledgements Editorial Note Introduction 0.1. General Orientation: Contemporary German Cinema 0.2. Research Objective 0.2.1. A German Framework 0.2.2. Contextualisation: The Rural in German Documentary 0.3. Literary Review: Gaps in Film Studies 0.3.1. Literary Review: The Rural 0.3.2. Literary Review: The Regional 0.3.3. Literary Review: The Heimat Film 0.4. Overview: Case Studies 0.4.1. Die Blume der Hausfrau (Dominik Wessely, 1999) 0.4.2. Out of Edeka (Konstantin Faigle, 2001) 0.4.3. Schotter wie Heu (Wiltrud Baier & Sigrun Köhler, 2002) 0.4.4. Herr Wichmann von der CDU (Andreas Dresen, 2003) 0.4.5. Ich kenn‘ keinen – Allein unter Heteros (Jochen Hick, 2003) 0.4.6. Die Blutritter (Douglas Wolfsperger, 2004) 0.4.7. Durchfahrstland (Alexander Sell, 2005) 0.4.8. Full Metal Village (Sung‐Hyung Cho, 2007) 0.5. Overview: Regional Film Funding / National Television Support 0.6. Overview: Documentary Aesthetics 0.6.1. Aesthetics and Humour 0.7. Chapter Descriptions 6 Chapter One: The Rural Represented 1.0. The Rural Represented: Introductory Note 1.1. The Rural Represented: The Land Herr Wichmann von der CDU (Andreas Dresen, 2003) Ich kenn‘ keinen – Allein unter Heteros (Jochen Hick, 2003) 1.2. The Rural Represented: The Landscape Die Blutritter (Douglas Wolfsperger, 2002) Full Metal Village (Sung‐ Hyung Cho, 2006) 1.3. The Rural Represented: The Land and the Village Out of Edeka (Konstantin Faigle, 2001) Schotter wie Heu (Wiltrud Baier & Sigrun Köhler, 2002) 1.4. The Rural Represented: The Land in Between Die Blume der Hausfrau (Dominik Wessely, 1999) Durchfahrtsland (Alexandra Sell, 2005) 1.5. The Rural Represented: Concluding Note Chapter Two: The Regional Defamiliarised 2.0. The Regional Defamiliarised: Introductory Note 2.1. The Regional Defamiliarised: The Primitive Other Ich kenn’ keinen – Allein unter Heteros (Jochen Hick, 2003) Schotter wie Heu (Wiltrud Baier & Sigrun Köhler, 2002) 2.2. The Regional Defamiliarised: The Divided Other Durchfahrtsland (Alexandra Sell, 2005) Herr Wichmann von der CDU (Andreas Dresen, 2003) 2.3. The Regional Defamiliarised: The Exotic Other Die Blutritter (Douglas Wolfsperger, 2004) Out of Edeka (Konstantin Faigle, 2001) 7 2.4. The Regional Defamiliarised: The (Non)‐Indigenous Other Die Blume der Hausfrau (Dominik Wessely, 1999) Full Metal Village (Sung‐Hyung Cho, 2007) 2.5. The Regional Defamiliarised: Concluding Note Chapter Three: Heimat Revived 3.0. Heimat Revived: Introductory Note 3.1. Heimat Revived: The Rural and the Urban Ich kenn’ keinen – Allein unter Heteros (Jochen Hick, 2003) Full Metal Village (Sung‐Hyung Cho, 2007) 3.2. Heimat Revived: Modernisation and Tradition Schotter wie Heu (Wiltrud Baier & Sigrun Köhler, 2002) Die Blutritter (Douglas Wolfsperger, 2004) 3.3. Heimat Revived: Heimweh and Fernweh Herr Wichmann von der CDU (Andreas Dresen, 2003) Out of Edeka (Konstantin Faigle, 2001) 3.4. Heimat Revived: Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft Die Blume der Hausfrau (Dominik Wessely, 1999) Durchfahrtsland (Alexandra Sell, 2005) 3.5. Heimat Revived: Concluding Note 4.0. Conclusion and Further Research Bibliography Appendices Appendix I Appendix II Appendix III 8 Acknowledgements I would like to thank my research supervisors at the University of Edinburgh, Prof Martine Beugnet and Prof Sarah Colvin, for nurturing ideas already there and stimulating more; Prof Thomas Elsaesser at the University of Amsterdam for first recognising the potential of these ideas; and the Arts and Humanities Research Council for supporting them financially. A special thank you to Maureen, Jan and Mark, for their loving encouragement and support; to Domenic for living with it all so patiently; and to Anna for making the boat less lonely. Thank you all for always being there. 9 Editorial Note Unless otherwise stated, all translations are my own. Although some case study films do provide English subtitles, I have chosen to use my own translations due to the lack of quality in some of these subtitled translations. If a German film title also carries an English / international title, this is placed in italics in square brackets in a footnote to avoid an interruption to the flow of reading. If the film does not carry an English title, a translation is provided in a footnote in square brackets and not italicised. Unless otherwise stated, all films mentioned are of German production origin. German words are italicised. An exception to this is the term Heimat. As the term has no English equivalent, the word is increasingly entering the English language in its German form. I have taken the liberty of referring to the German genre of Heimatfilm as Heimat film to facilitate reading and avoid linguistic confusion. Direct quotations from the case study films often carry strong dialects, which lead to devations from the grammar of standard German – these linguistic inaccuracies have not been rectified but left in dialect for reasons of authenticity. 10 Introduction 0.1. General Orientation: Contemporary German Cinema The past decade has witnessed dynamic changes in German cinema. Signifiers are not hard to find. Abroad, German films are once again attracting attention. Renowned international awards such as the Academy Award and the European Film Award have recently had a number of German recipients.1 German films are touring the festival circuit and the number of German film festivals has risen significantly in the past decade. In Germany, the Filmförderungsanstalt (FFA), the German Federal Film Board, has recorded a significant rise in audience numbers for domestic productions.2 The emergence of a German publication, Revolver,3 piloted by film students turned film‐makers, has established a thriving domestic forum for critical film discussion and proves that the developments on the German cinema horizon are also fostering new debates off‐screen. 1 The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film was awarded to German productions in both 2002 and 2006: Nirgendwo in Afrika [Nowhere in Africa] (Caroline Link, 2001); Das Leben der Anderen [The Lives of Others] (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, 2006). The European Film Awards for Best European Film was awarded to German productions in 2003, 2004 and 2006: Good Bye, Lenin! (Wolfgang Becker, 2003); Gegen die Wand [Head‐On] (Fatih Akin, 2004); Das Leben der Anderen [The Lives of Others] (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, 2006). 2 ‘Kinoergebnisse – 5 Jahre auf einen Blick’, FFA Marktdaten http://www.ffa.de/ [accessed 6th March 2009]. 3 Revolver was first published in 1998. 11 First attempts to define these changes are varied. While the French Cahiers du Cinéma reports of a ‘Nouvelle Vague Allemande’ [New German Wave],4 others speak of the ‘Berliner Schule’ [Berlin School].5 The definitions may be debatable and the film‐makers may be reluctant to be uniformly categorised; a cinematic change, however, is undeniable. These cinematic developments come after a post‐wall decade of German productions which primarily followed generic American comedy conventions. The productions offered a narrow vision of Germany: young professionals in predominantly urban environments. The focus, however, was not limited to the new capital, Berlin. On the contrary, the settings were for the most part West German cities, such as Hamburg (Stadtgespräch, 1995; Männerpension, 1996),6 Munich (Abgeschminkt, 1993; Irren ist männlich, 1996; Das Superweib, 1996; Rossini, 1997)7 and Cologne (Der bewegte Mann, 1994).8 Although successful with national audiences of the time, the films have been criticised for lacking engagement with any real identitiy developments of post‐wall Germany. Eric Rentschler sees in them ‘a lack of 4 See for example, Elisabeth Lequeret, ‘Printemps allemand’, Cahiers du Cinéma, 609 (2006), 45‐53. 5 The term was first used by film critic Rainer Gansera, ‘Glücks‐Pickpocket’, Süddeutsche Zeitung, 3 November 2001, but has since turned into common use.