HiHEAD-FiLM

Germany 2014, 40 min
by Georg Nonnenmacher

Hand-luggage is packed in a cloth shopping bag, one last cigarette before there is a knock at the door – inmate Rene is being transported. For a court hearing, he is traveling in a prison bus to another institution in another city. SPACEMEN accompanies him and shows the tedious procedure of the transport from his point of view – an exhausting route full of controls, constant stop-and-go at locked doors and gates, and endless waiting. When the bus is en route, the world passes by through the window in cinemascope format. The view of vastness, life and freedom is paraded before the prisoners’ eyes; a world in which they do not belong. With each stop, each station and each detention center the bus approaches, each change between prison and outside world, it becomes ever more perceptible that the revocation of freedom is simultaneously also the revocation of all means of autonomous action. With insight into their emotions and thoughts, Rene and four other inmates illustrate how the procedure of this 'trip' penetrates their everyday prison routine and at the same time pushes that which has long been suppressed back into their consciousness: desires, emotions, and time.

Germany 2013, 64 min
by Henning Drechsler

MAGIC HOURS tells the story of those who go unnoticed in the glamorous world of film: the background actors and extras. The film casts a spotlight on those standing at the very back. Through the eyes of the 84-year-old extra Johanna Penski and her friends, MAGIC HOURS contemplates the fascination with film from a very different perspective. When Johanna Penski retired, she could have done just that, in the classical sense of the word. But instead, she saw her new situation as an opportunity to do something different with her time and to fulfill a lifelong dream. Johanna’s dream began in 1944, at the age of 17 she was an extra in Veit Harlan’s film KOLBERG. Bedazzled and star-struck by it all, she dreamt of a career as an actress. But after the war, her dream came to a bitter end. In the meantime, the name Johanna Penski is on file with all of the big casting agencies in Berlin. She is proud of her manifold film shoots. The hallway in her apartment in Berlin serves as a star gallery and is a document to her 'extra' roles in over 800 films. From daily soaps to an actual speaking part in a Wim Wender's film. MAGIC HOURS travels with Johanna Penski back to her past, accompanies her to film sets, and spends 'normal days' with her and her friends Gisela and Hannelore: normal days which really aren’t very 'normal' at all for three retired women. Open-minded, full of humor and zest for action, they defy the routine of aging. MAGIC HOURS turns the usual perspective of film and society around and shines a spotlight on those who are otherwise restricted to the background.