German Films Quarterly 2 · 2005 AT CANNES In Competition DON'T COME KNOCKING by Wim Wenders Out of Competition CROSSING THE BRIDGE by Fatih Akin PORTRAITS Oliver Hirschbiegel, Ilona Ziok, Neue Goldkind Film, Alexandra Maria Lara SPECIAL REPORT Documentary Film in Germany German Films and IN THE OFFICIAL PROGRAM OF THE Cannes In Competition In Competition In Competition In Competition Don’t Come Battle in Heaven Hidden Manderlay Knocking by Carlos Reygadas by Michael Haneke by Lars von Trier by Wim Wenders Producer: German Co-Producer: German Co-Producer: German Co-Producer: Reverse Angle/Hamburg & Berlin Essential Film/Berlin Bavaria Film/Geiselgasteig Pain Unlimited/Cologne World Sales: World Sales: World Sales: World Sales: HanWay Films/London The Coproduction Office/Paris Les Films du Losange/Paris Trust Film Sales/Hvidovre Credits not contractual Co-Productions Film Festival 2005 Out of Competition Out of Competition Un Certain Regard Un Certain Regard Un Certain Regard CROSSING Merry Falscher Johanna Schlaefer THE BRIDGE Christmas Bekenner by Kornél Mundruczó Sleeper – The Sound of Istanbul by Christian Carion Low Profile by Benjamin Heisenberg by Fatih Akin by Christoph Hochhaeusler Producers: intervista digital media & German Co-Producer: Producer: German Co-Producer: German Co-Producers: corazón international/Hamburg Senator Film/Berlin Heimatfilm/Cologne Thermidor Film/Cologne Juicy Film & Academy of Television & Film (HFF/M)/Munich World Sales: Bavaria Film World Sales: World Sales: World Sales: International/Geiselgasteig Films Distribution/Paris Trust Film Sales/Hvidovre The Coproduction Office/Paris World Sales: Coop99/Vienna german films quarterly 2/2005 focus on 6 DOCUMENTARY FILM directors’ portraits 16 PLEASURE IN STORYTELLING A portrait of Oliver Hirschbiegel 18 CHAMPION OF THE LIGHT TOUCH A portrait of Ilona Ziok producers’ portrait 20 THE GOLDEN BOYS A portrait of Neue Goldkind Filmproduktion actress’ portrait 22 A DREAM COME TRUE A portrait of Alexandra Maria Lara 24 news in production 30 AUGUST Pia Marais 30 ELEMENTARTEILCHEN Oskar Roehler 31 EMMAS GLUECK Sven Taddicken 32 ES IST EIN ELCH ENTSPRUNGEN Ben Verbong 32 HOTEL VERY WELCOME Sonja Heiss 33 HUI BUH – DAS SCHLOSSGESPENST Sebastian Niemann 34 IM LICHT DER NACHT Vanessa Jopp 35 MADONNEN Maria Speth 35 MODIFICATIONS Frank Geiger 36 OFFSET Didi Danquart 37 RAUCHZEICHEN Rudolf Thome 38 SCHATTENSPIELE Aelrun Goette 38 VINETA Franziska Stuenkel new german films 40 AM ENDE EINES TAGES AT THE END OF A DAY Marcus Schuster 41 AM TAG ALS BOBBY EWING STARB THE DAY BOBBY EWING DIED Lars Jessen 42 BARFUSS BAREFOOT Til Schweiger 43 DIE BLUTHOCHZEIT THE WEDDING PARTY Dominique Deruddere 44 CALLING HEDY LAMARR Georg Misch 45 CLOSE Markus Lenz 46 CROSSING THE BRIDGE – THE SOUND OF ISTANBUL Fatih Akin 47 DON’T COME KNOCKING Wim Wenders 48 DURCH DIESE NACHT SEHE ICH KEINEN EINZIGEN STERN THROUGH THIS NIGHT Dagmar Knoepfel 49 ESTLAND MON AMOUR ESTONIA MON AMOUR Sibylle Tiedemann 50 FATELESS Lajos Koltai 51 FREMDE HAUT UNVEILED Angelina Maccarone 52 FUER KURZE ZEIT NAPOLEON NAPOLEON FOR A WHILE Bart van Esch 53 DIE HOEHLE DES GELBEN HUNDES THE CAVE OF THE YELLOW DOG Byambasuren Davaa 54 KLANG DER EWIGKEIT SOUND OF ETERNITY Bastian Clevé 55 DAS LAECHELN DER TIEFSEEFISCHE THE SMILE OF THE MONSTERFISH Till Endemann 56 LOST CHILDREN Ali Samadi Ahadi, Oliver Stoltz 57 MASSAKER MASSACRE Monika Borgmann, Lokman Slim, Hermann Theissen 58 MAX UND MORITZ RELOADED MAX AND MORITZ RELOADED Thomas Frydetzki 59 MEIN UEBERLEBEN IN KOLBUSZOWA COFFEE BEANS FOR A LIFE Helga Hirsch 60 MEINE FRAU, MEINE FREUNDE UND ICH MY WIFE, MY FRIENDS AND ME Detlef Bothe 61 PLAYA DEL FUTURO Peter Lichtefeld 62 DER SCHATZ DER WEISSEN FALKEN THE TREASURE OF THE WHITE FALCONS Christian Zuebert 63 SOLO Burkhard Feige 64 STADT ALS BEUTE BERLIN STORIES Irene von Alberti, Miriam Dehne, Esther Gronenborn 65 DER TAG DER BEFREIUNG LIBERATION DAY Martin Blankemeyer 66 UNKENRUFE CALL OF THE TOAD Robert Glinski 67 WHITE WEDDING RP Kahl, Anne Retzlaff 68 WILLENBROCK Andreas Dresen 69 WILLY SOMMERFELD – DER STUMMFILMPIANIST THE SOUNDS OF SILENTS Ilona Ziok the 100 most significant german films (part 17) 70 ASPHALT Joe May 71 JEDER FUER SICH UND GOTT GEGEN ALLE THE ENIGMA OF KASPAR HAUSER: EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF AND GOD AGAINST ALL Werner Herzog 72 NACHTS, WENN DER TEUFEL KAM THE DEVIL STRIKES AT NIGHT Robert Siodmak 73 DIE MYSTERIEN EINES FRISIERSALONS THE MYSTERIES OF A HAIRDRESSER’S SHOP 79 film exporters 83 foreign representatives · imprint Scene from ”RhythmScene from Is It!“ DOCUMENTARY FILM IN GERMANY Documentary film in Germany is alive and well. A survey made by the competition for attention. Nonetheless, those who are looking for German Documentary Association (Arbeitsgemeinschaft large-scale documentary films will find them several times each day on Dokumentarfilm – AG DOK) lists 147 new titles alone for the year German television, especially the cultural channels ARTE and 3Sat. 2004: from Allende to Weltmarktfuehrer, with locations ran- ging from the Carpathians to the primitive peoples of South America, However, documentary film in Germany is also experiencing consi- and stories from Borussia Dortmund to Chick Corea. The diversity of derable difficulties. The growing demand and the continuing desire for themes is remarkable, as is the number of differing artistic signatures. production are opposed by economic and media-political structures that hinder the development of the genre. This is due to the interplay Documentary film in Germany is also flourishing in cinemas, far more of several factors, all of which have emerged historically. There are than ever before. At least, one may claim that it is beginning to flour- three key aspects: the considerable dependence of documentary film ish. In comparison to previous times, large-scale international produc- on television, the long history of the documentary film as author film, tions in particular have been attracting big audiences. The films and – directly connected to this – its small-scale, financially weak pro- Fahrenheit 9/11 and Bowling for Colombine by Michael Moore were duction structure. both seen by more than a million viewers. And German documenta- ries also did well in the home market: for example, Thomas Grube and Enrique Sanchez Lansch’s Rhythm Is It! recently attracted SIGN OF THE TIMES some 421,000 viewers while Thomas Riedelsheimer’s Rivers and Tides was seen by over 100,000 viewers. From the very beginning, documentary film in Germany has been closely associated with television, at least in West Germany. A few of Documentary film in Germany also draws healthy audiences on TV. It the exceptions that made it into cinemas in earlier times include the is true that one often has to search for it there, and it can sometimes ecological films Strahlende Zukunft, Schade, dass Beton only be found at a late hour, since broadcasters have firmly-estab- nicht brennt, and Keine Startbahn West – eine Region lished program schemes, which limit time and space for documentary wehrt sich, which in 1981 lured more than 80,000 viewers into the formats. In many cases, the ”docu“, with its various forms from ”real cinema – quite a sensation at that time. In East Germany however, the life“ to docu-soap, has overtaken the classic documentary film in the genre was regarded as having considerable political significance and german films quarterly focus on documentary film 2 · 2005 6 was integrated into the DEFA state film studios. After reunification in 1989, the DEFA studio for documentary film was dissolved, meaning that eastern German filmmakers also had to adapt themselves to the conditions and demands of television. Documentary film in Germany developed from two sources, televi- sion journalism and the classical cultural film, whose ”images of cities and landscapes“ contributed to its dominancy up until the late 1950s. It was not until the beginning of the sixties that the documentary film ”RiversScene from and Tides“ department of Sueddeutsche Rundfunk began to develop new forms, clearly differentiated from the culture film. Authors of the later so-cal- led “Stuttgart School” turned to everyday political and social life in the Federal Republic. The most important films ran in a series entitled Zeichen der Zeit (”Signs of the Times“); and Polizei- staatsbesuch (”Visit to a Police State“) by Roman Brodmann is a key film from this period: a film about the Shah of Persia’s visit to Germany and the death of the student Benno Ohnesorg in 1967. The Stuttgart School also had great significance for the emergence of an independent documentary film language. Even today, documentary film retains an important status at Suedwestfunk, and this also applies to the promotion of young talents. ”Direct Cinema“ also exercised a valuable influence, and not only on the Stuttgart School. At Norddeutsche Rundfunk, Klaus Wildenhahn set aesthetic and political standards as an author and the editor of documentaries. Wildenhahn, who also produced theoretical writing on film, propagated the documentary film of observation, using long and careful takes to approach people who did not otherwise appear in the medium. Wildenhahn made an impres- sion on an entire generation of documentary filmmakers during the 1970s, and his influence can still be felt today. Thomas Schadt, one of the best-known current documentary filmmakers, still refers to Wildenhahn as his teacher. (Today, Schadt is artistic director at the Film Academy Baden-Wuerttemberg). Wildenhahn was not only a film author, but often enough, he also paved the way for others with his work as an editor: younger filmmakers such as Hans-Dieter Grabe at ZDF or Ebbo Demant at SDR. Unfortunately however, the filmmaking editor or the permanently employed maker of docu- mentaries no longer exists today. The possibilities of Direct Cinema, politicization through the student movement, an operative attitude towards filmmaking, and a certain documentary rigor shaped the filmmaking of the seventies. After the decline of the revolt, many authors turned more to everyday events and an observation of society.