Films by Frank Griebe

Germany 2017, 90 min
by Reto Caduff, Stephan Plank

Konrad ’Conny‘ Plank is undoubtedly one of the most innovative sound designers of his time. The recordings realized in his sound studio near Cologne between the 60s and 80s, revolutionized the music world. He was the pioneer of ’Krautrock‘ and paved the way for the revolutions of electronic and pop music respectively. Bands and artists who were fathered by the sound wizard (mostly before they became world famous) all agree that their careers would have been different without the talents of Conny Plank. Kraftwerk, Neu!, Can, Whodini, Brian Eno, DAF, Gianna Nannini, Ultravox and the Eurithmics are just some to be named. Conny Plank died much too early aged 47. For his wife, the actress Christa Fast, and his 13 year old son Stephan, he left behind a sound studio known near to everywhere. 25 years later his son embarks on a journey to find his father, his importance and his impact. Because all these musicians know Stephan from a young age from the studio, this film brings an unusually intimate and emotional insight to the artists, their work with Conny Plank and all that defines music production. The documentary THE POTENTIAL OF NOISE is the search for the person and producer Conny Plank, a journey through music history, a son getting to know his father and a soundtrack that has influenced millions of music fans over three decades.

Germany 2014, 90 min
by Annekatrin Hendel

He was the charismatic pop star of East Berlin’s oppositional literary scene in Prenzlauer Berg in the eighties, a close acquaintance of Christa Wolf, Franz Fühmann and Heiner Müller. He was also a zealous informer working for the GDR’s secret police: Sascha Anderson, born 1953. Twenty years on, the pain he inflicted on friends and colleagues is as deep-seated as ever and the finely woven web of lies, half-truths and legends he unfurled around him still raises tempers. Annekatrin Hendel sits Sascha Anderson down before a camera to ask him what prompted him to act as he did and discover what he thinks about it today. What convinced him to denounce others? What caused him to gamble with his own life? Does he feel remorse or the need to atone? The film questions Anderson’s one-time companions such as ceramicist Wilfriede Maaß, who separated from her husband on his account, former university classmates Lars Barthel and Thomas Plenert, poet and anarchist Bert Papenfuß as well as Roland Jahn, now Federal Commissioner of the Stasi Archive. Making use of these fragments of memories the film creates a document of an era bound by trust and betrayal which persists to the present day.

Germany, Switzerland 2010, 52 min
by Marc Burth, Marc Burth

After becoming a father, Marc Burth has a problem: Two children and no fitting religion for them. His father is Protestant, his mother is Jewish, and his sister a shaman. His wife's dad is a Moslem; her mother, Catholic. Making the right choice for his children in this intersection of religions is a diffi- cult job for the confused filmmaker! Searching for answers, Marc Burth meets people that have a relationship with God and some that consciously don’t. He talks to atheists, shamans, Jesuits, Jews, Moslems, heathens and many more. He wants to know if God exists and why religion should be important to his children. The film is a playful, crazy, slightly neurotic approach to the question many people find a hard nut to crack and humanity will always search answers for: Does God exist? And if yes, how many gods are there?