Films by Andres Veiel

Germany 2024, 115 min
by Andres Veiel

A captivating insight into the private estate of Leni Riefenstahl, who became world-famous with her Nazi propaganda film TRIUMPH OF THE WILL but kept denying any closer ties to the regime.Leni Riefenstahl is considered one of the most controversial women of the 20th century as an artist and a Nazi propagandist. Her films TRIUMPH OF THE WILL and OLYMPIA stand for perfectly staged body worship and the celebration of the superior and victorious. At the same time, these images project contempt for the imperfect and weak. Riefenstahl’s aesthetics are more present than ever today - but is that also true for their implied message? The film examines this question using documents from Riefenstahl's estate, including private films, photos, recordings and letters. It uncovers fragments of her biography and places them in an extended historical context. How could Riefenstahl become the Reich's preeminent filmmaker and keep denying any closer ties to Hitler and Goebbels? During her long life after the fall of Nazism, she remained unapologetic, managing to control and shape her legacy. In personal documents, she mourns her "murdered ideals". Riefenstahl represents many postwar Germans who, in letters and recorded telephone calls from her estate, dream of an organizing hand that will finally clean up the "shit-hole state". Then, her work would also experience a renaissance, in a generation or two this time could come - what if they are right?

Germany 2017, 107 min
by Andres Veiel

Joseph Beuys, the man with the hat, the felt and the ‘fat corner’. Thirty years after his death he feels like a visionary who was, and still is, ahead of his time. He was the first German artist to be given a solo exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in New York whilst at home in Germany his work was often still derided as the ‘most expensive trash of all time’. Once asked if he was indifferent to such comments he retorted: ‘Yes. I want to expand people’s perceptions.’Andres Veiel lets the artist speak for himself. From previously unpublished audio and video footage Veiel creates an associative, porous portrait which, like the artist himself, opens up spaces for ideas rather than proclaiming statements. Beuys boxes, chats, lectures, explains art to a dead hare and asks: ‘Do you want to instigate a revolution without laughter?’ But we also experience the man, the teacher and the Green Party candidate. Once, shortly before his death, he consents to being photographed without his hat. Veiel’s film makes visible the contradictions and tensions which gave rise to Beuys’ Gesamtkunstwerk. Beuys’ expanded concept of art feeds directly into today’s social, political and moral debates. (68th BERLINALE)

Germany 2004, 108 min
by Andres Veiel

Four acting students are the focus of Andres Veiel’s long-term observational documentary. We meet Stephanie, Karina, Constanza and Prodromos while they are preparing for their acting school auditions. The selection procedure takes months; it is a trying, nerve-racking time spent vacillating between hope and anxiety. All four make it into the school, but their initial euphoria about commencing their studies – including group exercises, role play and obligatory fencing lessons – is soon followed by deflation in the face of merciless criticism of even the slightest shortcoming by their tutors. In this way, their passion for their chosen vocation is constantly put the test.The four students couldn’t be more different: Karina appears to have very few problems; Stephanie, however, has to endure several auditions. Constanze immerses herself in her roles, whilst Prodromos always seems to be at odds with himself, his roles and his dreams. Andres Veiel: “We observe the struggles of the protagonists; how they try not to get stressed out or lose sight of themselves by worrying about the discrepancy between their expectations and their abilities. We accompany them on their search for identity and an image, but we also follow their progress towards maturity as actors and as individuals. Then, at the end of their studies, comes the real test: trying to gain a foothold in the profession. All of a sudden, they find themselves faced with a new set of questions. What is the nature of success? How high is the price for achievement? And what has become of their original dreams and aims, seven years on?”

Germany 2001, 107 min
by Andres Veiel

BLACK BOX GERMANY steps back into German history, it shows the Federal Republic of Germany of the 70s and 80s. The country is polarized due to the power struggle of the German state and the “Red Army Fraction”, and thus on a constant brink of civil war. Society is torn, the fronts are irreconcilable. The life stories of both Wolfgang Grams and Alfred Herrhausen are tragically linked to this era. Grams is the one who takes up arms for moral rigor; Herrhausen, however, seizes power and dies when powerful. Their curricula vitae lead through the enemy camps of the Federal Republic, through opposing worlds that have had a speechless and uncomprehending attitude towards each other until now. BLACK BOX GERMANY tells the story of the Federal Republic of Germany showing not only the opposite poles but also the story of the survivors. For them too many a question remains unanswered and the void that was caused is too great to allow them to carry on as usual. The fight is over, but the wounds are still open.

Germany 1996, 96 min
by Andres Veiel

Rudi, Tilman and Thilo are dead – of their own free will. In the provinces of Swabia, Andres Veiel faces up to the tragedy of his former classmates and comes to the disturbing conclusion that every suicide ensnares its survivors in an intricate web of guilt and self-pity.

Germany 1993, 96 min
by Andres Veiel, David Maayan

An explosive stage production against the Holocaust. Three Israeli actors: Khaled, the Palestinian; Madi, the Jew; and Moni, the child of Israeli Jews and himself a practising othodox Jew. Using highly vivid images they face up to their history – going right up to the pain barrier. (DOK.fest Munich)with: Madi Smadar Maayan, Khaled Abu Ali, Moni Yosef, David Maayan, Miri Zemach, Naama Mamber, Anat Kirschner

Germany 1991, 81 min
by Andres Veiel

In the end of the 20s Inca Köhler-Rechnitz concludes her theatrical education. She fancies with a role from the summer night dream in the Görlitzer municipal theatre - and receives immediately an offer. However, days before the beginning of the first playing time her husband refuses the then necessary approval. In the 30s it is threatened as a half Jew before the deportation in a concentration camp.Only 60 years later she stands with the old amateur dramatic society DIE HERZSCHRITTMACHER for the first time in Berlin on the stage. Andre Veiel writes a piece for them with which they should appear in the Görlitzer Stadttheater.