Klaus Wildenhahn

Documentary on the final days of the final days of the German government before its relocation to Berlin.

Documentary on the final days of the final days of the German government before its relocation to Berlin.

A documentary about the 'critical mass', the Film Coop, a group of young filmmakers in Hamburg during the 1960s - a small group far from the Mainstream or the New German Cinema.

Using one of the Lumière Brothers' first films of workers leaving the Factory as his starting point, Farocki provides an insight to changes in industrial production, workers' strikes and motion pictures-- via images of workers leaving factories throughout the years.

Portrait of a trans woman between Hamburg and Ibiza.

A portrait of St. Pauli and its people.

A portrait of St. Pauli and its people.

Klaus Wildenhahn portraits workers and engineers restoring the Dresden Castle in the summer of 1990.

Klaus Wildenhahn portraits workers and engineers restoring the Dresden Castle in the summer of 1990.

Short version of Wildenhahn's own 1971 three-part film "Der Hamburger Aufstand Oktober 1923".

Short version of Wildenhahn's own 1971 three-part film "Der Hamburger Aufstand Oktober 1923".

Klaus Wildenhahn documents the consequences of the shutdown of the Thyssen smeltery in the city of Oberhausen.

Klaus Wildenhahn documents the consequences of the shutdown of the Thyssen smeltery in the city of Oberhausen.

A portrait of the two documentary filmmakers Jerzy Bossak and Richard Leacock.

A portrait of the two documentary filmmakers Jerzy Bossak and Richard Leacock.

A portrait of the two documentary filmmakers Jerzy Bossak and Richard Leacock.

Wuppertal is a drizzly, industrial city on the Rhine and one immediately wonders why Pina Bausch and her avant-garde dance troupe have settled there. A socially engaged documentarian, Wildenhahn is also perplexed by this issue and spends considerable time trying to place Bausch in a context outside of the aesthetic. Still, the dance company's daily life and the excruciating rehearsal and performance schedule is solidly captured. The film begins cleverly: a dance critic offers sagacious comments on ballet dancers finishing their careers at mid-thirty just when, according to Bausch, the "aspects of misery, suffering and fear of death should become an integral part of a dancer's spiritual and psychological make-up." Wildenhahn's camera glides over the dancers' bodies as Bausch leads them through their paces, a consummate teacher. Leaving behind rehearsals of "Bandoneón" and "Walzer," Wildenhahn then ventures out into the streets of Wuppertal searching for the dance of the common people.

Wuppertal is a drizzly, industrial city on the Rhine and one immediately wonders why Pina Bausch and her avant-garde dance troupe have settled there. A socially engaged documentarian, Wildenhahn is also perplexed by this issue and spends considerable time trying to place Bausch in a context outside of the aesthetic. Still, the dance company's daily life and the excruciating rehearsal and performance schedule is solidly captured. The film begins cleverly: a dance critic offers sagacious comments on ballet dancers finishing their careers at mid-thirty just when, according to Bausch, the "aspects of misery, suffering and fear of death should become an integral part of a dancer's spiritual and psychological make-up." Wildenhahn's camera glides over the dancers' bodies as Bausch leads them through their paces, a consummate teacher. Leaving behind rehearsals of "Bandoneón" and "Walzer," Wildenhahn then ventures out into the streets of Wuppertal searching for the dance of the common people.

Second bandoneon film by Klaus Wildenhahn.

Second bandoneon film by Klaus Wildenhahn.

A film about the connection of workers and the bandoneon in the Ruhr region.

A film about the connection of workers and the bandoneon in the Ruhr region.

Documentary by Klaus Wildenhahn.

Documentary by Klaus Wildenhahn.

A documentary about the economical crysis of the car industry in Germany, 1971.

A documentary about the economical crysis of the car industry in Germany, 1971.

Behind the scenes look at the preparations for the last two editions of Dietmar Schönherr's Talkshow.

Behind the scenes look at the preparations for the last two editions of Dietmar Schönherr's Talkshow.

Documentary film.

This award-winning film documents the only uprising of communists ever to occur in Germany. During the post-World War I period, Germany suffered from hyperinflation and the near-starvation of many working people. Working conditions were extremely bad, and there was a very vocal socialist movement. Despite fears that communists of one sort or another might take over the country, there was only one communist-led uprising, in 1923, and it was brutally suppressed. The uprising was a useful stick for governmental forces seeking greater social control, however, and it strengthened the tendency of the already weak Weimar regime to govern by emergency decree. An additional consequence was that the use of private militias was legitimized. These tendencies laid the groundwork for Hitler's takeover of power not too many years later. This documentary uses rare and never-before seen film footage from the strike and from that era.

Documentary film.

HARLEM, USA: in the aftermath of Martin Luther King’s murder, German filmmaker Klaus Wildenhahn turned his 16mm camera on the New Lafayette Theatre as its players rehearsed scenes, ran public workshops and conducted exercises in uptown Manhattan. New Lafayette (or NLT) had been founded by actor-director Robert Macbeth the previous year, with the aim of producing theater for black people, by black people, to reflect the experiences and vernacular of the Harlem community. Within the Black Arts Movement, NLT would become a significant institution: it published the journal Black Theatre, and employed a host of talents – including the Black Panthers’ Minister of Culture, Ed Bullins, and the great pianist Junior Mance, both of whom appear in Wildenhahn’s film as resident collaborators.

HARLEM, USA: in the aftermath of Martin Luther King’s murder, German filmmaker Klaus Wildenhahn turned his 16mm camera on the New Lafayette Theatre as its players rehearsed scenes, ran public workshops and conducted exercises in uptown Manhattan. New Lafayette (or NLT) had been founded by actor-director Robert Macbeth the previous year, with the aim of producing theater for black people, by black people, to reflect the experiences and vernacular of the Harlem community. Within the Black Arts Movement, NLT would become a significant institution: it published the journal Black Theatre, and employed a host of talents – including the Black Panthers’ Minister of Culture, Ed Bullins, and the great pianist Junior Mance, both of whom appear in Wildenhahn’s film as resident collaborators.

Docuemntary about a couple who lives on the frinches of German society.

Docuemntary about a couple who lives on the frinches of German society.

Workers in the northern German province build a silo.

Workers in the northern German province build a silo.

Observational documentary about the Merce Cunningham Dance Company rehearsing throughout the summer of 1967 in New York.

Experimental composer John Cage tours Europe with The Merce Cunningham Dance Company in 1966.

Experimental composer John Cage tours Europe with The Merce Cunningham Dance Company in 1966.

Jazz and its milieu. Klaus Wildenhahn films the Jimmy Smith Trio in New York. With the addition of a white guitarist, Kenny Burrell, the band is in the studio recording the Rolling Stones current hit “Satisfaction”, as a tribute to the successful British Beat musicians, who were themselves inspired by blues and jazz.

Jazz and its milieu. Klaus Wildenhahn films the Jimmy Smith Trio in New York. With the addition of a white guitarist, Kenny Burrell, the band is in the studio recording the Rolling Stones current hit “Satisfaction”, as a tribute to the successful British Beat musicians, who were themselves inspired by blues and jazz.

An account of the first European tour of American jazz organist Jimmy Smith and his trio in 1965, replete with backstage footage and music.

An account of the first European tour of American jazz organist Jimmy Smith and his trio in 1965, replete with backstage footage and music.

Impressions of a party congress of the German social democrat party (SPD) in 1964, featuring politicians Max Brauer, Fritz Erler and Willy Brandt.

Impressions of a party congress of the German social democrat party (SPD) in 1964, featuring politicians Max Brauer, Fritz Erler and Willy Brandt.