Rainer Standke

Movies

Hunters in the Snow
Editor
The protagonist, Franz, copies the paintings of old masters. He slowly loses his sense of reality, resulting in angst-ridden fantasies and a desire for self-destruction. Franz has an uphill battle with the loss of values and spread of capitalism around him. He rejects advertising to the point of destroying its manifestations.
Y2K
Editor
On the eve of the new millennium, a nervous military leader assembles a team to help him deal with an unforeseen problem, as they are being alerted of a long missing nuclear missile hidden somewhere deep in the jungle which is set to go off in January 2000, due to the millennium bug! It's up to them to race against time to stop it before it is too late and they are doomed!
Little Dieter Needs to Fly
Editor
In 1966, Dieter Dengler was shot down over Laos, captured, and, down to 85 pounds, escaped. Barefoot, surviving monsoons, leeches, and machete-wielding villagers, he was rescued. Now, near 60, living on Mt. Tamalpais, Dengler tells his story: a German lad surviving Allied bombings in World War II, postwar poverty, apprenticed to a smith, beaten regularly. At 18, he emigrates and peels potatoes in the U.S. Air Force. He leaves for California and college, then enlistment in the Navy to learn to fly. A quiet man of sorrows tells his story: war, capture, harrowing conditions, escape, and miraculous rescue. Where did he find the strength; how does he now live with his memories?
The Transformation of the World Into Music
Editor
This film was prepared as a introduction to a series of opera broadcasts on German television. It depicts the behind-the-scenes manoeuvrings in preparation for the annual opera festival in Bayreuth.
Gesualdo: Death for Five Voices
Editor
Works, legend and murders of Carlo Gesualdo, a notorious Italian composer and murderer from 16th century.
Bells from the Deep
Editor
A group of pilgrims lie down on the thin ice of the lake Svetloyar and begin to look for the city of Kitesh. According to the legend, God saved the city from the Mongolian prince Batyi's soldiers by letting it sink to the bottom of the lake. If you listen carefully you can hear the bells of the Kitesh cathedral toll deep down.
Lessons of Darkness
Editor
This film shows the disaster of the Kuwaiti oil fields in flames. In contrast to the common documentary film there are no comments and few interviews. What must have been the hell itself is presented to the viewer in such beautiful sights and beautiful music that one has to be fascinated by it.
Echoes from a Sombre Empire
Editor
Documentary examining Bokassa's rule in the Central African Republic using the testimony of witnesses and visits to key sites.
A Licensed Liberty
Editor
Karl has a childlike innocence and naive purity. In spite of making false friends and enemies, he retains his decency in New York which remains a foreign city for him.
Les Gaulois
Editor
Two segments make up this short film. The first portion called “The French” has two men taste testing some delicious wine, and the other, titled “The Gauls”, is of men playing rugby. This short by Werner Herzog is part of the “The French as Seen By…” series. It was initiated and sponsored by the newspaper Le Figaro, as part of the 1988 celebration of the tenth anniversary of its magazine section.
Kolp
Editor
Set in the fast and loose ambience of 1947 in West Germany, this story is about Hans Kolp, an inventive, teenage urban con artist who takes advantage of an out-of-control black market where almost any Allied goods can be stolen and traded for a tidy profit. Hans learns to speak good English from an American soldier friend, and bored with school -- which is nothing more than a big room in the railroad station with only one teacher to mind all levels of students -- the enterprising Hans starts a gang of petty thieves. Armed with a stolen jeep, the youngsters deal successfully in stolen goods, with Hans doing a good impression of a G.I. Business is so good, in fact, that when someone arrives to encourage Hans to get into the big-time with stolen vehicles and U.S. Army uniforms, the first crisis comes up in the small gang. Members want to back away from that level of dangerous dealing, but Hans wants to go for broke -- a difficult decision that will determine the young con's future.