Ingo Kratisch

HARUN FAROCKI – TAKE TWO combines two perspectives on filmmaker Harun Farocki. For his TV documentary “Die Sache mit der Realität. Eine Collage über Dokumentarfilm” (1996), Lothar Schuster had a long conversation with Farocki, whom he had known since the late 1960s. Farocki discusses the idea of the Enlightenment, the compositional patterns of his films, the relationship between image and text. Ingo Kratisch, responsible for the camera in many of Farocki’s films between 1977 and his death, used his photo and film camera to record casual observations during the shooting of “The Creators of Shopping Worlds”(2001), “In Comparison”(2009), “Serious Games”(2009/10) and other films. In HARUN FAROCKI – TAKE TWO, Schuster’s and Kratisch’s footage alternates; discourse and observation comment and complement each other. On the one hand the gradual construction of thoughts during speech, on the other the act of patiently waiting, making pauses and preparing to shoot.

A New Product is a corporate documentary, or, that is, a document of corporate qualities; specifically about what seems to be a small company whose purpose is to consult and design working spaces for larger corporations, exemplified by Vodafone and Unilever.

Harun Farocki: Serious Games I–IV (2009–10) explores the use of virtual reality and gaming technology in U.S. military recruitment, training and after-action therapy, revealing fundamental links between technology and violence in a time of war. Young recruits engage in simulated combat training, which barely differs from video games produced as entertainment. Footage is included from a workshop demonstrating the use of computer re-enactments in the psychological care of veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. As a large-scale installation, Serious Games critically focuses on the role of audiovisual culture in the spectacle of war.

In Comparison revisits issues explored in the director's 2007 two channel installation Comparison Via a Third. Spanning continents and cultures, the film focuses on the brick in its many contexts, from the collective efforts of a community building a clinic in Burkina Faso, through semi industrialized moldings in India, to industrial production lines in Germany, France, Austria and Switzerland. Through its notable structure and its captivating rhythms, In Comparison presents various methods of labor production, allowing for an assessment that changes with every layer and goes well beyond a simple binary divide.

What venture capital or VC for short actually means is explained in the film itself. Banks only lend money against collateral. Those who have none have to turn to VC companies and pay interest of 40%.

The title describes the state of Berlin, which was a construction site for years after the fall of the wall, celebrating itself as it became something that could not yet be named. A city - full of history - in the future. Kratisch and Sartory observed the building project of Berlin for a period of nine years.

According to Harun Farocki, today's photographers working in advertising are, in a way, continuing the tradition of 17th century Flemish painters in that they depict objects from everyday life - the "still life". The filmmaker illustrates this intriguing hypothesis with three documentary sequences which show the photographers at work creating a contemporary "still life": a cheese-board, beer glasses and an expensive watch.

Documentary film.

Farocki’s intriguing and troubling film explores the processes of visual perception and how they affect our understanding of history and society. In a work reminiscent of the writings of Paul Virilio and Michel Foucault, Farocki examines a range of phenomena including aerial reconnaissance photos of the Auschwitz concentration camp.

This film is at once a self-portrait and an homage to Jean-Marie Straub, Farocki's role model and former teacher at the Film Academy.

Depicts a murky masochistic relationship.

Horst Wolland is a welder in Berlin who tries to move up the career ladder to better provide for his family. He is on the verge of being promoted when the working conditions worsen, triggering a strike. Wolland stays out of it, but he also refuses to tell his manager who the strike leader is, so he is not promoted. Wolland understands what solidarity means and tries to organize another strike.

Horst Wolland is a welder in Berlin who tries to move up the career ladder to better provide for his family. He is on the verge of being promoted when the working conditions worsen, triggering a strike. Wolland stays out of it, but he also refuses to tell his manager who the strike leader is, so he is not promoted. Wolland understands what solidarity means and tries to organize another strike.