Was von Annie M.G. Schmidt kommt, kann eigentlich nicht ganz schlecht sein. Die niederländische Schriftstellerin, die 1995 einen Tag nach ihrem 84. Geburtstag Selbstmord beging, gehört zu den bekanntesten Kinderbuchautorinnen der Welt – in Deutschland ist sie leider weitgehend unbekannt. Nur wenige ihrer Bücher (z.B. Pluck mit dem Kranwagen) sind ins Deutsche übersetzt und auch noch lieferbar; auch die sehr sehenswerten Verfilmungen wie Der wunderbare Wiplala oder der noch wunderbarere Die geheimnisvolle Minusch schaffen es hier meist nicht einmal ins Kino.
Insofern darf man sich über Mein Freund, die Giraffe freuen, dessen Geschichte auf einem Gedicht von Schmidt beruht und jene traumgleiche Vermischung von Realität und magischen Elementen beinhaltet, die viele ihrer Texte so großartig macht.
Der niederländische Film hatte in diesem Jahr auf der Berlinale seine hiesige Premiere und läuft jetzt in den deutschen Kinos – meine Gedanken zu dem Film stehen auf kino-zeit.de.
Mein Freund, die Giraffe (Dikkertje Dap). Niederlande 2017. Regie: Barbara Bredero, 74 Minuten. Kinostart: 1. März 2018. FSK 0, empfohlen ab 6 Jahren.
(Fotos: Little Dream Entertainment/24 Bilder)
Ab morgen im Kino: MEIN FREUND, DIE GIRAFFE Was von Annie M.G. Schmidt kommt, kann eigentlich nicht ganz schlecht sein. Die niederländische Schriftstellerin, die 1995 einen Tag nach ihrem 84.
„Bums dich, du Kackvogel!“ Amelie flucht ganz gern, es hilft ihr anscheinend, auch wenn es erkennbar immer noch eine bürgerlich-reservierte Form des Ankackens ist, die hier gepflegt wird; ein Berliner Kindl zwar, aber eben doch aus gutsituiertem Haus, kein „Ich komm aus Kreuzberg, du Muschi!“
Double F-Rated
Und das trifft eigentlich schon ganz gut ein Kernproblem des eigentlich sehr schönen Coming-of-Age-Selbstfindung-in-den-Bergen-Films Amelie rennt: Er ist bei aller Streiterei sehr freundlich. Was zwar insofern logisch ist, als sowohl Rebellin Amelie als auch ihre getrennt lebenden Eltern sich im Grunde sehr gerne mögen. Was aber zugleich den Furor der Protagonistin (von Mia Kasalo sonst wunderbar verkörpert) eben auch ein wenig runterregelt: Seit wann halten sich wütende 13-jährige sonst damit auf, was statthaft ist? Zumal, wenn sie in der freien Natur quasi allein unterwegs sind.
Amelie hat Asthma und möchte das eigentlich gerne ignorieren, zumal sie auch sonst grundgenervt ist. Von der Trennung ihrer Eltern (samt „Wechselmodell“) ebenso wie von ihrer Fürsorge, davon, dass ihre Mutter ihr Zimmer zum Wäschetrocknen nutzt, wenn Amelie nicht da ist. Und extrem genervt ist sie natürlich sowieso davon, dass sie nach einem heftigen Anfall von ihren Eltern in ein Erholungsheim in Südtirol (ein eigenes Thema wäre mal die Frage, wie Menschen immer so flott bei Tageslicht von Berlin ins bayerische oder alpine Idyll gelangen: hier ebenso wie in Burg Schreckenstein. Aber das ist eine andere Geschichte) verfrachtet wird, wo sie zusammen mit anderen, allesamt jüngeren Kindern lernen soll, mit ihrer Krankheit umzugehen.
Stattdessen haut Amelie ab. Sie rennt weniger, wie der Titel suggeriert, sondern steigt planlos den nächsten Berg hinauf; sie trifft auf den kaum älteren Bart (Samuel Girardi), der sich seit dem Tod seines Vaters um die Kühe im elterlichen Hof kümmert. Der begleitet sie hoch, aus Sorge und Verantwortungsgefühl, aber auch Belustigung und sicher ein wenig Verliebtheit. Auch wenn Amelie die ganze Zeit schimpft, auf ihn, auf die Welt und überhaupt. „Wenn ich fluche, merke ich, dass ich noch atme.“
Eine Bergwanderung mit Inhalator, samt Sturz in den ziemlich reißenden Gebirgsbach, natürlich eine Fish-out-of-water-Geschichte; Tobias Wiemann nutzt in seinem Film (nach einem Buch von Natja Brunckhorst und Jytte-Merle Böhrnsen) die Natur reichlich aus, weicht aber nie in den schmalzigen Heimatfilm aus. Stattdessen Selbstfindung, sehr dezentes Verliebtsein, einige dramatische Momente und natürlich die Wandlung vom Scheißegal zum Etwas-Wollen: Da rauf auf den blöden Berg, mit Macht und Flüchen. Wo es dann natürlich wunderschön ist.
Wiemann erspart uns glücklicherweise die Art von Wunderheilung, die die letzte Heidi-Verfilmung in Minuten kredenzte; das Ende ist dann allerdings doch einen kleinen Hauch zu harmonisch, auch musikalisch zu schmalzig. Das darf für einen Kinderfilm schon sein, aber ein wenig mehr Kratzbürstigkeit darf man sich auch von der erneuerten Amelie noch erhoffen.
Ab morgen im Kino: AMELIE RENNT! #filmkritik „Bums dich, du Kackvogel!“ Amelie flucht ganz gern, es hilft ihr anscheinend, auch wenn es erkennbar immer noch eine bürgerlich-reservierte Form des Ankackens ist, die hier gepflegt wird; ein Berliner Kindl zwar, aber eben doch aus gutsituiertem Haus, kein „Ich komm aus Kreuzberg, du Muschi!“
Überflieger - Kleine Vögel, großes Geklapper (2016)
ÜBERFLIEGER lief auch auf der #Berlinale - aber das macht ihn nicht besser.
Spatzenkind Richard hat Glück im Unglück. Das Unglück: Gerade als er sich durch seine Eierschale zu kämpfen beginnt, werden seine Eltern Opfer eines vögelfressenden Raubtiers. Das Glück: Ein Storchenpaar findet das kleine Vögelchen und zieht ihn als ihr eigenes Kind auf. Das bleibt nicht ohne Folgen, denn Richard hält sich ganz selbstverständlich für einen Jungstorch und freut sich enorm darauf,…
In the last several months, Polish cinema has been making waves again: THE LAST FAMILY / OSTATNIA RODZINA (2016) has been conquering world festivals since Locarno, THE LURE / CÓRKI DANCINGU (2015) is being shown in US theatres right now, Agnieszka Holland won big at Berlinale, and Kuba Czekaj's second feature THE ERLPRINCE / KRÓLEWICZ OLCH (2016) scrored two very important festivals – Slamdance and Berlinale Generation 14plus. Fortunately, our new contributor Rohan Berry Crickmar had the opportunity to interview Kuba Czekaj in Berlin, so now you can read all about the independent filmmaking community in Poland, and risks.
The young Polish filmmaker Kuba Czekaj is a very busy man. In the space of eighteen months he has completed and promoted his first two feature films, BABY BUMP (2015) and THE ERLPRINCE / KRÓLEWICZ OLCH (2016). The latter has received its European Premiere in the Generation 14plus Competition here at the 67th Berlinale, after having won the Young Jury Award for Best Film at Gdynia Film Festival in 2016.
Czekaj is very much at the vanguard of an emerging generation of exciting young Polish film talent, alongside the likes of Agnieszka Smoczyńska, Tomasz Wasilewski, Katarzyna Rosłaniec, Bodo Kox, and Krzysztof Skonieczny. Born in Wrocław in 1984, Czekaj studied Directing at the Krzysztof Kieślowski Radio and Television Faculty at the University of Silesia in Katowice, graduating in 2010. After this initial training, he then attended the Andrzej Wajda Master School of Film Directing in Warsaw during 2011. He initially produced a series of award-winning short films between 2009 and 2014, including the highly original DON’T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK ROOM / CIEMNEGO POKOJU NIE TRZEBA SIĘ BAĆ (2009). BABY BUMP, his first feature film, premiered at the 72nd Venice Film Festival in 2015, winning a Special Mention in the Queer Lion Award category.
Having been impressed by the hyper-excessive inventiveness of BABY BUMP when I saw it at the 2015 Gdynia Film Festival, I was keen to see what aesthetic developments, if any, Czekaj had made during the shoot of THE ERLPRINCE. Little did I know just how difficult it would be to assess this director’s progress between first and second feature. This was nothing to do with the quality of THE ERLPRINCE, as I think it is a bold film that builds upon and expands the scope and ambition of BABY BUMP. Rather, it was difficult to talk of progress due to the surprising revelation of how both films were produced.
On meeting Czekaj in Berlin after the premiere of THE ERLPRINCE, I was immediately struck by the seeming contradiction between his physical timidity, as if his wiry frame was desperately trying to discreetly disappear from view, and the genuine warmth and openness of his character. The resulting interview is peppered with candid details about the production histories of his self-described “informal diptych,” as well as some clear insights as to his working methods and the importance he places upon collaboration. Although, some areas of the interview have been slightly amended to facilitate clarity and comprehension, I have tried to preserve, as much as possible, the idiosyncrasies of this director’s English, as I believe it best captures his engaging and self-reflexive personality.
Rohan Berry Crickmar: Before this interview, your publicist was telling me that you effectively produced BABY BUMP and THE ERLPRINCE simultaneously?
Kuba Czekaj: Yeah, mostly at the same time, because, you know, we started shooting at the beginning of, I think, 2015, this was the first part of the shooting. Then I had a break, after which I started shooting BABY BUMP, and after that I immediately came back to the set of THE ERLPRINCE. Then, in September 2015, there was a premiere at the Venice Film Festival. So it was a crazy year for me, but also a wonderful and very unique lesson, especially for someone, you know, who is a first-time director. So, yeah, I think it was a very important time for me.
RBC: Before you did these two features, you had a quite considerable body of work in terms of short films?
KC: Yeah, I made several in my school, and you have some opportunities after you finish your education. There was a program for young filmmakers to make a professional audition film. Normally, something like thirty minutes. My film was called DON’T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK ROOM. It was just after my education that I made this film, and after this film the same studio offered me the chance to do THE ERLPRINCE. But, of course, as you probably know, because everybody knows, it is very difficult to get the financing and to have the money for these sort of films [laughs].
RBC: Indeed! Am I right in thinking that Venice helped to develop the project?
KC: Yeah, Venice has some program, It is called Biennale College Cinema. This is a program for first or second-time filmmakers. They help, supporting productions, because they give you money with just one rule that you can only spend 150,000 EUR, no more. It is a kind of competition. At first, twelve production teams are invited. You just apply with a treatment and some additional materials, and then they choose the twelve teams, and you have some workshops. This helps you in talking about and pitching your film.
After all the workshops, you return back home and write up the first draft of the script, send it, and then they make the decision based on: your stay in Venice, the pitch, the quality of the script, and, I think, trust. After all, they don’t know the people who are applying, so it is a kind of risk for them to just give anyone the money. After receiving the money, you have only one year – for us it was nine months – to make the film and be ready for the following year’s Venice festival, where the film will receive its premiere.
So after all, when I had the decision that BABY BUMP would be financed, I also had the decision that THE ERLPRINCE would begin shooting. This led to a very difficult decision as to whether I could do both films. I had a lot of feedback telling me “This is too much, you should just concentrate on one film.” But I just said “Come on guys, I have to film these, as it will be my most important lesson, and I will have a film in Venice, so I need to test myself, I need to take this risk and fight for my dreams!”
RBC: So, with BABY BUMP that was partly funded by the Venice Film Festival?
KC: Yeah.
RBC: With THE ERLPRINCE, funding was coming from?
KC: From Poland. It is a public fund. The most amount of money came from the Polish Film Institute. There was also investment from the Polish public television, as well as one of the regional funds in Poland, the Wrocław Film Commission.
RBC: And that is where you are from?
KC: Yes, this is my hometown. And we had involvement from a post-production company, as part of this funding arrangement, which meant that we had to use their services to complete the film.
RBC: So the post-production is locked in to the funding arrangements?
KC: Yeah, yeah.
RBC: Now you retained a few people over both films, mainly amongst the actors, first and foremost, and then also within two areas of the technical crew that I am particularly interested in. In terms of the actors Agnieszka Podsiadlik and Sebastian Lach seem to reprise quite similar roles. Was that a deliberate choice on your part? Was it a very obvious thing to go “Right, once we cast in this film we just continue on to the next film”? What was your rationale behind this?
KC: You know, Agnieszka and Sebastian were on this film [THE ERLPRINCE] from the beginning. At this stage I could not have imagined we would have had the chance to do something else. I really believe that you should be making films with your family, and this family is made up of your cast and crew. You need to work with people you trust, people who trust you too. To say it simply, we are really just very close friends. It is really important that you have this kind of relationship, as when you are on set, you really don’t have any time. You have so much to do, and you are really fighting with your schedule.
So beforehand I had a lot of meetings and conversations with actors, but also with the likes of Adam Palenta (he is the DoP of the films), or the costume designer. So after all of this preparation, we felt ready to do these two films in a very short time. As I said at the beginning, I could not plan that we would be doing two films, but I felt “Come on, I have wonderful people right in front of me, so I need to invite them on to the next project!” For me this was so natural. I think this is a good way of filmmaking.
RBC: What was it that drew you to Agnieszka? She has such strong and interesting roles in both films, so what was it that drew you to her when you were casting? Prior to your films, I had only really seen her in quite minor roles in things like ZERO (2009) and BABY BLUES / BEJBI BLUES (2012), but I hadn’t actually seen her in a significant major role?
KC: It is kind of funny, or strange, because we met a few years ago, when I was the second director on, maybe you know this film, IT LOOKS PRETTY FROM A DISTANCE / Z DALEKA WIDOK JEST PIEKNY (2011). It is a film by Wilhelm Sasnal [co-directed with his wife Anka], a very famous Polish painter. She [Agnieszka Podsiadlik] was playing one of the roles and I was just the First AD. After the shoot, we met in some bar, or restaurant, and just started talking. Also, then I met Sebastian, and even then I had a script of this film [THE ERLPRINCE]. So after talking with them, we just kept in touch, month to month, and remained friends. I am talking about this, because this was the casting.
I realized at a certain moment that I had wonderful people right there in front of me. Of course, I knew both of them as actors, but for me it felt more crucial to know what kind of people they are. It was easy for me to ask them to join me [on the project], as I loved them and believed in them. I could trust them, because we shared similar tastes, we liked the same films. Of course, sometimes we were fighting, but it is like I would do with a friend. A friendship should be sometimes heated. It is really nice in this way, because the relationship is really honest. Sometimes we have a difference of opinion, but that is the relationship, the way it is.
RBC: It is interesting that you say this, because I think that is something that you are getting in the dynamic between son and mother in both of the films. There is a dynamic there that is really warm and tender, on the one hand, but very quickly and very easily flies into a moment of, as you say, heat, or anger that flickers up, and then gets suppressed.
KC: Yeah, for me it is very important for the actors to feel like partners. Also this extends to my kids, and by that I mean the kids who are playing in the films. After two films, I am sure that there isn’t any difference, as a director, for me to direct them. It is always the same, we are talking about trust and spending a good time, being close and having fun sometimes. Obviously, there is the need to fight if the situation requires it, but the actors being my partners is crucial.
RBC: I think a lot of the best filmmakers, the kind who have a real identity early on, establish a core group of people that they work with.
KC: Yes, this is your community.
RBC: Exactly! I am seeing this often in the current Polish situation, and correct me if I am wrong here, but I think this is a very good time to be a Polish filmmaker, because there seems to be a lot of these little communities popping up around young filmmakers.
KC: I think we have a lot of good signs that it is better than the past. Of course, I think there is still a lot to do in terms of film opportunities, but you have the likes of Agnieszka Smoczyńska, whose last film [THE LURE / CÓRKI DANCINGU (2015) ] just had a big opening in the US, which has already enabled her to start work on a new film. There is also THE LAST FAMILY / OSTATNIA RODZINA (2016), so this is wonderful. There has also been a great change as there are now a lot of new faces in the film industry in Poland – and really young. You know, in the past a first-time director would have been something around forty-six or fifty. Now it is more like thirty-something, so it is wonderful, but I am really waiting for someone to come along who is twenty-one, as cinema needs young energy. Film needs to sometimes be told “Fuck you!” So I am really waiting for someone to do that.
RBC: I would agree with that, definitely. You talked about Adam Palenta. You have worked with him a long time. I just would like you to give me some insight into the importance of this working relationship to you, and how it has helped you to shape what, I think, is a very unique visual style, and, perhaps, how this relationship has developed over time?
KC: It is a very simple answer. He is like my brother. We met at film school. I was in the first year, and Adam was already in his final year, in the Cinematography department. He taught me a lot of things. I remember when we first began to collaborate together on my first filmmaking exercise, it was done using film stock, and I was so nervous because I knew we only had one reel. So I was not thinking what we were shooting, I was thinking about how much film we had left. He got me to concentrate on each shot. This is a very simple example of how he helped me along this wonderful journey of making films. And now we don’t really talk too much about what we are trying to do.
It is very similar to my relationship with Agnieszka and Sebastian, and the rest of the crew. We have the same taste. For example, if we are talking about how BABY BUMP was shot, we both really liked the idea of simple cinematography. We do not use sophisticated tools. Yes, we are toying with various things, but the shots remain very simple. Mostly, the characters are in the centre [of the shot], and we mainly work in close-up. Of course, we used close-up to build this very intensive atmosphere, especially in THE ERLPRINCE.
RBC: It is all very insular?
KC: Yeah, yeah, we like this way in which actor’s look into the camera. Of course, it is not an instruction for the rest of our films, but in this case we thought it was necessary to help describe these two different universes. Also, when we knew that we would be making two films at the same time, it was crucial to think of two ways of storytelling. I am thinking here of the form, both of the picture and the sound. This became crucial, because if you are making two films about one theme, there needs to be formal difference. BABY BUMP is more about sexual transformation and body transformation, it is more like a body horror. However, in THE ERLPRINCE we are talking about mind and soul, and all of these naive moments you have when you are around fifteen.
RBC: I thought about the films as being one about prepubescence and one about puberty. So one of the films was about that transformation of a child into this awkward, in-between stage, where they are neither child, nor adult. Whilst the other film was mapping out that departure from the uncertainty of puberty into adulthood. I really liked this thematic continuity between the two films, and it was interesting for me to find out you were working on both films at the same time. You also worked with the same sound designer and sound recorder, Radosław Ochnio and Filip Krzemień. The sound design in your films is a real marker of your identity as a filmmaker. I think it is something very different to any other filmmaker I have seen in recent years. So first of all, I was going to ask whether you have a musical background yourself?
KC: No.
RBC: That’s interesting, as you seem to display a very good ear for how elements of your film can be made to operate like music, I am talking about the way you layer dialogue and sound effects here.
KC: It is always about intuition and working well with the people I invite onto the film. When this comes to sound, that relationship is extremely important. Picture and sound have equal importance in my work. I really believe that you build a film so that it breaks through the screen. I want the audience to feel something under their skin. This is much more important than any A+B=C thinking, because in my opinion this is how we build our memories. If we are talking about our childhood, we easily remember sounds and smells, and these recollections may make us laugh or cry, or everything. These stories are so simple. In THE ERLPRINCE and BABY BUMP the form and the connections between sound and image are much more, I would say maybe not difficult, but it is a…
RBC: Unconventional?
KC: Yes. Also, Radek and I met some years ago, when I made one of my shorts. We share a similar sense of humour, and obviously he knows the importance of sound. As I was trying to say before, sound is almost like another character within the films. If we have done it right, then you feel the film through your whole body, and it brings out the emotions.
RBC: It was really interesting what you were doing in both your films with sound and image, which is that you are using them, not necessarily in an interconnected way…
KC: Contrast is… Contrast, I love it.
RBC: This is an amazing element of your films, as you have these two things, sound and image, that are operating in tandem, yet somehow they aren’t married together.
KC: Yes, the first impression could be that it is not combined, but in the overall context of the film, and its characters, its emotions, it works. It is correct. It is right.
RBC: Yes, it gets right under the skin.
KC: Well it is also about talking about risk. I am a guy who loves to take risks. I love risk in films.
RBC: Well you are taking healthy risks, I think.
KC: [laughing] I am aware of it.
RBC: I like it, I like what you are doing here. Right, I am going to go out on a limb here, as this is something that I have an obsession with, and I think you are a very clear example of this, along with a few other people that you may not like being associated with (such as Lee Daniels, The Wachowskis), but nonetheless I think you are a clear example. I find the excess in your work really fascinating, and I would also describe your cinema – using a label I have coined – as a “promiscuous cinema.” It is a cinema that marries together all elements of culture, without giving any single element a greater degree of importance, or a preferred cultural significance. Schubert and Shostakovich rub shoulders with Mano Music on the film’s soundtrack, with seemingly no distinction, no cultural bias. You have English, German, and Polish being used freely and interchangeably, without any immediate sense of their usage being attached to separate ideas of national culture. The scatological goes hand in hand with the scientific and philosophical, with little sense of these things being culturally detached. It is as if all elements of culture are acceptable and you are free to choose from any of them. Does this echo with your conscious approach to the film, or am I reading into it what I want to read into it?
KC: Yeah, well my answer is so simple. Making films, sharing films with others, is an invitation to a different island, or a new planet. In my job, I would say, I am always trying to create a new universe – something that is unique for me, and it would be great if someone else tells me it is unique. Basically, I am trying to create something new, a new place, a new island. I have my toys, so to say, and from them I build a new house. BABY BUMP is a good example, because in BABY BUMP, if you are making this kind of film you need to make some kind of instruction. So the first twenty minutes of the film is building the language of the film.
Now, of course, I know that after twenty minutes some people just go out from the film, saying “I don’t understand, it’s not for me.” But the people who stay, clearly say OK, and stay till the end. In this case, it is very important to teach the audience the flora and fauna of the film. I am always trying to build something like that, as I really adore the audience. Come on, I don’t do this only for myself or my friends, I would like to share these films, and I am really wanting to open up discussion. If someone doesn’t like these films, then I hope they would tell me. I also have some observations that even when people don’t like, for example BABY BUMP, even when they don’t like it they still have a lot of emotion about it. This is a success for me, because even when someone hates my film, I still have a feeling, I can see in their face, that the film has had an effect, that something is going on. This is cinema. I don’t want my films to be OK. I don’t want the last two years to have been OK. I hate OK. I don’t want to be OK.
RBC: That is how I have always thought about the role of a film critic, and I know that often critics are seen as very negative individuals. But the role of a film critic surely is one defined by things loved and things hated. Those are both good, valid responses to a film. The worst kind of scenario is to see something that is unaffecting and bland, and feel no strong emotion one way or another towards it.
KC: A lot of films, so many films, are produced, and we don’t care about them, we forget about them by the end credits. Or we just can’t remember what they are about even twenty minutes afterwards. You don’t remember one shot or one scene.
RBC: When talking about your two feature films I would say that you are a real poet of this tumult in the development of a teenager. You effectively capture the craziness of that particular period. Why do you find this age so rewarding, rewarding enough to visit not once, but twice?
KC: I think I will start from the end here. Now I feel like I am closing these kinds of story. I am finished with stories about childhood. In some ways I am maturing like my characters, especially in THE ERLPRINCE. This isn’t about me exactly, but about my filmmaking. If the film is about fighting for your independence, as a filmmaker I have been doing the same in making the film.
By finishing the film I am saying “Look guys, I am ready, please listen to me, give me a chance, give me the money, of course, because I have a good story, I am well prepared to make it, you can trust me!” But, of course, it was not so simple. I was full of naivety. I remember this very important moment when we received a large amount of money from the Polish Film Institute. Now this was a lot of money, but it was not enough to begin the shoot. I remember crying when I heard we had got that money, as I thought tomorrow we will start making the film. However, my producer called me and told me “No, Kuba, this is just a little part of the cake, we still need to find more and that will not be straightforward.” For me this was so painful, really.
I am telling you this, because now I am working with a different set of characters. My next project will be about older characters, although they might not necessarily have a different point of view. I truly believe, and it is maybe nothing new to say this, that we all have a little child inside of us, and so we should have. When I think about my job, where I need to be really open, listen, and smell, and feel many different things, then that is really the best way. Growing up for me is about an increasing awareness of shame: shame about your feelings, about your body, shame about what we really are. Growing up is about becoming ashamed.
RBC: That came across very strongly in BABY BUMP. With this next production you have mentioned is it likely to be Polish based, or will it be another co-production?
KC: It should be a co-production, because this next project will largely take place between Poland and one of the Asian cities.
If you are a film industry professional, you can watch THE ERLPRINCE on Festival Scope
POI E: Der Film zum Song, das Lied zur Kultur. <3 #berlinale
Es kommt immer wieder vor, dass ich jammern möchte, dass ein großartiger Film gewissermaßen im Programm der Berlinale Generation “versteckt” wird, aber das tut der Sache ja in mindestens zweierlei Hinsicht Unrecht: Zum einen, weil das Programm der Generation in der Regel für sich großartig ist und deshalb selbstverständlich Filme beinhaltet, die nicht nur “als” Kinder- und Jugendfilme…
Jeder kennt das Buch Die Häschenschule. Eingängige Reime, bunte Bilder, hübsch anzusehen – das mögen Eltern, und bis zu einem gewissen Alter mögen Kinder das auch, da ist es noch egal, dass die Schul- und Erziehungsideale dieses Buches, sagen wir vorsichtig, etwas antiquiert erscheinen mögen.
Das mag 1924, als Albert Sixtus die Verse dichtete und Fritz Koch-Gotha seine Zeichnungen dazu entwarf, noch anders gewesen sein; da klang die Geschichte von der ländlichen Hasenschule womöglich noch etwas nach dem untergegangenen Kaiserreich, nur milde nostalgisch, nicht unbedingt veraltet. Will man diese Geschichte in die Gegenwart des Jahres 2017 bringen, muss man sich also etwas einfallen lassen. Eine Modernisierung eigentlich von innen, mindestens aber, als einfachste Lösung, von außen: Ein modernisierender Agent, der die Verhältnisse zum Hopsen bringt.
Und so betritt Max die Bühne, ein ausgesprochener Stadthase – und das Unheil, das sich Die Häschenschule – Jagd nach dem Goldenen Ei schimpft, nimmt nun zunächst auf der Berlinale, demnächst dann auch im Kino seinen Lauf. Ein Film, der es sich in wirklich jeder Hinsicht zu einfach macht und sein kindliches Publikum mal wieder mit dem geringstmöglichen Aufwand abspeisen möchte. Meine ausführliche Erläuterung dazu, warum das wirklich niemand ansehen muss, findet sich auf kino-zeit.de.
Viele werde ich heuer von der #Berlinale nicht sehen - DIE HÄSCHENSCHULE war ein großer Reinfall. Jeder kennt das Buch Die Häschenschule. Eingängige Reime, bunte Bilder, hübsch anzusehen – das mögen Eltern, und bis zu einem gewissen Alter mögen Kinder das auch, da ist es noch egal, dass die Schul- und Erziehungsideale dieses Buches, sagen wir vorsichtig, etwas antiquiert erscheinen mögen.
Berlinale Generation 2017: Das vollständige Programm
Das Programm der #Berlinale Generation ist komplett! #festival #berlin #kinderfilm
Das Programm der diesjährigen Berlinale Generation ist nun – nach den ersten Ankündigungen von vor einigen Wochen – komplett. Ich werde in diesem Jahr leider, das hat sich inzwischen herauskristallisiert, nicht allzu viele Filme vorab sehen oder gar besprechen können, aber ein paar Hinweise werde ich sicher geben, sobald ich das tun kann. Hier stelle ich nun die Filme vor, die seit der letzten…
Berlinale Generation 2017: Erste Kinderfilme angekündigt
Die ersten Kinder- und Jugendfilme der #Berlinale sind bekannt!
Es ist nicht mehr lang bis zur Berlinale, die Halbzeit bei der Auswahl des Spielfilmprogramms, die in diesem Jahr vom 9. bis 19. Februar läuft. Und wie regelmäßige Leser_innen dieses Blogs wissen, ist es eines der Festivals, auf dessen Kinder- und Jugendfilmprogramm, die Berlinale Generation, ich mich immer besonders freue. Die Filmauswahl dort ist schon recht weit vorangeschritten: Für die…
