German

Quote
Das sind die Gewitter in der Natur is a fragment of a long gone time. A time that should not be forgotten. Following Wenzel Heindl, a former farmhand who was 80 years old at the time of the shooting. Hobbles through the ruins of his past and is given all the time he needs to tell stories from his life, dominated by war and poverty. It is a very personal film for Werner Fritsch because the paths of the two crossed on the farm of Werner’s parents and Wenzel was an important figure for him in his childhood. As Fritsch himself writes, he heard all kinds of stories from Wenzel and thus learned from him not only how to speak but especially how to tell. A craft that shaped Werner’s life as a writer and filmmaker. It’s not surprising that Werner Fritsch created such an impactful film already 20 years before he began his magnum opus Faust Sonnengesang series.Read More »

Germany 1934: The Nazi authorities in Hamburg need an executioner to put a group of political prisoners to death, otherwise Hitler won’t visit their town. Teetjen, the butcher, facing bankruptcy, agrees to do the dirty deed.
Adapted from the novel by German-Jewish author Arnold Zweig and co-scripted by Wolfgang Staudte (director of The Murderers Are Among Us, Rotation and The Kaiser’s Lackey) this important classic was directed by a former anti-Nazi resistance fighter, Falk Harnack.
Ironically the film, which starred concentration camp survivor Erwin Geschonneck in the lead role, was withdrawn after its release because its nuanced portrait of a Nazi perpetrator was considered too sympathetic.Read More »

Rebellious young Werther is passionately, but hopelessly, in love with Lotte. Although he knows that she is married to somebody who can offer her a secure future, Werther tries to be near her. Lotte cannot decide between these two men. She eventually rejects Werther, who does not survive her decision. Based on the novel by Goethe. Director Egon Günther and set designer Helga Schütz make cameo appearances.
—DEFA Film LibraryRead More »

Part of DVD release Die “Oberhausener” – Provokation der Wirklichkeit (Provoking Reality)
Edition Filmmuseum 69

Oberhausen Manifesto 1962:
28.2.1962

The collapse of conventional German film has finally removed the economic basis for a mentality that we reject. This gives the new kind of film the chance to come to life.
German short films by young filmmakers, directors and producers have in recent years received a large number of prizes at international festivals and gained the recognition of international critics. These works and their successes show that the future of German film lies with those who have proven that they speak a new film language.Read More »

Synopsis:
‘It is June 1941 and a company of German soldiers is stationed near the Lithuanian border. While on leave, three soldiers – Wagner, Lick and Paulun – go off on a hunting trip. All is fine until one of them accidentally shoots their captain’s daughter. Out of fear, the three men decide to leave the body and tell no one of the accident. Tensions mount and the soldiers are pushed to the breaking point when accusations and troubled memories collide.’
– DEFA Film LibraryRead More »

Synopsis
The Austrian expressionist poet Georg Trakl was in love with his sister. And she loved him back. Their relationship became sexual and caused quite a stir in the local society. But when his sister asked him to flee with her to Australia where no one knew them and they could live as husband and wife, he refuse for he could not live without the beauty of the German language. Torn between his love for words and his love for Grete, Georg turned to drugs and entered a downward spiral.
(imdb)Read More »

Synopsis
Two adolescents, Sauly and Mick, get to know each other while hitchhiking and stick together for the long haul. They both want to reach the ocean, which is some thousand kilometers away. An old car picks them up, but the trip ends shortly thereafter in a sleazy motel. At the bar, a man named Landolfi approaches them. He explains to Sauly that he must have sold his guardian angel to a man by the name of Miller in the city of Prince. Though the boys do not believe in guardian angels, Sauly slowly succumbs to his own fears. He would like to have his guardian angel back again. On their trip, Sauly becomes sick. Mick works on a farm to pay the doctor’s bills. Once Sauly is well, they travel farther – until they reach Prince. In this mysterious city, all of the people are named Miller, and once Sauly and Mick finally are at the ocean, they meet Landolfi once more.Read More »

Plot:
A young, impoverished German woman named Hanna (Maria von Tasnady) gives her infant up for adoption and emigrates to American to live with her husband. When her husband commits suicide, Hanna returns to Germany and works her way into becoming the live-in maid and nurse to her child being raised by an orchestra conductor and his wife.Read More »

A sociological essay on a Bavarian region where the economic miracle is left out. The documentary emphasises the declining populations due to migration and notes how such places come with “a lot of past [but] not much present or future”.Read More »