Voice From BFI wrote:
Favoriten: the classroom becomes a model for society in Ruth Beckermann’s compassionate documentary

Austrian filmmaker Ruth Beckermann takes an unhurried and optimistic approach to documenting a class of primary school children in the working-class Viennese neighbourhood of Favoriten.

BFI homeMenu
Watch and discoverSight and SoundReviews
Favoriten: the classroom becomes a model for society in Ruth Beckermann’s compassionate doc
Austrian filmmaker Ruth Beckermann takes an unhurried and optimistic approach to documenting a class of primary school children in the working-class Viennese neighbourhood of Favoriten.

As chronic underfunding and culture wars leave their mark on already teetering education systems, is it any wonder that documentarians are turning to the classroom as a significant site of interest? Marie Speth’s Mr Bachmann and His Class (2021) films in loving detail a class of 12-year-olds in the diverse German city of Stadtallendorf; and most recently, Claire Simon turned her lens on another Parisian institution with Elementary (2024). Joining the growing curriculum is Austrian film-maker Ruth Beckermann’s compassionate documentary Favoriten.

Favoriten was filmed over three years, and follows a primary-school class from the ages of seven to 10 in the eponymous working-class Viennese neighbourhood. Steered by their kind yet unabashedly ambitious teacher Ilkay Idiskut, the children improve language skills and learn about the world, discussing the war between Russia and Ukraine, exploring Islamic and Christian theology. Taking an unhurried observational approach that lets us see the children develop over the years, the film sees the classroom as a model for society. While never heavy-handed in pushing its perspective, Favoriten is a pointedly vibrant portrait of inner-city multiculturalism. Zoom out and you’ll find a political climate in Austria of increasing hostility towards migrants, signalled in the recent election victory of the ultra-far-right Freedom Party. In a poignant scene, the children discuss their parents’ blue-collar jobs, a hint at the glass ceiling faced by many immigrant families. Ilkay, on the other hand, believes they can do better.

It’s impossible to remain dry-eyed at the tenacity of the teacher and the adoration of her students. Ilkay patiently explains the workings of society and is unafraid to confront toxic, sexist and misogynist behaviour, which emerges in the repeated phrases of the sponge-like children. When the bullying of a small child is uncovered, she quickly shifts from patient to confrontational, offering her students a firm model of responsible adulthood. In a welcome gesture of inclusivity, Beckermann also gives the children the tools to film themselves and includes some passages in the documentary. This action upends their passive position as documentary subjects, a role that can feel exploitative, even in such a well-meaning documentary. In a world where children are constantly being documented by camera phones and social media, the contemporary classroom doc makes me question the value of filming those so young and perfectly unformed. To paraphrase Pink Floyd, maybe we should leave the kids alone.

Favoriten.2024.1080p.WEB-DL.H.264.mkv

General
Container:  	Matroska
Runtime: 	1 h 58 min
Size: 	5.00 GiB
Video
Codec: 	h264
Resolution: 	1920x1080 
Aspect ratio:  	16:9
Frame rate: 	25.000 fps
Bit rate: 	5 730 kb/s
BPP: 	0.111
Audio
#1:  	2.0ch AAC LC @ 317 kb/s (al)

https://nitro.download/view/4894DC83DA46720/Favoriten.2024.1080p.WEB-DL.H.264.mkv

Language(s):German
Subtitles:Portuguese, English

The post Ruth Beckermann – Favoriten (2024) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Synopsis
A biographical drama film about Kurt Josef Waldheim, former UN Secretary General and the controversy of his participation and role in the Nazi regime during WW II .

The.Waldheim.Waltz.2018.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP5.1.H.264-KamiKaze.mkv

General
Container:  	Matroska
Runtime: 	1 h 33 min
Size: 	6.44 GiB
Video
Codec: 	h264
Resolution: 	1440x1080 
Aspect ratio:  	4:3
Frame rate: 	25.000 fps
Bit rate: 	9 189 kb/s
BPP: 	0.236
Audio
#1:  	German 5.1ch E-AC-3 @ 640 kb/s

https://nitro.download/view/08878E230C315E9/The.Waldheim.Waltz.2018.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP5.1.H.264-KamiKaze.mkv

Language(s):German, English, French
Subtitles:English (hardcoded)

The post Ruth Beckermann – Waldheims Walzer AKA The Waldheim Waltz (2018) (HD) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Quote:
There is not much that Ruth Beckermann brings to her film: An empty former coffin factory, a few lights and reflectors, a camera, a piano and a huge rose-gold canapé in the style of the Belle Epoque, as well as the wickedly titled book – and, of course, above all, men. Lots and lots of men. Old, young, middle-aged. Bourgeois and civil servant types, pensioners and washed-up people of indeterminate age, students and “young professionals”, people who have lost their way and smart up-and-comers. In between, the former director of the Austrian Film Museum, an ex-bodybuilder or martial artist, a linnet and various other specimens of the male species.

And then there is this book that unites them all. “Josefine Mutzenbacher – Die Geschichte einer Wienerischen Dirne” (Josefine Mutzenbacher – The Story of a Viennese Harlot), published anonymously in 1906 and repeatedly attributed to Felix Salten, the author of “Bambi” (of all things!), is a – one can hardly describe it differently – sex ripper that has little to do with frivolity but a great deal to do with pornographic literature. And which, from today’s point of view, must be read more critically because of its abusive character and the young age (the memoirs begin at the age of five and go up to the age of 14) at which the protagonist had her first sexual experiences and encounters. No wonder, then, that “Die Mutzenbacher” was only removed from the list of writings harmful to young people in Germany in 2017. Even today, the passages read aloud from the book are quite enough to make even seasoned guys visibly embarrassed.

7.45GB | 1h 40m | 1920×1080 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/C0F4A15A28D553F/Mutzenbacher.2020.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.H264.DDP2.0-Moutana.mkv

Language(s):German
Subtitles:English,French

The post Ruth Beckermann – Mutzenbacher (2022) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Franz West (1909-85) remembers his youth in Vienna: the variety of the Jewish population of the so called Matzah-Island, his commitment to the worker’s movement of the Red Vienna and the rise of Austro-fascism and National Socialism. West’s masterly narration combined with impressing archive footage illustrate and elucidate the complex Austrian history between WW1 and WW2.

3.77GB | 1 h 32 min | 1440×1080 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/75FC611986CF7E2/Wien.retour.1983.1080p.MUBI.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.x264-CMYK.mkv

Language:German
Subtitles:English, Danish, French, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Swedish

The post Josef Aichholzer & Ruth Beckermann – Wien retour AKA Return to Vienna (1983) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Quote:
The themes of love and hate are depicted in the movie. At center stage are the two poets Ingeborg Bachmann and Paul Celan, who came to know each other in post‐war Vienna. Their vivid postal exchange creates the textual basis of the film.

The dramatic, ecstatic, but also infinitely sad love story between Bachmann and Celan begins in 1948 when she is 22 and he is 27. It ends with the suicide of Celan in Paris in 1971. For Bachmann, he is the love of her life, however she never stops seeing him as a stranger and even harbours slight fears towards him. He was a Jew from Czernowitz,
whose parents perished in the Holocaust while she came from a milieu of National Socialism. Growing up in Carinthia, Bachmann witnessed little of the war and persecution. Love and friendship, but also doubts and disruptions permeate their lifelong relationship and in a moment of doubt Bachmann asks: “Are we only the dreamed ones?”.

Two young actors, Anja Plaschg and Laurence Rupp, meet in a recording studio to read the letters. The tumultuous emotions of proximity and distance, fascination and fear captivate them. However they also enjoy each other’s company, arguing, smoking, discussing their tattoos and favourite music. Yesterday’s love, today’s love and tomorrow’s: where the lines are blurred lies the heart of the film.

1.56GB | 1 h 28 min | 1024×576 | mkv

https://nitroflare.com/view/A10FD09576BFD64/Ruth_Beckermann_-_%282016%29_The_Dreamed_Ones.part1.rar
https://nitroflare.com/view/E5CFB2DB7F003CA/Ruth_Beckermann_-_%282016%29_The_Dreamed_Ones.part2.rar

Language(s):German
Subtitles:German HoH, English, French

The post Ruth Beckermann – Die Geträumten AKA The Dreamed Ones (2016) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Based on material that emerged during the occupation of the arena in the summer of 1976, the film shows the organization of collective work, the negotiations with the city and community and finally the demolition of the buildings.

3.20GB | 1 h 15 min | 1440×1080 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/7365510A44786ED/Arena.besetzt.1977.1080p.MUBI.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.x264-CMYK.mkv

Language(s):German
Subtitles:English, French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish

The post Josef Aichholzer & Ruth Beckermann & Franz Grafl – Arena besetzt AKA Arena Squatted (1977) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Synopsis
White-tiled rooms, neon lighting; on the walls black and white photographs from an exhibition entitled ,Vernichtungskrieg’ (War of Extermination) documenting the atrocities committed by the Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front. Against this background, Ruth Beckermann and cameraman Peter Roehsler have filmed former soldiers talking about their experiences beyond the bounds of ,normal’ warfare. With a mixture of helplessness, impotence, shame, opportunism and undiminished fanaticism, witnesses from that time tell of atrocities such as the shootings of Russian prisoners-of-war, the murder of Jews and abuse of women. The differing accounts of these events demonstrate how selective perception was even in this most inhuman and brutal of environments.

This film seeks not only to contribute to the demolition of the myth of the ,decent’ Wehrmacht (as opposed to the evil SS) but also to illuminate the period in which the Second Republic was founded in Austria and to make a diagnosis of the present. It shows the fathers who worked to rebuild the country, who shaped today’s society and who transmitted their ideas to their sons and daughters, and who now, more than fifty years on, at last attempt to articulate their experiences.

The images of this war that take shape in the accounts of these ,talking heads’ have an immediacy and power to move rarely found in historical documents or fictional portrayals.

4.71GB | 1h 52m | 1440×1080 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/F474D4845FB0BBB/Jenseits.des.Krieges.1996.SUBBED.1080p.MUBI.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.x264-CMYK.mkv

Language:German
Subtitles:English (Hardcoded)

The post Ruth Beckermann – Jenseits des Krieges AKA East of War (1996) first appeared on Cinema of the World.