The Raspberry Reich

THE RASPBERRY REICH

A movie by Bruce LaBruce

Produced by Jürgen Brüning

Written and directed by Bruce LaBruce

Germany 2004

Original version (english) · 90 minutes

Official entry, Sundance 2004

Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin 2004, Panorama Cast And Crew

Gudrun Susanne Sachsse Holger Daniel Bätscher Patrick Andreas Rupprecht Andreas Dean Stathis Clyde Anton Z. Risan Che Daniel Fettig Helmut Gerrit Horst Joeffrey Neighbour 1 Ulrike S. Drag Queen Stage Sherry Vine Neighbour 2 Stephan Dilschneider Drag Queen Door Pünktchen Policeman Sven Reinhard TV Personality Genesis P. Orridge Muslim Naushad Arab terrorist 1 Hüseyin Günus Arab terrorist 2 Alfredo Holz Arab terrorist 3 Claus Matthes Arab terrorist 4 Rafael Caba Diplomat Mischka Kral Chauffeur Marco Volk Baby Darius Sautter Aschkanpour Voice Patrick Christoph Glaubacker Voice Che Andreas Stadler Voice Helmut Ralf Grawe Voice Horst Mario Mentrup Additional voices David Arnold Marco Volk Daniel Hendricksen Claus Matthes

Set Design Stefan Dickfeld Editor Jörn Hartmann Director of Photography James Carman Second Camera Kristian Petersen Additional Camera Torsten Falk Bruce LaBruce Sound Recordist Luis Hoyos Assistant Director Marco Volk Production Manager Claus Matthes Production Assistant Robert Dilly Manfred Rauch Matthias Knapp Production Advise Gamma Bak Second Unit Porn Jürgen Anger Kiki La Sunrise Christian Slaughter Lights Sören Salzer Stills Jörn Hartmann Make up Andreas Bernhardt Costumes Ludger Wekenborg Catering Daniel Fettig Visual Effects Ron Geipel Sound Design Jörn Hartmann Post Dubbing David Arnold, Loft Studios, Berlin Sound Mix Jan Dejozé, Loft Studios, Hamburg THE RASPBERRY REICH The Raspberry Reich

The Raspberry Reich is a film about „radical chic“, specifically the phenomenon of the modern left in Germany adopting the signifiers and postures of extreme left wing movements of the seventies, particuarly the Red Army Faction, also known as the Baader-Meinhof Gang. The movie starts off with the abduction by a gang of bumbling, would-be terrorists of Patrick, a young man who is the son of one of the wealthiest bankers in Germany. A scene of chaos and slapstick humour ensues in which Clyde, one of the aspiring terrorists – or activists, as they prefer to refer to themselves – accidentally hand-cuffs himself to the kidnapping victim and is forced to join him in the trunk of their stolen BMW.

Unbeknownst to the rest of the gang, Clyde, whose job it was to follow Patrick and report his whereabouts to his cohorts, has already had a sexual liason with Patrick, and the two young men are already planning Patrick’s escape as soon as the abduction takes place. The gang does not realize that Patrick’s father disowned and disinherited him when Patrick came out as gay, and therefore he has no value as a hostage. Nothing seems to go right for this well-meaning but ineffectual gang of aspiring terrorists.

In the meantime, the leader of the Raspberry Reich, Gudrun, a charismatic young woman who has patterned herself after Gudrun Ensslin, one of the main members of the Baader-Meinhof Gang, is indoctrinated the other members of the gang to her cause. Gudrun, a strict devotee of Wihelm Reich and Herbert Marcuse, believes that heterosexual monogamy is a bourgeois construct that must be smashed in order to achieve true revolution. To that end, she forces her straight male followers to have sex with each other to prove their mettle as authentic revolutionaries. When Holger, one of her followers, protests that he is her boyfriend, Gudrun tells him not to be ridiculous, that the revolution is her boyfriend! Gudrun is constantly preaching her revolutionary rhetoric to the impressionable young men, but she often finds it diffucult to live up to the extreme ideals by which she attempts to govern her life and the lives of her followers.

After having sex in a public elevator with Holger and visiting a shooting range with Andreas, the senior member of the gang, Gudrun starts to hatch her hostage scheme in order to extort money from Patrick’s father which she plans to distribute to the oppressed, impoverished working class, and also to draw attention to their glamorous cause. Unfortunately for Gudrun, Clyde and Patrick have ambitions of their own. The eventually escape and become bank robbers, stealing money from one of the banks owned by Patrick’s own father.

After the terrorists’ plot is foiled, the film traces what becomes of each of the members. Helmut and Horst, who were previously straight, become gay lovers. They run into Andreas, who seems to be in the closet, in a gay bar on an evening that has a terrorist chic theme. Che, another member of the gang, who patterns himself after Che Guevera, moves to the Middle East where he begins to train real terrorists how to abduct real victims. Sometimes those who indulge in radical chic do become real - and dangerous - terrorists. And of course Gudrun and Holger get married and have a child and become members of the bourgeoisie, although Gudrun still pays lip service to her radical beliefs.

The Raspberry Reich is an art/porn film that, like all my films, uses pornography as a starting point to examine sexual politics and homosexual radicalism. (For me, working in pornography is like a genre excercise.) Like my previous two films, „Hustler White“ and „Skin Flick“, The Raspberry Reich concerns an all-male gang that does not strictly identify itself as homosexual but whose members nonetheless are sexually active with

THE RASPBERRY REICH each other. („Hustler White“ is about male prostitutes, „Skin Flick“ is about neo-Nazi skinheads.) Each of the movies examines identity politics, emphasizing that homosexual identity is fluid and can be separated from a strict gay politic. In The Raspberry Reich, Gudrun initiates the sexual dynamic between the heterosexual males who idolize her; she recognizes the innate radical potential of homosexual expression and attempts to manipulate it towards her revolutionary ends. The fact that she is constantly quoting Reich and Marcuse is no coincidence: the RAF and other radical movements of the seventies believed in the sexually revolutionary ideals of these post-Freudian thinkers, and fought against all forms of sexual repression and the constraints of gender. (One of Gudrun’s favourite slogans is „Heterosexuality is the Opiate of the Masses!“) It is essential that my film engage these notions with sexually explicit content, for in this way it mirrors all the sexual ambivalence and ambiguities of the radical movements that emerged in the sixties which are now being revived in art and fashion, but which could soon become a new social and political force in modern culture.

Bruce LaBruce, director

Here is an introduction to an interview with the director by J T Leroy in „Film-maker magazine“ that further explains the thesis of The Raspberry Reich.

They kidnapped business leaders, gunned down police officers and hijacked an airliner. But even after Sept. 11, the failed German revolutionaries who spread fear in the 1970s and ’80s have acquired a certain chic.”

Thus began a recent article, („Terror Films, Fashion Stir Germany“) by Associated Press writer Stephen Graham, reporting on the resurgence of interest in the Red Army Faction (aka the Baader-Meinhof Gang) among young German filmmakers and designers.

In addition to a half-dozen German films „that attempt to give the RAF a more human face“ – such as „Baader“, „Black Box Germany“, „The State I Am In“, and „What To Do In Case of a Fire“ – writes Graham, „RAF symbols, such as its trademark machine gun and red star have been recycled … Stores have marketed underwear bearing the slogan ,PRADA-MEINHOF’, and a Berlin boutique offers T-shirts for infants with the word ,Terrorist’ in bright colors across the chest.“

Not surpringingly, this pop culture mythologizing of the Baader-Meinhof Gang, „rankles older Germans,” says Graham.

When the Associated Press article appeared, Canadian director Bruce LaBruce – who keeps his finger on the pop culture zeitgeist – was on his way to Berlin to begin shooting his latest film, The Raspberry Reich. (The Raspberry Reich, also known as „Schili“ – a cross between „chic“ (schick) and „left“ (linke) – were the affluent German leftists who supported the Baader-Meinhof Gang during their time on the run, providing them with shelter and money.)

LaBruce – a self-described sexual revolutionary who launched the homocore movement in Toronto in the late ‘80s in response to the homophobia of the punk rock scene – describes The Raspberry Reich as „a critique of terrorist chic“.

THE RASPBERRY REICH Bruce LaBruce, director

Bruce LaBruce is an independent film-maker and writer whose features have developed an international following. His most recent film project, „Skin Flick“, was released in both hardcore and softcore versions, the former of which was nominated for nine gay adult video awards, the latter of which has played at over thirty international film festivals. Prior to that, his feature film „Hustler White“, a collaboration with Los Angeles based photographer Rick Castro, premiered at the l996 Sundance Film Festival, followed by screenings at the International Film Festivals in Berlin, Dublin, Copenhagen, Thessaloniki, Toronto, Vancouver, Helsinki, Slovenia, Gijon, Lille, etc., and at Gay and Lesbian Film Festivals including Tokyo, Sao Paulo, Milan, Oslo, San Francisco, London, Barcelona, Melbourne, etc. „Hustler White“ won first prize at the Freak Zone Film Festival in Lille in 1997, earning it a screening at the Cannes Film Festival. LaBruce co-stars in this romantic comedy with actor/supermodel Tony Ward. „Hustler White“ has been picked up for distribution world-wide, including Great Britain, France, Spain, Germany, Australia, U.S.A, Canada, and Japan, and has been sold to television in Germany, Hong Kong, and England.

In January l996, LaBruce’s most recent music video, for the song „Misogyny“ by popular Toronto band Rusty, was the most requested video for three consecutive weeks on City TV’s MuchMusic and won a MuchMusic video award for Best Concept Video in 1996. His follow-up video for the song „Empty Cell“ also by Rusty won him the Best Concept Video Award for 1997.

In l994 and l995, LaBruce traveled extensively with his second feature, „Super 8 1/2“, which became a hit on the international film festival circuit, playing at well over fifty festivals including Sundance, The Toronto and Vancouver International Film Festivals, London, Edinburgh, Dublin, Wales, Thessaloniki, Helsinki, Copenhagen, Rotterdam, Rio De Janeiro, Vienna, and Atlanta, as well as numerous Gay and Lesbian Festivals including San Francisco, Austin, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Paris, etc.

LaBruce also traveled the world with his first feature, „No Skin Off My Ass“, which was shot on super 8 film and blown up to l6mm, debuting at the London Film Festival. „No Skin Off My Ass“ and „Super 8 1/2“ have been picked up for distribution by Strand Releasing (North America), Stance Co. (Japan), and Dangerous To Know (UK); each of these distribution companies acted as executive producers for his latest film, Hustler White. Based on the success of „Hustler White“ in France, the distributor Star Productions had more recently picked up “No Skin Off My Ass” and „Super 8 1/2“ for distribution.

LaBruce has been working in collaboration with Berlin-based producer Jurgen Brüning since l990. Before his affiliation with Bruning, LaBruce organized a screening of his super 8 experimental films along with those of G B Jones, Candy Parker, and others, entitled „JDs Film Nite”, which played at the Purple Institute in Toronto, at the Montreal Gay and Lesbian Film Festival and the London Film Festival.

Bruce LaBruce started out as Bryan Bruce, a film academic who received his Masters Degree in film theory at York University as well as the Famous Players award for best film studies student. He was also an original member of the editorial collective of CineAction! magazine for which he wrote for six years, acting as co- editor of two issues. While finishing his Masters thesis (on Hitchcock’s Vertigo), Bruce started to get involved in underground publishing and film-making, where his alter ego, Bruce LaBruce was born. LaBruce emerged as the co-editor of JDs, the influential gay punk fanzine which begat the ‘queercore’ movement, before launching an international film career.

THE RASPBERRY REICH As a writer, Bruce LaBruce has contributed to such publications as CineAction!, Movie, Sight and Sound, MaximumRocknRoll, Index, Attitude, Vice, the National Post, the London Guardian, Honcho magazine, etc., as well as the anthologies „Out in Culture“ , „A Queer Romance“, „Anti-Gay“, and „Take My Advice“. His popular column „BLAB“ has appeared for many years in Exclaim, Toronto’s monthly independent music magazine. More recently, he writes a bi-weekly column for Eye Magazine, Toronto’s Free Weekly. In 1997 the collective columns of Exclaim were expanded and published by Gutter Press in book form as „The Reluctant Pornographer“. LaBruce has collaborated as writer and performer with drag star Glennda Orgasm on six episodes of „Glennda and Friends“, the popular Manhattan cable TV show which has been screened at galleries and festivals world-wide.

In 1996, LaBruce was invited to the Plug-In Gallery in Winnipeg, Manitoba for his first retrospective, co-sponsored by the Winnipeg Film Group. This resulted in a book from Plug-In Press of scripts, frame enlargements, and essays on LaBruce’s work. Other international art spaces which have shown LaBruce’s work include A-Space, YYZ, and the Purple Institute in Toronto, The Institutes of Contemporary Art in Boston and London, and the LACE gallery in Los Angeles. His films have shown at numerous major universities, including MIT, Harvard, Northwestern, and the University of Toronto, and he has appeared as a guest lecturer at York University and MIT.

Ever expanding his repertoire, LaBruce has recently become a regular contributing photographer and writer for Index, Inches and Honcho magazines in New York and was recently named a contributing editor to Index. A book of his photographs will be published by Index in September 2001. Labruce has had solo photographic exhibitions thus far at the Alleged Gallery in New York, the Helen Pitt Gallery in Vancouver, and MC MAGMA gallery in Milano, Italy.

LaBruce has had film retrospectives at such international film festivals as the U.S. Film Festival at Dallas, the Mix Festival in Sao Paolo, Brazil, and the Third Annual Buenos Aries Independant Film Festival in Argentina. Most recently, Labruce has particpated in Platinum Oasis, an art/performance event held in Los Angeles in July. He presented installations there in July of 2001 and July of 2002. His most recent photo exhibition was in San Francisco at peres-projects in September, 2002.

In September of 2003, LaBruce opened his latest exhibition of photographs at John Connelly Presents… in New York’s Chelsea art district. The show was called „Blame Canada“.

THE RASPBERRY REICH Films as director

THE RASPBERRY REICH Feature Film 2004 writer, director

GO (Cheerleader) Music Video 2001 3 min. 30 sec. 16mm/mini-digital video director

SKIN FLICK/SKIN GANG Feature film 1999/2000 Super 8 and digital video writer, director, cameo

SHAMPOO (Zucherbaby) Music video 1998 3 min. 16mm/video director

MRS PETRIE (Glueleg) Music video 1997 3 min. 30 sec. 16mm/video director

EMPTY CELL VERSIONS ONE AND TWO (Rusty) Music video 1997 3 min. 20 sec. 16mm/video director Winner MuchMusic video award: Best Concept Video

HUSTLER WHITE Feature film l996 80 min. l6mm film co-director, co-producer, co-writer, co-star

MISOGYNY (Rusty) Music video l995 3 min. 20 sec. l6mm film\video director, actor Winner Muchmusic video award: Best Concept Video

FUN TONIGHT (The Riverdales) Music video l995 2 min. 54 sec. l6mm film\video director

SUPER 8 1/2 Feature film l994 l05 min. l6mm film THE RASPBERRY REICH director, writer, co-producer, co-star NO SKIN OFF MY ASS Feature film l99l 75 min. Super 8/16mm film director, writer, editor, co-star

SLAM Experimental film l989 8 min. Super 8 film director, producer, editor

HOME MOVIES Experimental film l989 l2 min. Super 8 film co-director, producer, editor, actor

I KNOW WHAT IT’S LIKE TO BE DEAD Experimental film l988 15 min. Super 8 film director, producer, editor, actor

BOY/GIRL Experimental film l987 l5 min. Super 8 film director, producer, editor

THE RASPBERRY REICH Jürgen Brüning, producer

Jürgen Brüning had a frivolous upbringing at a river called Rhine in the neighbourhood of Cologne. His sociological studies had its realistic experiences in some squatted houses in Berlin. In 1983 he came in contact with the Cinema of Transgeression and met the icons of this movement: Richard Kern, Nick Zedd, Ela Troyano and Tessa Hughes-Freeland.

In 1986 Richard Kern‘s film „Fingered“ with Lydia Lunch, which Brüning distributed in Germany, made a scandelous impression at the Berlin Film Festival and its following theatrical release at Brüning‘s cinema called Eiszeit. In 1988 Brüning moved to Buffalo, New York to focus on his own filmwork. He produced videos on Rosa von Praunheim, Gays in Thailand and Gay Skinheads in Berlin.

His collaboration with Bruce LaBruce started in 1990 and has flourished into the conception of four masterpieces.

Nan Goldin went on a trip with him in 1992 to do stills for his documentation ”Maybe I Can Give You Sex?“.

HIROYUKI Oki, a young Japanese director, worked with him on a film portraying young adult men in Kochi, Japan.

Explicit imagery is consistent in Brüning’s work. In 1996 he made his first commercial porn film „Bulging Bavarians“. The porn label „Cazzo“, which he founded in 1996 became soon an important part of the contemporary pop culture.

With three porn actors he realised a feature film called „West Fucks East “. Lately he has produced a new film with Bruce LaBruce called „The Raspberry Reich“ and finished his own feature „Saudade“, entirely shot in Brazil.

THE RASPBERRY REICH Jürgen Brüning, filmography

Films as director

1981 Zu Gast in New York 1984 Nr. 4 1990 What Is The Relationship Between Rosa von Praunheim And The Male Strippers In San Francisco? (with Mark Goldstein) 1992 Maybe I Can Give You Sex? (with Rune Layumas) 1994 Er hat eine Glatze und ist Rassist, er ist schwul und ein Faschist 1995 Wild Palms 1997 Pralle Lederhosen 1998 Blut 1998 Stallburschen 1999 Nur für Jungs 1999 Sportsfreunde 2001 Wilde Ferien 2001 West fickt Ost 2002 Raw Meat 2003 Saudade – Sehnsucht

Films as Producer

1987 Kinder der Konfettimaschine (Rainer Grams, Klaus Dörries, directors) 1990 König der Eidechsen (Andreas Piontkowitz, director) 1990 No Skin off my Ass(Bruce LaBruce, director) 1992 Maybe I Can Give You Sex?(Jürgen Brüning, Rune Layumas, directors) 1993 Trouble (Penelope Buitenhuis, director) 1994 Super 8 1/2(Bruce LaBruce, director) 1994 Pfui – Unzucht und Ordnung in Deutschland (Rike Anders, Rainer Grams, Jürgen Brüning, directors) 1995 Pass (Penelope Buitenhuis, directors) 1996 Tarch Trip (HIROYUKI Oki, director) 1996 Hustler White (Bruce LaBruce, director) 1997 Latin Boys Go To Hell (Ela Troyano, director) 1998 Skin Flick (Bruce LaBruce, director) 2001 Berlin Bonking Bastards (Ebo Hill, director) 2004 The Raspberry Reich(Bruce LaBruce, director)

THE RASPBERRY REICH Credits

The Raspberry Reich

A movie by Bruce LaBruce

Produced by Jürgen Brüning

Written and directed by Bruce LaBruce

THE RASPBERRY REICH Set Design Stefan Dickfeld Editor Jörn Hartmann Director of Photography James Carman Second Camera Kristian Petersen Additional Camera Torsten Falk Bruce LaBruce Sound Recordist Luis Hoyos Assistant Director Marco Volk Production Manager Claus Matthes Production Assistant Robert Dilly Manfred Rauch Matthias Knapp Production Advise Gamma Bak Second Unit Porn Jürgen Anger Kiki La Sunrise Christian Slaughter Lights Sören Salzer Stills Jörn Hartmann Make up Andreas Bernhardt Costumes Ludger Wekenborg Catering Daniel Fettig Visual Effects Ron Geipel Sound Design Jörn Hartmann Post Dubbing David Arnold, Loft Studios, Berlin Sound Mix Jan Dejozé, Loft Studios, Hamburg

Extras Oliver Plank, Karsten Bekkema, Jörg Petersen, Roger Röhl, Rudi Kuhl, MyKey Prochnau, Ermeson Gomes da Silva, Andree Valperz, Peter Hagenauer, Andreas Mack, Steffen Leuschke, Ebo Hill, Rafael Caba, Heinz Thom, Marco Kappert, Henning Pink, André Rieger, Ruth Hutter, Bernhard Schmidt, Axel Schwarz

Distribution GMfilms, Michael Höfner, Berlin Peccadillo Pictures, Tom Abbell, Kah Loon, London Strand Releasing, Jon Gerrans, Marcus Hu, Los Angeles S. I. G., SUZUKI Akihiroi, Tokyo

Equipment

LIGHTS Cazzo Film, Jörg Polzer, Alexander Roessner, Ralf Schreckenberg, Berlin Cinegate, Peter, Berlin SOUND Thomas Knüppel, Berlin FILTERS Mausolf, Berlin CARS Simon Blum, Thommy Blum, Daniel Fettig, Michael Stock

THE RASPBERRY REICH Equipment (continued)

SOUND Patchbay, Anne Farnbacher, Frank Nörenberg

Accomodation Arne, Louis, Basti, Dirk, Uwe, Markus

Locations The Midnight Sun, Roland, Oliver Sven Reinhard, Marcin Reinhard-Baczyk Simon Blum Claus Matthes

Assistants to Ms. Sachsse Mark Siegel, Daniel Hendricksen

Thanks to Rainer Baumann, Michael Bidner, Steve Gallagher, Ela Troyano, Alan Zweig, Vaginal Davis

Shot entirely on location in Berlin, Germany

THE RASPBERRY REICH The Music

„Ride Me“ Performed by Khan Music/Lyrics by Can „Khan“ Oral Published by El Turco Loco Music/Freibank

„To My Kid“ Performed by Khan Music by Can „Khan“ Oral Published by El Turco Loco Music/Freibank

„Goo Goo Muck“ Performed by Kid&Khan™ Music/Lyrics by Cook Published by RNM Publishing Ltd.

„Day is Dawning“ Performed by The Hidden Cameras Written by Joel Gibb Published by Common Enemy Publishing

„i want action“ Copyrright 2001 cheerleader 666

„Hold Me, Touch Me“ performed by WIT Written and produced by Larry Tee Patrick Pulsinger Mix Courtesy of Mogul Electro Recordings ASCAP

„Hold Me, Touch Me“ performed by WIT Written and produced by Larry Tee Black Strobe Mix Courtesy of Mogul Electro Recordings ASCAP

„Follow Me“ Written, produced and performed by The Ray Makers Publiseh by Sonic Vibrations Music The Raymakers: Check it out at www.theraymakers.com

„The Man that I Am With My Man“ Performed by The Hidden Cameras Written by Joel Gibb THE RASPBERRY REICH Published by Common Enemy Publishing „Mike Love Is A Joke“ Written, produced and performed by The Ray Makers Publiseh by Sonic Vibrations Music The Raymakers: Check it out at www.theraymakers.com

„Solar Bubbles“ Written, produced and performed by The Ray Makers Publiseh by Sonic Vibrations Music The Raymakers: Check it out at www.theraymakers.com

THE RASPBERRY REICH