Eva Mattes

Humor helps people through hard times. A look at the viral videos, songs and sketches that have filled the Internet worldwide since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and what this lockdown humor says about humans in distress.

When 22-year-old Rainer Werner Fassbinder storms the stage of a small, progressive theatre in Munich 1967, and seizes the production without further ado, nobody suspects this brazen young rebel to become one of the most important post-war German filmmakers. Despite early setbacks, many of his films breakout at the most renowned films festivals and polarise audience, critics and filmmakers alike. His radical views and self-exploitation, as well as his longing for love, have made him one of the most fascinating film directors of this time.

While dealing with a burnt-down house, smelly diapers and brutal lack of sleep, a Lower Bavarian police officer faces his worst adversary: cholesterol.

Lithuania, 1941, during World War II. Hundreds of thousands of texts on Jewish culture, stolen by the Germans, are gathered in Vilnius to be classified, either to be stored or to be destroyed. A group of Jewish scholars and writers, commissioned by the invaders to carry out the sorting operations, but reluctant to collaborate and determined to save their legacy, hide many books in the ghetto where they are confined. This is the epic story of the Paper Brigade.

Documentary about artist Ai Weiwei's 2014 exhibition in Berlin.

It’s the early 1950s and little Franzi is growing up in the small Austrian town of Judenburg. Her oppressive family home is dominated by her feverish and mentally ill father, who is rigid and unpredictable. Her father, who regularly delivers halves of pork for the butcher, spent several years in the French Foreign Legion in Morocco, Algeria and Syria – a period which he partly glorifies but which still also haunts him. Franzi immerses herself in this world by looking at an abundance of beguiling yet disturbing photographs taken at the time by her father. Her own childish fantasy realm of fairy tales and picture books soon intermingle with nightmares as reality merges with imagination, war, horror and beauty.

The gritty, kinetic, visionary cinema of Roland Klick is ripe for rediscovery. After shooting with international stars, such as Mario Adorf and Dennis Hopper, Klick celebrated international success and achieved cult status. Yet after making only six features, he disappeared from the scene in a rather mysterious way. The story of an uncompromising film maniac.

Ulrike Ottinger is an exceptional filmmaker and artist. Her cinematic universe has influenced entire generations. As a young woman, she brought the international art world to the sleepy town of Konstanz. It all began on the shores of Lake Constance where Ulrike Ottinger was born and where she still often spends time. Filmmaker Brigitte Kramer chose to begin her film at Lake Constance since she too shares Ottinger’s birthplace and a great love of these waters. This is also where the filmmaker’s own artistic development began, not least as a result of her encounter with Ottinger and her work. Other fellow travellers and friends appearing in this film include art historian Katharina Sykora, collector and curator Ingvild Goetz, film historian Ulrich Gregor, philosopher Bernd Scherer and actor Irm Hermann. Using this common ground as a starting point for an exploration of Ottinger’s substantial oeuvre, this documentary provides a keen insight into the artist’s life and work.

In Echigo in Japan the snow often lies several feet deep well into May covering landscape and villages. Over the centuries the inhabitants have organised their lives accordingly. In order to record their very distinctive forms of everyday life, their festivals and religious rituals Ulrike Ottinger journeyed to the mythical snow country – accompanied by two Kabuki performers. Taking the parts of the students Takeo and Mako they follow in the footsteps of Bokushi Suzuki who in the mid-19th century wrote his remarkable book “Snow Country Tales”.

말러와 알마는 비엔나의 예술가들이 보는 앞에서 결혼식을 올린다. 하지만 19살의 나이차이로 인한 불화가 10년 동안 이어지고, 아이의 죽음을 겪으며 둘의 관계는 최악으로 치닫게 된다. 게다가 말러는 알마의 작곡활동에 대해서도 “동료가 아닌 아내가 필요하다”며 반대한다. 그러던 중 알마는 5살 연하의 건축가 발터 그로피우스와 사랑에 빠지고, 고통에 빠진 말러는 프로이트에게 상담을 받으러 간다. 음악과 심리학의 두 거물의 만남은 순탄치 않고 변덕스럽지만 유머의 끈을 놓지 않는다. (2011년 7회 제천국제음악영화제)

Compilation of online clips of frustrated videogame players having violent outbursts. The video is run on an old computer ruin (that still works)

In Uganda, AIDS-infected mothers have begun writing what they call Memory Books for their children. Aware of the illness, it is a way for the family to come to terms with the inevitable death that it faces. Hopelessness and desperation are confronted through the collaborative effort of remembering and recording, a process that inspires unexpected strength and even solace in the face of death.

A look behind the heroic story of a Guatamalan immigrant who became the first US soldier to die in the American-led war in Iraq.

New adventures from Lars, the cheeky little polar bear who loves nothing more than to explore the big wide world. This time Lars and his friend Robby start out for a rescue mission for their friend Caruso leading them all the way to the Galapagos Islands.

Laura sees a shooting star falling to earth and finds it in a park, down on the floor and with a broken point. The star is a living being, and Laura takes her home to reattach its point with a band-aid. The little star has special powers and can make people fly, or bring inanimate objects to life. But the more she stays on Earth, the weaker she becomes and her colors fade away and her powers start to fail. Laura must find a way to send the little star back into outer space.

The Gangster Macheath secretly marries the daughter of beggar king Peachum. When Peachum finds out, he instructs the police chief Brown to arrest and hang Macheath. If not, all the beggars of Soho will disturb the upcoming coronation.

Sams in danger, it is said, when Mr. Taschenbier's son Martin brings the Sams back into the household, which, however, is kidnapped shortly afterwards by the sports teacher because of his special skills.

More of a film essay - of the type pioneered by Orson Welles and Chris Marker - than a standard documentary, German filmmaker Lutz Dammbeck's The Net: The Unabomber, the LSD and the Internet begins with the typical format and structure of a nonfiction film, and a single subject (the life and times of mail bomber Ted Kaczynski). From that thematic springboard, Dammbeck branches out omnidirectionally, segueing into a series of thematic riffs and variants on such marginally-related subjects as: the history of cyberspace, terrorism, utopian ideals, LSD, the Central Intelligence Agency, and Cuckoo's Nest author Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters.

2차 세계대전 당시 독일과 소련이 대치했던 스탈린그라드 전장. 독일군의 강력한 공격으로 소련군이 궁지에 몰린 상황에서 폐허가 된 전쟁터를 헤매던 소련 선전장교 다닐로프(조셉 파인즈)는 우연히 명사수 바실리(주드 로)의 뛰어난 저격솜씨를 목격한다. 저하된 소련군의 사기를 되살리기 위해 영웅이 필요하다고 판단한 다닐로프는 바실리를 전문적인 저격수로 만들고 전장에 뿌려지는 전단을 통해 전설적인 영웅으로 부상시킨다. 바실리의 뛰어난 솜씨로 나치 장교들이 하나하나 죽어가자 독일군은 역시 저격수인 코니그 소령(에드 해리스)을 내세워 바실리를 없애려 한다. 바실리는 코니그와의 숨막히는 전쟁에 빠져드는 동시에 타냐(레이첼 와이즈)라는 소련 여군 병사를 사이에 두고 다닐로프와 묘한 연적관계에 놓이는데...

The true story of Otomo, a black man seeking work and asylum in the German city of Stuttgart. However, all he finds is racism, police trouble and his final destiny.

Benjamin Levi (Bruno Cathomas) is a Bavarian cattle dealer traveling to pre-World War II Germany on his annual trip to a remote farming village. Levi hopes to do some business and, more importantly, win the hand of the lovely Lisbeth (Caroline Ebner). But Nazi propaganda has gripped the small community and poisoned it forever. Now, Levi and Lisbeth are targets of hate in this provocative and shocking drama.

1991년 사망한 독일 배우 클라우스 킨스키. 그는 베르너 헤어초크 감독의 페르소나이며, 헤어초크 감독과 애증의 관계를 넘나들며 예술적 교감을 이루었다. 헤어초크는 킨스키가 죽은 후, 킨스키에 관한 다큐멘터리를 들고 그와 함께 했던 시간과 그 속에서 피어난 감정 같은 것들에 대해 이야기한다. 99년 칸 국제영화제 상영작. -- 2002 부천국제영화제

A documentary about the Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky. The film was an episode of the French documentary film series Filmmakers of our time. The title of the film is a play on the title of Solzhenitsyn's novella One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.

In 1942 Bavaria, Eva is alone, when Adolf arrives with Josef, his wife Magda, and Martin to spend a couple of days without politics.

A black comedy about the dream of freedom and the difficulty of obtaining this: While Molly (Eva Mattes), Elisabeth (Katja Flint) and Maria (Ornella Muti) are great friends, but at the same time completely different. Molly is a difficult stressed housewife and mother of three children, Elisabeth is the perfect career woman and Maria uses already in their third marriage sex appeal to get ahead in life. But one day it turns out that the three except their friendship still connects another great thing in common: They are all tired of her life as a wife. And so begins the story of a rabenscharzen comedy about the dream of freedom and the difficulties to achieve this. The only question is: How are they merely their husbands going on?

The lives of a Serb family are torn apart by the pressures of the not-too-distant war with the Croats. The film addresses the fundamental question "Can love survive between political enemies?"

The story The Cry of Love is about the love between two men. Lara brings her first boyfriend, the good-looking Yannis, to the barbecue party in the family circle. Yannis, who flirts with his appearance, is a prostitute. When Lara's father Holger discovers Yannis' secret, he is both confused and fascinated. More and more, he feels drawn to Yannis.

A one-hour biographical documentary about Alice Guy-Blaché, one of the first women to direct films.

In the beginning of the 19th century, Johannes Elias Alder is born in a small village in the Austrian mountains. While growing up he is considered strange by the other villagers and discovers his love of music, especially rebuilding and playing the organ at the village church. After experiencing an "acoustic wonder", his eye color changes and he can hear even the most subtle sounds.

베를린 장벽이 세워진 1961년 직후 서독으로 탈출을 결행한 동독의 젊은이들 중 서로 헤어지게 된 두 남녀의 슬픈 사랑.탈출에 실패해 동독에 잔류한 콘라드는 서독으로 넘어간 여자친구 소피와 장벽을 넘는 사랑의 "약속"을 하지만, 이약속은 28년 동안 지속된 동서독의 갈등과 대립으로 인해 지켜지지 못한다. 둘은 결국 베를린 장벽이 붕괴하던 날 감격스런 재회를 하지만 이들간의 약속은 이미 깨진 상태이며 이후의 미래 또한 불확실하다.

Germany in the Thirties. A movie teller realizes that his profession is not longer needed. Silent movies are not produced any longer. Telling stories is the only thing the man was ever good in, so he does not know what to do now. As political circumstances are changing dramatically these days in Germany, he gets new hope that things will again be going better for him...

Comic artist Brösel trades a magic pen that helps him come up with funny stories for the promise to fulfill one of Rumpelstiltskin's wishes. The resulting animated films show episodes of the life of Werner, a plumber apprentice and motorbike enthusiast and his friends. They are interspersed with the live-action portions.

With the death of her mother, eight-year-old Anna ends her childhood: From now on, she has to look after the nine-member family. Deprivation-rich years, which also find no end when Anna marries: Her husband Albert must be a soldier in the Second World War, and the pregnant Anna has to work hard in the farm and care sick relatives. Lonely and exposed to the harassment of the tyrannical mother-in-law, she waits for Albert, with no certainty that he will ever return.

Within four episodes ("Er am Ende", "Muss ich aufpassen", "Eva" and "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" ) are being told adventures of love sick Felix. On Sylt he meets two nymphomaniac women, in Hamburg he meets Eva, a girl who is even more love sick and later he meets Luci who gives him an indecent proposal. Thus he flees again...

In Friedliche Tage, we enter a totalitarian and inhuman society, in which daily life is a series of nightmares and the protagonists search for a utopia of freedom and love.

A bearded director named EVA, a fictive Rainer Werner Fassbinder, lives in a large house with his cast and crew as he films Dumas' Lady of the Camellias. His accountant informs him he has many unpaid bills and little cash on hand. EVA throws a fit and fires him. He then proceeds to play one person off against another, dismiss with cruelty his recent lover Ali, sleep openly with his leading lady Gudrun, and make a direct and public play for his leading man, Walter. He's mercurial, dictatorial, and manic. Will he finish the film, having drawn great performances from his actors through his manipulations, or will his antics set events in motion that spin out of his control?

By the time director Katja Raganelli arrived in California to make a film about Dorothy Arzner in 1980, Arzner had passed away in a car accident. Nonetheless, Raganelli visited Arzner’s desert home and retraced the pioneering filmmaker’s career in this documentary, using Arzner’s trove of photographs, as well as interviews with her leading lady Esther Ralston, to create this nuanced portrait of a woman who bucked every norm and defied societal expectation.

In 1914, with men gone to war, Marcel Proust hired Céleste Albaret as his attendant. More than eight years later, she was at his side when he died. During this entire time, she only entered his room when he rang for her, sleeping from 9 AM to 3 PM to wait during the night while he wrote. Marcel uses her as more than a servant: she is his muse, telling stories of her childhood to stir his remembrance of things past; she's in cahoots with him as he manipulates those he wants to draw on for his writing; she listens appalled to his descriptions of the underside of Paris. Hers is a life of love and sweet devotion as he races time to finish his work before death.

낭만적인 사랑을 꿈꾸던 아가씨, 신혼의 단꿈에 젖었던 그녀!전쟁이 임박한 독일, 리네는 파티에서 낭만적인 평화주의자 한스를 만난다. 그의 열정적인 구애에 마음이 끌린 리네는 청혼을 받아들이고 두 사람은 소박하지만 행복한 신혼 생활을 시작한다. 그러나 곧 전쟁이 터지고 나치당원이 아니라는 이유로 한스는 제일 먼저 징집되어 서부 전선으로 끌려가게 된다. 온갖 시련 속에서도 눈물 한 방울 흘리지 않는 강한 어머니로 거듭난 리네! 남편을 전장으로 떠나보내고 홀로 남은 리네. 그녀는 옆집에 폭탄이 떨어지는 소리를 들으며 힘겨운 산고 끝에 딸 안나를 낳는다. 연일 계속되는 공습으로 살던 집마저 무너지자 리네는 딸을 데리고 정처 없는 피난길에 오른다. 변변한 잠자리조차 없어 폐허가 된 도시와 숲 속을 헤매는 리네와 안나. 추위와 굶주림에 시달리는 것은 물론, 어린 딸이 보는 앞에서 군인에게 강간까지 당하는 수모를 겪으면서도 리네는 남편이 돌아오면 모든 것이 좋아지리라는 희망 하나로 고된 삶을 견뎌낸다.그녀는 사랑받기를 간절히 원했던 한 여자였다드디어 전쟁이 끝나고 리네는 다시 행복한 가정으로, 사랑받는 아내로 돌아가리라는 꿈에 부푼다. 그러나 현실은 잔인하게 그녀를 배반한다. 전쟁터에서 보낸 세월은 선량한 한스를 잔인한 사람으로 바꾸어 놓았고 돌아온 한스는 나치당원이 아니라는 이유로 차별받았던 과거를 보상이라도 받으려는 듯이 출세에만 열을 올리는 속물로 변해갔던 것! 리네가 달라진 그의 모습을 쉽게 받아들이지 못하자 남편은 오히려 그녀의 정조를 의심하고 둘 사이의 불화는 깊어지는데... 지옥 같은 하루 하루, 리네의 영혼과 얼굴은 처참하게 일그러져 간다.

19세기 중엽 군대 주둔지인 소도시의 말단 군인인 프란츠 보이체크(Woyzeck: 클라우스 킨스키 분)는 그의 애인인 마리와 그들 사이에 태어난 아이를 먹여살리느라 애를 쓴다. 군대의 봉급은 작고 상사들은 저질에 야만적이다. 보이체크는 결혼도 하지 않고 아이를 가진 자신을 비난하는 대위를 면도해준다. 의사는 그를 의학실험대상으로 삼는 대신 돈을 더 많이 주겠다고 약속한다. 아이를 쳐다볼 시간조차 없는 보이체크는 언제나 업무에 쫓긴다. 그의 애인 마리는 멋쟁이 군악대장과 놀아나고 이사실을 알게 된 보이체크는 마리를 칼로 찔러 살해하고 자신은 물에 빠져 죽는다.

Interview film with German director Werner Herzog revisiting the films he made up to ca. 1977.

Although members of the Hitler Youth chant anti-Semitic paroles in front of his house during the Purim festival, Rabbi Singer is still profoundly convinced that Germany will stay a safe country for him, his family, and his fellow believers. But several years later, his son David is banned from going to school because he is a Jew. Shortly after, Rabbi Singer and his wife are deported. Now, young David also fears for his life. In constant fear of being detected, he tries to find a way to leave Germany.

1978년 여름 프랑크푸르트. 여장남자인 엘비라는 강가에서 심하게 얻어맞고 상처투성이로 집에 돌아온다. 집에서는 말다툼 끝에 애인이 짐을 싸 떠나버리고, 애인을 쫓아나가다 거리에서 쓰러진 엘비라를 창녀 조라가 구해준다. 엘비라는 그녀에게 자신의 인생에 대한 이야기를 들려주는데, 한때 그는 에르빈이라는 남자였지만 사랑 때문에 성전환 수술을 받았다.

The main characters in this film are wives of rich men who have nothing to do because they have staff – like the cook, the maid, the hairdresser, the manicurist, the governess, the teacher, the tailor etc. – who work for them. Naturally, the wives themselves do not pursue careers, they depend on their husbands’ money. This is why most of their thoughts revolve around the husband. And because the husband only appears as “the” man, there is no man in this film. All women fight for the same man. Those who have one, want to keep him no matter what. And those who do not have one yet only have one goal: To take away somebody else’s husband.

방랑 음악인이자 발라드 가수인 브루노 슈트로스체크가 석방된다. 감독은 그에게 더이상 술을 마시지 말라고 경고한다. 그러나 그는 감옥 문지방을 넘자마자 모퉁이에 있는 술집에서 맥주를 마시며 바깥 세상과의 만남을 축하한다. 그는 매춘부 에바를 만나면서 새 삶을 살기로 결심한다. 그들은 에바를 학대하는 포주로부터 벗어나기 위해 이웃에 사는 노인 샤이츠씨의 조카가 주유소를 하고 있는 미국으로 도주한다. 행복한 시간도 잠시 에바는 화물 운전수와 달아나고 슈트로스체크는 추운 11월의 어느 아침, 안개가 자욱한 언덕에서 총으로 자살하고 만다.

Loosely based on the notorious Richard Speck murders, this is the grim tale of a disturbed Vietnam vet returning home via Belfast, who invades a house shared by eight nurses and proceeds to terrorize and murder them.

엠마 퀴스터는 프랑크푸르트 타이어 공장에서 일하던 남편 헤르만이 대량해고의 위협에 시달리다 현장주임을 쏘고 자살했다는 소식을 듣는다. 엠마는 딸과 사위에게 도움을 청하지만 두 사람은 자신들의 잇속을 챙기기에만 바쁘고, 공산당 기관지의 기자 틸만을 만나 공산당에 가입하지만 그들 역시 별다른 도움이 되지 못한다. 결국 엠마는 극단적인 행동을 취하게 되는데...

작은 도시의 명망있는 집안의 에피 브리스트는 파티 등을 열며 재미있는 나날을 보낸다. 그녀는 프로이센 주의원인 20세 연상의 인스테텐 남작과 결혼한다. 출세 지향적이고 엄격한 남편과의 결혼 생활에서 외로움을 느끼던 에피 브리스트는 매력있는 크람파스 대령과 짧으나 낭만적인 연애를 한다. 6년뒤 베를린 내각의 장관이 된 남작은 이 사실을 우연히 알게 된다. 인스테텐 남작은 에피 브리스트를 용서하고 싶은 마음이 있음에도 불구하고 사회의 통념상 부인의 불륜을 발견한 남편으로서 해야 할 마땅한 행동을 취하고 만다. 남작은 권총 결투에서 크람파스 대령을 죽이고 아내와 이혼한 후 아이는 자신이 맡는다. 이혼당한 에피 브리스트는 충격을 받은 양친으로부터 거부당하고 고립속에서 괴로움과 수치를 느끼며 파멸해 간다. 죽기 전 그녀는 남편을 용서한다.

Willi is 18 years old and lives on the street. Without a goal in his life he walks around the city and meets several people, helping but also cheating him. When he meets a girl, Monica, he realizes that there are people out there whose lives are even more desperate than his. So he's trying to help her (and him) by planning a great robbery on a supermarket's money transporter.

Based on Franz Xaver Kroetz's play, which is in turn based on a true story, this film by Rainer Werner Fassbinder tells the story of a very young girl who, after persuading a local boy to become her lover, induces the anger of her father, whose incestuous sexual attentions to her have grown unbearable.

유행을 창조해 가는 페트라 폰 칸트는 비서 마를렌느와 호화로운 아파트에 살고 있다. 페트라는 젊은 카린을 알게 되고 그녀와 사랑에 빠진다. 페트라는 카린을 자기 곁에 붙들어 두기 위해 카린을 의상모델로 출세시켜 주겠다고 약속한다. 하지만 카린은 매우 영리하여 페트라와의 관계도 지속시키며 많은 자유, 심지어 남자들과의 자유도 누리다가 결국 자기 남편에게 돌아간다. 이에 절망한 페트라는 자신이 카린을 사랑한 게 아니었음을 깨닫고 강박관념에서 벗어나서 마를렌느에게 새로운 동반자 관계를 요청하게되는데...

Film based on a play written by Elias Canetti.

Inspired by the real life events of Mathias Kneißl, a marginal man, son of poor farmers from Bavaria, in the late XIX Century. Mathias stole from the riches to give to the poor, becoming a hero for the rural people, and a popular social rebel. He was chased by the police until his unfortunate sentence.

A four man US fireteam on patrol seizes a passing young Vietnamnese girl and continue to torture, rape and kill her. Only one soldier refuses to take part in it and reports this incident to his superior, who dismisses it as simple wartime incident. As a consequence for his report, the soldier has to fear for his life. Later, the perpetrators are convicted, although subsequent appeals reduce their sentences significantly. The plot takes place in a Bavarian forest and reenacts a real war crime that happened in the Vietnam war. The soldiers wear US uniforms, have authentic names but speak with a pronounced Bavarian accent - a conscious directing decision known as Brechtian distancing effect.