Films by Annette Muff

Germany 2023, 250 min
by Florian Opitz

The 5 part high-end documentary series CAPITAL B. WHO OWNS BERLIN? tells in an exciting and entertaining way how Berlin became what it is after the fall of the Berlin Wall. It has been a hip global metropolis for three decades, attracting artists, freedom lovers and young people from all over the world. But the way there was by no means preordained.And Capital B tells the story of how Berlin’s citizens have been fighting back ever since: against the sellout of their city, its displacement and against Berlin suffering the same fate as London, New York and Paris before it. To become a boring biotope for rich people and investors.In the 5 episodes we experience greed, corruption, the emergence of various youth and subcultures in the 90s and noughties, housing struggle, crime, and the rise and fall of greedy politicians.Capital B tells this story in a special way: multi-perspectival from the point of view of those who have shaped the city: Politicians, artists, entrepreneurs, squatters, club operators and clan members.Capital B is not the umpteenth true-crime series, but an unprecedented urban sociology in the form of an exciting, entertaining and highly topical documentary series. New in style, socio-politically relevant and excitingly told. Like Netflix, but public service. Or to put it immodestly: a mixture of House of Cards and The Wire, but for real, as a docu-series.With: Eberhard Diepgen, Klaus Landowski, Renate Künast, Sandy Kaltenborn, Marion Brasch, Peter Fox, Klaus Wowereit, Kool Savas, Dimitri Hegemann, Thilo Sarrazin, Pamela Schobeß, Franziska Giffey a.o.

Germany 2019, 96 min
by Dominik Wessely

When Mario Adorf enters a room, one senses his presence, his vitality, his charisma and his elegance. The grand master of movie, born in 1930, is still rated as being one of the most popular actors in Germany.“ES HÄTTE SCHLIMMER KOMMEN KÖNNEN - MARIO ADORF” portrays the film star Mario Adorf and his passion for acting, the stage, the cinema, singing and writing. Together with the director Dominik Wessely, the film comes closer to Mario Adorf as a person and highlights important stations of his private life and his international career. When Mario Adorf begins to talk about his life, over 60 years of theatre and film history come to life. A dialogue with him is not only a retrospective, but also an intensive exchange of ideas about film and theatre and his view of the world, love and aging, (source: nord-media)Locations: Cologne, Mayen, Paris, Rom, St. Tropez, Cannes, Marokko, Munich, Mainz, HannoverWith: Mario Adorf, Senta Berger, Margarethe von Trotta a.o.

2017, 50 min
by Usama Ghanoum

The film takes place in the sieged neighborhoods of the Syrian city of Homs, in the period between early 2012 and late 2013. The film focuses specifically on the field hospital. Within the film we see several facets of the day to day life, including, the daily movements and commutes of people amid the on going bombardments, and how the injured are being treated in the field hospital. The film also shows us the other side of the daily life, the smiles and the jokes and how people normalized the everyday bombings. (doxbox).For two years, two hospital workers in Homs documented life during the siege of the Syrian city. As freedom fighters clash with Assad's troops, 7,000 residents are trapped in the middle until they are finally allowed to leave in 2014. Two thousand don't make it out. We see people hiding and running between buildings—walking can be fatal in a city filled with sharpshooters. With the regime's soldiers attacking daily, bullets and bombs continue to flatten the city. But even under these extraordinary circumstances, life goes on between the rubble and dust: there's still joking around, gardening, playing in the snow, watching soccer or just having a laugh. And get ready for some real gallows humor in the Homs promotional video the cameramen decide to shoot, which praises the ruined city as a fine vacation destination. (IDFA)

Germany 2012, 97 min
by Florian Opitz

 „My experience with time by now is limited to the one feeling – I don’t have enough.“ It’s a paradox. Never before in history we have worked more efficiently. Never before we have saved time with more sophisticated technologies. Anyway, nearly all of us are feeling an increasing pressure of time. It seems that the same technology that has been invented to make our life better and easier, is now enslaving us. Florian Opitz tries to track down the reasons of our shortage of time and for the constant acceleration of our lives. In his search of lost time he not only questions his own hectic lifestile, but also visits several people, to find out how they deal with time. The pacemakers of the constant acceleration of society as well as dropouts. In Speed. In search of lost time step by step he reveals the disturbing picture of a civilisation, that has disposed of all brake systems and, run by autopilot, goes blindly for unlimited and eternal growth, no matter what the consequences are. But Opitz also tries to find the good life. In the nishes of the global capitalism he discovers alternatives to the rat race.

Germany 2012, 70 min
by Tilmann Künzel, Peter Göltenboth

Chinese society is at the verge of perhaps its biggest change since the Cultural Revolution. It is being driven by, which at least for China, is a new type of youth movement. The Confucian work ethic is losing ground as more and more young people “drop out” and begin to search for an escape or counterweight to the restrictions of the past that lets them celebrate their newfound wealth and freedoms – without necessarily being overtly system critical. It is the birth of a new generation of Chinese teenager. Techno provides an apolitical space outside the usual sphere of authoritarian control. The music contains no lyrics and as such not subject to censorship as is the case in other youth movements like in the punk, hip-hop or rockabilly scenes. It is a space where the hedonistic expression of individuality takes place like it has never before happened in China.Chinese society is at the verge of perhaps its biggest change since the Cultural Revolution. It is being driven by, which at least for China, is a new type of youth movement. The Confucian work ethic is losing ground as more and more young people “drop out” and begin to search for an escape or counterweight to the restrictions of the past that lets them celebrate their newfound wealth and freedoms - without necessarily being overtly system critical. It is the birth of a new generation of Chinese teenager. Techno provides an apolitical space outside the usual sphere of authoritarian control. The music contains no lyrics and as such not subject to censorship as is the case in other youth movements like in the punk, hip-hop or rockabilly scenes. It is a space where the hedonistic expression of individuality takes place like it has never before happened in China.

Germany 2008, 73 min
by Dominik Wessely

When the frail and staunchly catholic aunt Hedwig asks her nephew to accompany her to a decidedly mystical Catholic service, it turns out to be his initiation into a fantastical world of martyr worship. He meets relic collectors who are trying to preserve the dwindling world of Salvation in living rooms full of bones, and, whilst gathering information pertaining to relics he intends to purchase for his aunt on the internet, he stumbles upon one of the greatest forgeries of the Middle Ages. It is the legend of Saint Ursula and the eleven thousand accompanying maids who were slain, together with their mistress, in Cologne. Aunt Hedwig's nephew is not only confronted with the enchanting blossoms of popular piety, but also with a way of life that suddenly seems far less aberrant than initially expected. This is a jovial film about the gravity of life before death.