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EXPORT-UNION OF GERMAN CINEMA 4/2000 Special Report: TRAINING THE NEXT GENERATION – Film Schools In Germany ”THE TANGO DANCER“: Portrait of Jeanine Meerapfel Selling German Films: CINE INTERNATIONAL & KINOWELT INTERNATIONAL Kino Scene from:“A BUNDLE OF JOY” GERMAN CINEMA Launched at MIFED 2000 a new label of Bavaria Film International Further info at www.bavaria-film-international.de www. german- cinema. de/ FILMS.INFORMATION ON GERMAN now with links to international festivals! GERMAN CINEMA Export-Union des Deutschen Films GmbH · Tuerkenstrasse 93 · D-80799 München phone +49-89-3900 9 5 · fax +49-89-3952 2 3 · email: [email protected] KINO 4/2000 6 Training The Next Generation 33 Soweit die Füße tragen Film Schools in Germany Hardy Martins 34 Vaya Con Dios 15 The Tango Dancer Zoltan Spirandelli Portrait of Jeanine Meerapfel 34 Vera Brühne Hark Bohm 16 Pursuing The Exceptional 35 Vill Passiert In The Everyday Wim Wenders Portrait of Hans-Christian Schmid 18 Then She Makes Her Pitch Cine International 36 German Classics 20 On Top Of The Kinowelt 36 Abwärts Kinowelt International OUT OF ORDER Carl Schenkel 21 The Teamworx Player 37 Die Artisten in der Zirkuskuppel: teamWorx Production Company ratlos THE ARTISTS UNDER THE BIG TOP: 24 KINO news PERPLEXED Alexander Kluge 38 Ehe im Schatten MARRIAGE IN THE SHADOW 28 In Production Kurt Maetzig 39 Harlis 28 B-52 Robert van Ackeren Hartmut Bitomsky 40 Karbid und Sauerampfer 28 Die Champions CARBIDE AND SORREL Christoph Hübner Frank Beyer 29 Julietta 41 Martha Christoph Stark Rainer Werner Fassbinder 30 Königskinder Anne Wild 30 Mein langsames Leben Angela Schanelec 31 Nancy und Frank Wolf Gremm 32 Null Uhr Zwölf Bernd-Michael Lade 32 Das Sams Ben Verbong CONTENTS 50 Kleine Kreise 42 New German Films CIRCLING Jakob Hilpert 42 Das Bankett 51 Liebe nach Mitternacht THE BANQUET MIDNIGHT LOVE Holger Jancke, Olaf Jacobs Harald Leipnitz 43 Doppelpack 52 Liebesluder DOUBLE PACK A BUNDLE OF JOY Matthias Lehmann Detlev W. Buck 44 Erotic Tales: 53 Newenas weite Reise The Summer Of My Deflowering LONG TRAVELLING NEWENA Susan Streitfeld Nenad Djapic Die Tankstelle 54 Schule THE GAS STATION SCHOOL Jos Stelling Marco Petry 45 Finnlandia 55 Der Tunnel Eleni Ampelakiotou, Gregor Schnitzler THE TUNNEL 46 Hilfe, ich bin ein Fisch Roland Suso Richter HELP! I’M A FISH 56 Walk Don’t Walk Stefan Fieldmark, Michael Hegner Thomas Struck 47 Gelobtes Land PROMISED LAND Peter Patzak 58 Foreign Representatives 48 Goebbels und Geduldig GOEBBELS AND GEDULDIG 60 Film-Exporters Kai Wessel 49 Der Himmel kann warten 62 Imprint EXIT TO HEAVEN Brigitte Müller Film Schools In Germany Scene from ”alaska.de“ Scene from TRAINING THE NEXT GENERATION Hardly a month seems to go by these days without the announce- With the fall of the Berlin Wall and the opening of the borders, ment of plans in one corner of Germany or the other for a new the film schools map had to be re-drawn and students from both educational initiative in the area of audiovisual media. ”Medien- parts of Germany as well as from all over the world, and not just campus“, ”International Film School“, ”Multimedia Academy“ – the former Socialist countries, could now study at the Babelsberg the names are legion and are another phenomenon of the school. increasingly cut-throat competition between the German Länder to attract the most promising talents to locate in their respective The 1990s, in particular, saw the film and TV industry finding allies regions. in media politicians to respond to the ever increasing demand for qualified media professionals. Thus, Cologne’s Academy of Apart of the component of regional rivalries, the importance of Media Arts and the Baden-Württemberg Film film schools in Germany has grown over the years as the training Academy in Ludwigsburg were established at the beginning of became more thorough and diverse and, with the launching of the decade and have been followed over the years by a number such private commercial TV stations as RTL and SAT.1 in the of art colleges and polytechnics offering courses in film which also mid-1980s, the explosion of production output resulted in a include a practical element. seemingly insatiable demand for creative new talent to make the TV movies and series for the new schedules. Often a film school graduate has been snapped up by the broadcasters even before the ink has had time to dry on his or her diploma. Up until the beginning of the 1990s, film studies in the Western half of Germany were only possible in Berlin and Munich – at the German Film & Television Academy (dffb) and the Academy of Television & Film (HFF/M), the dffb students tending to concentrate on socio-political themes while ”Small Change“ Scene from their HFF colleagues gravitated more towards the mainstream and ”glossy images“. Meanwhile, aspiring filmmakers in former East Germany could apply to the Academy of Film & Television (HFF/B) in the Potsdam suburb of Babelsberg. 6 Film Schools In Germany Rather than try to distill some common elements from the A year later, a production class was set up at the dffb with a yearly various prospectuses issued by the teaching institutions, this intake of six students to train them as creative producers; and a article will instead concentrate on giving thumbnail sketches of Media Lab with state-of-the-art digital technology to acquaint the leading film schools and mentioning some of the illustrious the students with the technical and aesthetic possibilities of this past graduates as well as spotlighting the latest talents to world. emerge from the academies. Then, in 1999, a one-year TV Producer Programme was launched on the initiative of the German TV Producers dffb – Low Budgets, Association, the Berlin Senate, dffb and ProSieben, which is unique in Germany as the only further education programme High Energy which is targeted at professionals who already have at least two years of experience in production and/or dramaturgy and wish to train as TV producers. Starting our tour of the German film schools in the capital Berlin, our guide takes us to the city’s burgeoning new centre at As in other film schools around Germany, the emphasis here is Potsdamer Platz to visit the Deutsche Film- und Fernseh- also on the practical side with the students required to make films, akademie Berlin (German Film and Television Academy/dffb) individually or in groups, during their studies as well as a graduati- which moved into new premises in the Filmhaus at the Sony on film at the end of studies. Center this summer along with the Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek, the Filmmuseum and the Arsenal Kino. Launched in September 1966 with 35 students, the dffb’s first couple of years were marked by a period of experimen- tal methods, technical improvisation and political conflict lea- ding to the expulsion of 18 students in 1968. According to the present director filmmaker Reinhard Hauff, who has been in the post since January 1993, study- ing at the dffb is ”low budget, high energy. Freedom for radical experiments as well as for learning profes- sional standards. Four years of consciously seeing and analysing films and for seeking a balance between technical needs and ”Makin’Scene from Up“ aesthetic aspirations. The aim is to make films which arouse feelings, provoke thoughts and are passionate and unforgettable“. And the dffb is no different to any of the other institutions in being able to call on a veritable ”Who’s Who“ of respected The four-year study is divided into two-year compulsory professionals to impart their knowledge and experience to the foundation studies and then the main course, with the possibility budding filmmakers as guest lecturers: Michael Ballhaus, to take up to a year out after the foundation course for an Werner Herzog, Thomas Arslan, Helma Sanders- internship. Training focuses on the areas of directing, cinemato- Brahms and Sophie Maintigneux are just a handful of graphy, and production with the possibility for supplementary the industry figures teaching what they do. specialisation in screenwriting, editing and digital technologies. Among the best known of the dffb graduates are Wolfgang The dffb has never stood still but has always adapted its program- Becker (winner of the Student Academy Award in 1988 for me to developments in the industry. Thus, in 1997, the dffb Schmetterlinge/Butterflies), Detlev Buck incorporated the Script Academy (Drehbuch-Akademie) (Liebesluder), Wolfgang Petersen (The Boat), Eoin which offers a two-year course exclusively for screenwriters and Moore (Break Even), Marc Schlichter (Ex), Fred is supported by the MEDIA II Programme, Filmboard Kelemen (Verhängnis), and, most recently, Nathalie Berlin-Brandenburg, SFB, RTL and private producers. Percillier (Hartes Brot/Sticky Dough). 7 Training The Next Generation HFF Munich – Close Links The catalogue of courses was expanded in 1997 with new professorships in departments III., IV. and V. for Dramaturgy to the Local Industry and Story Telling; Applied Aesthetics, Image Composition and Cinematography; Television Just over a year after lessons began at the dffb, the doors Journalism; Advertising, Public Relations and opened at the Academy of Television & Film (HFF/M) Corporate Image Film, which allow all of the students in Munich in November 1967 with 53 students. Initial difficulties the chance for a specialisation of their skills. were organisational rather than political: the fact that the academy’s premises were spread throughout Munich constituted As Doris Dörrie, the professor for Dramaturgy and Story a hurdle to overcome and, in fact, the HFF/M has only been Telling points out, ”the main goal of my work with students is housed in its own building since 1988. to convey the idea that writing is a skill and help them lose their fear.