Stefan Kolosko

Contemporary cinema’s preeminent chronicler of architecture and its intersection with the ever-present crisis of 20th-century modernity, Heinz Emigholz returns with an alternately mournful and sly treatise on how the presence—and, in some cases, absence—of municipal and communal building architecture is inseparable from capitalist ideology. Focusing mainly on cities and provinces in Argentina, Germany, and Bolivia, Emigholz’s latest film is a work of quiet observation and historical excavation. From slaughterhouses in Salamone to the flooded former spa city of Epecuén to the newly built Humboldt Forum in Berlin, the film demonstrates the effect of capital on public spaces, where creation and destruction go hand in hand, and as always, Emigholz makes the journey one of intellectual force and cinematic beauty.

Using unpublished and newly digitalised archive footage and film material, Bettina Böhler has brilliantly assembled this film about the life and work of the exceptional artist Christoph Schlingensief, who died in 2010.

1945년 4월, 전쟁이 막 끝나갈 즈음 젊은 병사 헤롤트는 탈영을 하다 걸려 총살당할 위기를 간신히 모면한다. 전쟁은 끝나가지만 후방의 군기는 망가질 대로 망가져 온갖 약탈과 범죄를 일삼고 있던 상황. 낮에는 숲에서 쉬고 밤에는 농가에 몰래 숨어들어 먹을 걸 훔치다 걸리면 바로 처형되는 위기 속에서 우연히 나치 간부의 군복을 발견한다. 한 벌의 군복으로 가짜지만 대위가 된 헤롤트는 히틀러의 직속 명령이라는 거짓 임무를 내세워 헤롤트 기동 부대를 만들어 권력을 키워간다. 어느새 헤롤트는 탈영병으로 쫓기던 신세에서 자신을 쫓던 나치 장교와 같은 괴물로 변해가기 시작하는데...

A small German village in the south of Brandenburg is preparing for a traditional youth ceremony. Children become adults, which is a cause worth celebrating. The young Kai lives with his father on a farm. They have invited guests for the festive meal planned for the following day. Everything has been arranged and the calf is ready for slaughter. But Kai's father does not want to slaughter or celebrate, he wants his peace. Driven by the fear that everything could go wrong, Kai races through the sleepy village. The afternoon leads him to Lea, a local girl. With her, time takes on a different pace. KAI captures a formative moment in life, where a boy tries to find a way out. From a village, from a family situation and from his own anxieties.

In 1988, the East Berlin homicide squad again and again encounters crimes that - according to the opinion of party leadership and state security - do not exist in socialism.

2차 세계대전, 히틀러에 의해 세기의 걸작을 잃을 절체절명의 위기 속, 미술 역사학자 ‘프랭크’는 이를 막기 위해 예술품 전담부대 ‘모뉴먼츠 맨’ 결성을 주도한다. 예술품을 지키는 것이 목숨을 걸 만큼 가치 있는 것인지에 대한 우려와 반대에도 불구하고, 끈질긴 설득 끝에 마침내 ‘모뉴먼츠 맨’ 결성을 허가 받은 ‘프랭크’. 미술관 관장, 건축가, 조각가, 미술품 거래상, 예술품 감정가 등 뜻을 함께 한 대원들로 구성된 ‘모뉴먼츠 맨’은 나치로부터 5백 만점 이상의 도난 예술품을 지키기 위해 전쟁터 한 가운데로 나선다. 하지만 전투 경력 전무, 예술품 보존을 위해 폭격마저 저지하려는 그들은 오히려 전쟁의 방해꾼이라는 오명을 쓰게 되고 패망한다면 모든 것을 파괴하라는 히틀러의 지침으로 상황은 더욱 악화되어 간다. 자신의 목숨조차 지키기 어려운 상황과 누구에게도 인정받지 못하는 악조건 속 모뉴먼츠 맨은 도난 예술품의 은닉처를 찾아 최전선으로 향하는데...

The 13 days from April 20th to May 2nd, 1945, are unique in the history of Germany: They are the final act in the history of the third Reich which was supposed to last for a thousand years and succumbed after twelve in an orgy of violence and fire. In the catacombs of his bunker under the Reich Chancellery in the capital city of Berlin, which Adolf Hitler wanted to make to the centre of the world, the dictator operates with ghost divisions during the final days of the war. Only in the final moment, he takes his own life. Meanwhile, On the streets, in the ruins, and the basements of the destroyed city, the final battle wages on: Adolescents are sacrificed without purpose, women get raped, loyal party comrades commit suicide in the thousands, Jews who were in hiding for years hope for the liberation.

The same situation is played out in different cities (New York, Berlin and Tokyo). A lover has to choose whether to commit to a partner who is returning home. In each case there are other people involved, an ex-partner and someone else in a "permanent" relationship, what do they choose to do?

In East Berlin in the late 70s, two boys meet one evening in a disco: Thomas, who is from a working class family and is doing an apprenticeship, and Michael, a 16-year-old school pupil from an educated middle-class family. They both miss the tram home and walk together instead, ending up at Michael’s house where they discuss God and the world into the early hours. Following this encounter the two boys enter into an unusual friendship, united by their mutual desire to get away from the phoniness, the limitations and the restrictions of their parents and of society.