Films by Bert Schmidt

Germany 2023, 92 min
by Lucie Herrmann

A film about the love of jazz, but also about the love of the saxophone, that magical instrument. "I tell something about myself by playing and putting together sounds. That's my story," says Christof Lauer. He is one of the great jazz saxophonists in Europe, was a member of Albert Mangelsdorff's quintet and the United Jazz + Rock Ensemble. He was a soloist in the NDR Big Band in Hamburg for 25 years and has also been a soloist in the jazz ensemble of the Hessischer Rundfunk since 1970.How can the magic emanating from the tenor or soprano saxophone be explained? Who actually makes these instruments? And how did Christof Lauer manage to rekindle his love of jazz over decades? TALKING TO YOU penetrates the musical cosmos of an idiosyncratic musician who rejects any routine and persistently works on new forms. The main thing is that: "it has to be intense"."At last, here is a music portrait that takes its subject seriously and doesn't fade out individual pieces after just a few seconds. Lucie Herrmann, who already created a memorial to the Frankfurt 'trombone world champion' Albert Mangelsdorff with the portrait 'Oh Horn!', and her great camera and editing partner Bert Schmidt have not only succeeded in creating a hymn to one of the most important advocates of contemporary improvisation art with 'Talking To You'. This film is much more than a portrait of a musician. It is a passionate declaration of love for jazz."(Peter Kemper, FAZ, April 21, 2023)

Germany 2021, 118 min
by Ulrike Franke, Michael Loeken, Michael Chauvistré

WE ARE ALL DETROIT - WHAT STAYS AND WHAT DISAPPEARS follows the explosive development of two cities on two different continents and its effect on the people who live there.These two very different cities - Bochum, in Germany's Ruhr region, and Detroit, in the US Rust Belt - have something ver important in common: both Detroit and Bochum were substantially shaped by the automobile industry. And both the beginning and the end of Bochum's auto industry can be traced to Detroit.Following the end of the industrial age, the people on both sides of the globe are in search of a new identity. The audience is introduced both to the active players – planners, scientists and politicians – in the transformation, all announcing promises ans visions for a future that is more than uncertain. Despite all their differences, the residents of Bocum and Detroit are connected by their desire for a dignified and happy life and this cinematic journey through the two cities becomes a journey into the hearts of their people.

2012, 89 min
by Ulrike Franke, Michael Loeken

ARBEIT HEIMAT OPEL profiles six young people, aged 16 to 19, who began their apprenticeships as industrial mechanics at the Opel plant in Bochum, Germany in 2009. While they must learn to cope with a new phase in their lives, the start of their professional careers and approaching departure from the security of their parental homes, Opel itself is being sucked deeper and deeper into the maelstrom of the international financial crisis and facing ever-increasing economic pressure. We follow Jerome, André, Sinan, Tim, Marius and Marcel, with all their hopes and fears, through this period of radical change; we are introduced to their dreams for the future as well as their worries. They stand at the threshold of a professional life whose future is already uncertain. At the same time, ARBEIT HEIMAT OPEL contrasts the everyday lives of the Plant II apprentices with GM and Opel’s fortunes on the world stage on two seemingly unrelated levels. Despite their distance both in physical and in media terms, the two levels repeatedly intersect and come into contact with one another, connecting global strategies with local and personal life plans – and vice versa.