Layering the Personal and the Collective. Alternative Cinema in the Age of Ancillaries

1962 «Манифест Оберхаузена». Новое немецкое кино. Закон о субсидиях западногерманскому кино. Повышение интереса к немецкой истории 20 века.

Классический вопрос «Что есть кино?», «Где есть кино?», видеопрокат, кабельное и спутниковое телевидение, блокбастер. Доку–драма. Доку – комедия. Догма -95.

“The Tin Drum” 1976, Volker Schlondorff; “The hour zero” 1978, Edgar Reitz; “Homeland (Heimat), 15 hours, 1985; “The marriage of Maria Braun”, 1978; “ LiliMarleen” 1980; “Lola” 1981; “Veronika Voss” 1981, Rainer Werner Fassbinder; “Germany, pale mother” Helma Sanders-Brahms 1979.

“Sex, Lies, and Videotapes”, Steven Soderbergh, 1989; “She’s gotta have it”, 1986, Spike Lee; Docu –drama “ The thin blue line”, 1988, Errol Morris; docu-comedy “Roger and Me”, Michael Moore, 1989.

Germany, Pale Mother, ХельмаСандерс – Брамс, 1979

«Секс, ложь и видео» Стивен Содеберг, 1989; «Ей это нужно позарез» Спайк Ли, 1986; доку – драма «Тонкая голубая линия» Эррол Моррис, 1988; «Роджер и я» Майкл Мур, 1989. «Жестяной барабан» 1976, ФолькерШлендорф; «Замужество Марии Браун» 1978, «Лили Марлен» 1980, «Лола», 1981, «Тоска Вероники Фосс» 1982, Райнер Вернер Фасбиндер; «Германия, бледная мать» ХельмаСандерс – Брамс, 1979;

-1962 – «Oberhausen Manifesto» marks the birth of the “New German film”

-1967 – West German film Subsidy Law.

Problems with the system: initially, you needed to have completed a first film in order to be eligible for a subsidy.

-In the middle of 1970-s, the “Literary adaption crisis” The Heimatfilm discussion is followed by one of much greater interest, given its far-reaching political implications. This is the so-called Literaturverfilmungskrise (literary adaptation crisis) of 1977. Although Germans seem to have forgotten about this phenomenon rather quickly and U.S. viewers never saw it in the first place, what is important to realize — and Rentschler makes this very clear — is that the structures which caused the problem are still intact today. At the heart of the matter lie questions of politics and economics. Who decides which films are to be financed? And how is this decided? During 1977 when filmmakers faced an escalating intolerance toward dissident points of view, only "safe," i.e. non-controversial and easily legitimated, films became funded. "Safe" films were looked upon favorably — ones that promised box-office success. And it was the safe films, too, which were chosen to represent Germany at festivals and which were awarded the government prizes. Jan Dawson sums up the dilemma:

"The life, shape and future of that elusive dream, 'the alternative cinema,' lie in the hands of a non alternative Establishment, and even radical self-expression needs conservative endorsement and commercially produced technology" (p. 151).[6]

Rentschler finishes this appropriately unsettling chapter with a discussion of Schlondorff/Böll's "Antigone" sequence from GERMANY IN AUTUMN, and concludes by saying,

"The Literaturverfilmungskrise demonstrates how successfully government-sponsored institutions can stifle creative and critical filmmaking… "(p. 153)

- West German filmmaking had been radicalized and politicized after 1968.

-West German film/Television Treaty, 1974.

(In 1974 when the Film-Fernseh-Abkommen (Film and Television Accord) was agreed between the Federal Republic's main broadcasters, ARD and ZDF, and the German Federal Film Board (a government body created in 1968 to support film-making in Germany). This accord, which has been repeatedly extended up to the present day, provides for the television companies to make available an annual sum to support the production of films which are suitable for both theatrical distribution and television presentation. (The amount of money provided by the public broadcasters has varied between 4.5 and 12.94 million euros per year). Under the terms of the accord, films produced using these funds can only be screened on television 24 months after their theatrical release. They may appear on video or DVD no sooner than six months after cinema release. As a result of the funds provided by the Film-Fernseh-Abkommen, German films, particularly those of the New German Cinema, gained a much greater opportunity to enjoy box-office success before they played on television (Blaney 1992:204). Despite the difficulty in finding a large domestic audience, the films of these directors also began gaining critical acclaim and their foreign audiences grew throughout the 1970s.)

-Auteur cinema’s last stand

-National cinema’s last stand

-Increasing interest by filmmakers 20^th century German history.

-1976, Academy award for best foreign language film, Volker Schlondorff, “The Tin Drum”

- Edgar Reitz, “The Hour Zero”, 1978; “Homeland (Heimat), 15 hours, 1985.

- Broadcast on West Germany – TV of the NBC mini –series, “Holocaust”

-Rainer Werner Fassbinder (1946 -1982); ultra – prolific, nearly forty features plus a mini – series; worked with a constant team, repertory style.

- Employed Brechtian principles, an often static camera filming long dialogue sequences; exaggerated camera movements drawing attention to themselves: “The marriage of Maria Brown”, 1978; “Lili Marleen”, 1980; “Lola”, 1981; “Veronika Voss”, 1981.

-“Germany, pale mother”, Helma Sanders – Brahms, 1979.