mindjazz pictures UG (haftungsbeschränkt)

2022, 86 min
by Andreas Fröhlich

30 years of BRINGS – one of Germany’s most famous Rock’n’Roll-Bands! 30 years of triumphs, crashs and resurrections. Rock’n’Roll and carnival, leftwing political attitude and hit machine. BRINGS – All or nothing is an intensive journey along the band‘s biography. We are following the group through dirty cloakrooms and studios, the boiling venues of the Cologne carnival and the bright spotlights of large stadium gigs in front of 50.000 fans. A Rock’n‘Roll road movie about the power of music and the strength of living your dream against all odds.with: Peter Brings, Stephan Brings, Kai Engel, Harry Alfter, Christian Blüm, Klaus Heuser, Uli Kurtinak, Carolin Kebekus, Eko Fresh, Stefan Stoppok, Jürgen Zeltinger

Germany 2020, 87 min
by Felix Remter, Miriam Remter

BEEWILDERED COMPANIONS is an immersive ethnographic study on the socio-material entanglements of humans and honeybees in times of globalized diseases. Triggered by the migration of a small bee parasite from Asia, the culture of beekeeping in Europe today is deeply shaken. The search for new and better practices is also a struggle of different imaginaries regarding the ontological status of the honeybee as domestic or wild. Can and should a serious disease be controlled by medication or breeding? Or is it better for humans to give up control, as in the long lost craft of tree beekeeping? Only in the deep forests of Bashkiria the tradition is still alive. The cultural appropriation of this knowledge in Central Europe could be an important pillar for a sustainable solution to the crisis. Three multisensory-observational and three plurivocal-discursive chapters juxtapose the diverging inner attitudes with the corresponding practices of animal care.

Germany 2019, 82 min
by Marc Pierschel

On the Butenland farm, many former farm animals live at eye level with human beings – without having to fulfill any requirements. A peaceful coexistence that seems almost utopian. With their project, Jan Gerdes and Karin Mück are designing a radical counter-model to livestock husbandry, in which the needs of the animals are the main focus, far away from any economic interests.

Germany 2019, 93 min
by Halina Dyrschka

How can an artist discover abstraction by the beginning of the 20th century and nobody is noticing? A woman, misjudged and concealed, rocks the art world with her mind-blowing oeuvre. Hilma af Klint was a pioneer creating her first abstract painting in 1906, four years before Vassily Kandinsky. But why was she ignored? Why are her paintings not available on the market? This first film on her is about her life and work, the role of women in art history and the discovery of an art scandal. Her quest for meaning in life and a boundless thinking led into a timeless, outstanding oeuvre.“‘Beyond the Visible’ bristles with the excitement of discovery and also with the impatience that recognition has taken so long,” A.O. Scott wrote. “It refreshes the eyes and the mind.”

Germany 2019, 105 min
by Marcus Richardt, Lillian Rosa

“The House of Good Spirits” takes a look at the ethos of the Stuttgart State Opera, which has lead the house to achieve exceptional international acclaim. This success is made all the more surprising by the fact that the charismatic directorial team Jossi Wieler, Sergio Morabito, Anna Viebrock and Sylvain Cambreling has a unique approach to work and leadership: Classical music theatre as an integrative shared work, which is created transparently, though an open, democratic dialogue involving theatremakers, various departments within the house and the public. The film accompanies the creation of Tchaikovsky’s opera “The Queen of Spades”. During the rehearsals, global politics descend upon Stuttgart. Acclaimed Russian film and theatre director Kirill Serebrennikov is arrested on political grounds by the Russian authorities shortly before his work on a new production in Stuttgart is due to begin. Stuttgart State Opera now has to decide how they will handle this incident.With: Jossi Wieler, Sergio Morabito, Anna Viebrock, Sylvain Cambreling, Helene Schneiderman, Albrecht Thiemann, Stine Fischer, Torsten Köpf

Germany 2019, 92 min
by Oliver Schwabe

LOVE EATS UP LIVE retraces the work by Tobias Gruben, which 20 years after his death continues to be a nearly completely undiscovered diamond in the rough of German pop culture. The singer of CYAN REVUE and DIE ERDE inspires young bands like MESSER or ISOLATION BERLIN to perform cover versions of his songs.The film depicts not only an incomplete music career, but also describes the never-ending struggle of a son for recognition by his father. In interviews, music, some of which as yet unreleased, and letters, LOVE EATS UP LIVE takes us straight to the heart and mind of a musician nearly completely forgotten, who shortly before his commercial breakthrough died of an overdose and whose lyrics and songs continue to touch listeners today. (mindjazz)When Hamburg was cool: even 20 years after his death, underground musician Tobias Gruben is still seen as a rough diamond of German pop culture. A filmic rediscovery. To this day, his bands Cyan Revue and Die Erde inspire bands like Messer and Isolation Berlin, but during his lifetime Tobias Gruben remained an insider tip. At the heart of the music scene at the end of the 1980s, he got high on his love of music and all sorts of drugs. Besides success, he sought above all the recognition of his father. The film illuminates the path of a driven existence, talks to companions like Rocco Schamoni and FM Einheit and revisits the genius Gruben with amongst other things previously unseen footage. [Filmfest Hamburg]With: Imogen Gruben, Sebastian Gruben, Florian Langmaack, Heidrun Tuchenhagen, Horst Petersen, Felix Huber, Tobias Levin, Alfred Hilsberg, Peter Sempel, FM Einheit, Rocko Schamoni, Hendrik Otremba und Messer, Paul Pötsch, Timm Völker, Fee Kürten/Tellavision, Tom Schilling, Isolation Berlin

2019, 77 min
by Rita Ziegler

Failure and repetition are part of the artistic work of Albrecht Schnider. Even after 30 years of international recognition, the Swiss artist shows himself with unusual openness in his struggle for the uniqueness of a visual moment that withstands his critical eye. The viewer is with increasing tension and expectation on the difficult path to the one valid picture involved. In some ways, the corresponding film sequences are reminiscent of the documentary 'Le mystère Picasso' (1956) by Henry-Georges Clouzot. But when here the drawing Virtuosity of a genius is celebrated, 60 years later the equally credible film Portrait of Albrecht Schnider shows the difficult path to a valid image in a time of flood of images.

Germany 2018, 91 min
by Frauke Lodders

How does living with a seriously sick or disabled child influence the family structure? What specific role do the healthy siblings have? The documentary INSEPARABLE accompanies children and young adults from five completely different families and seeks to find answers to these questions in their everyday lives.

Germany 2017, 90 min
by Claudia Schmid

In Bangladesh, in Benin, in the DR Congo, yet also in Germany: violence against women is ever present.The film delves into the lives of women who have been subjected to horrific violence, yet managed to fight their way free. They talk about the violence that has been inflicted upon them, their struggle for survival, their hopes and their current attempts to build a new life. And the men? Many of them describe violence against women as a normal part of their everyday lives. If a woman has been hit, she deserved it. If she defends herself, he threatens to take away her children.Claudia Schmid spent intense moments with the protagonists. She captured images of their painfulmemories and dreams. It is only the strength of these women that allows them to break out of a multi-generational cycle of violence.90mins, 52mins or 45mins, Bengali/Fon/Mashi/English/French version with English or German subtitles available

Germany 2017, 96 min
by Marc Pierschel

Have you ever wondered what the world would look like if we stopped eating animals? The End of Meat is a groundbreaking documentary film envisioning a future where meat consumption belongs to the past.In The End of Meat, filmmaker Marc Pierschel embarks on a journey to discover what effect a post-meat world would have on the environment, the animals and ourselves. He meets Esther the Wonder Pig, who became an internet phenomenon; talks to pioneers leading the vegan revolution in Germany; visits the first fully vegetarian city in India; witnesses rescued farm animals enjoying their newly found freedom; observes the future food innovators making meat and dairy without the animals, even harvesting “bacon” from the ocean and much more. The End of Meat reveals the hidden impact of meat consumption; explores the opportunities and benefits of a shift to a more compassionate diet; and raises critical questions about the future role of animals in our society.

Germany 2017, 90 min
by Thomas Binn

ME & YOU – INCLUSIVE SCHOOLING: Since the summer of 2014, children with special needs in Germany have a legal right to take shared classes in regular schools. Many special education schools were closed as a result. This long-term documentary follows five elementary school students – with and without special needs – over the course of two and a half years. They are part of the first official inclusive class at the Geschwister Devries School in Uedem in North-Rhine Westphalia. The documentary takes an open and honest look at their everyday school activities and at what happens when inclusive ideals meet reality.

Germany 2017, 88 min
by Ulrike Pfeiffer

January 2017 saw the death of Werner Nekes, one of Germany's most significant experimental film-makers. He made more than 100 films, often closely linked to his gigantic collection of 40,000 cinematic artefacts. From 1967 to 1978, Nekes lived in Hamburg, at the time the centre of the innovative German film scene. In his capacity as professor at the University of the Visual Arts, he introduced his students to the ideas of radical cinema. Film excerpts tell of Nekes' "life among the pictures", along with conversations with contemporaries like Bernd Upnmoor, Alexander Kluge, Klaus Wyborny and Helge Schneider. An impressive portrait of a man who lived for film. The commentary is spoken by Hannelore Hoger. (Filmfest Hamburg)

2016, 96 min
by Till Harms

687 candidates, 10 places, 9 instructors in 10 days. Year for year, the entrance exam at the National Acting School in Hanover is a special challenge for the candidates, but it is also an extraordinary endurance test for the staff. In the battle for the best talent, the examiners are just as passionately involved as the candidates themselves in filling the few coveted admissions. Up close and personal with the instructors and professors, the film focuses on an unknown side of the process, that of the examination committee. The viewers have the opportunity to form their own opinion of the selection and assessment criteria. Conventional perceptions of the examiners and the candidates are shaken and the viewers get to know the members of the commission as human beings, who constantly question themselves and their standards and fight for their personal favorites.For the first time in Germany, such a committee opens up to the camera. Three years of preparation were necessary before all academy doors were opened to filmmaker Till Harms. A unique behind-the-scenes look at university operations, an unfiltered view of the dream job of an actor in a microcosm of hope, professional demands, and pugnacious colleagues.

Germany 2016, 92 min
by Elí Roland Sachs

Jakob is my dear brother. He used to love to party, make music and let himself drift through life in Berlin. Then six years ago, he suddenly became a Muslim. He broke off contact with his old friends and his old ways. Now as a Salafist, every question has an answer in the rules of a fundamental Islam.By filming him, I go in search of our lost bond of brotherly love and suddenly find myself on a journey with him, that goes beyond a religious exploration.

2016, 90 min
by André Schäfer, Hartmut Kasper

YOU’LL NEVER WALK ALONE tells the story of a song. A song that has becomethe epitome of a global folk song. Each and every weekend, hundreds of thousands of football fans sing it in stadiums all over the world.But who would know that the roots of the tune go back to Budapest in the year 1909 – to a young playwright and a stage play called 'Lilliom'?We will re-experience the journey the song took from there and immerse ourselves into various different worlds: the sophisticated and artistic social circle of the Habsburg empire, the flamboyance of Berlin in the 1920s, the high-gloss of Hollywood of the 40s and 50s, working-class Liverpool in the 60s – and global football fan culture.Like many great works of art YOU’LL NEVER WALK ALONE is a collaboration – an Austro-Hungarian-German US-American-British co-production, that reflects more then a century of cultural history. And the story of the song is still ongoing, as „You’ll never walk alone” is still regularly performed in various contexts all across the world."Molnár always said: 'My plays are no good to set to music.' But he was short of money in 1945. And when he saw how much he was offered by Rodgers & Hammerstein, he said 'All right, yes!'" (Matyas Sarkozi, grandson of Ferenc Molnár)

Germany 2015, 84 min
by Goetz Schauder

Every two years 24 young conductors travel to the Frankfurt Opera House to compete against eachother in the world's leading Sir Georg Solti conducting competition.CONDUCT! EVERY MOVE COUNTS accompanies five of them through evaluation rounds up to the final, which two of them reach. Aziz Shokhakimov who traveled from the remote Uzbekistan will prove that he is one of the best in his field though being only twenty years old. Music reverberates within the young man. His assertiveness collides with the views of the older, more experienced orchestra musicians. In the USA Alondra de la Parra is already a star. The New Yorker attempts to conquer Europe with her refreshing enthusiasm. Despite the enormous pressure of the competition the eloquent Englishman James Lowe keeps his integrity as a musician and a human being. The German Andreas Hotz tries to convince the orchestra with intellect and knowledge. Shizuo Z Kuwahara has traveled from Japan without baton. He creates moments of greatest magic with his bare hands. All five conductors have to endure challenges in Frankfurt that put to test their musical skills and their character. Thanks to the precise observations of the camera and unvarnished comments by the musicians CONDUCT! EVERY MOVE COUNTS documents the interplay between conductor and orchestra with unique authenticity. The movie consequently displays a complex drama about friendship and competition, talent and maturity, success and failure.Told against the backdrop of a career-defining competition CONDUCT! EVERY MOVE COUNTS documents the crucial days in the lives of these young conductors on the verge of becoming world class.http://www.conduct-film.dehttp://www.facebook.com/Dirigentenhttp://vimeo.com/140067501http://www.mindjazz-pictures.de