Films by Fritz Busse

2023, 90 min
by André Schäfer

"Die Ente bleibt draußen!" A film obeisance to the German humorist Loriot. To mark Loriot’s 100th birthday, André Schäfer paints a multi-facetted portrait of the best-known German humorist: With numerous film excerpts from his famous sketches, rare documentary footage of Vicco von Bülow from the early days of his career and interviews with companions, colleagues, experts and fans. The film remembers the inventor of the bulbous-nosed Knollennasenmännchen and explores the secret of his very German universe. It’s also a homage to the German post-war economic miracle and Loriot’s singular symbiosis of Prussianism and anarchic humour. [31 FFHH]With: Johann von Bülow, Olli Dittrich, Oliver Kalkofe, Hape Kerkeling, Helge Schneider, Ariana Baborie , Dagmar Biener, Mirja Boes, Katja Bogdanski, Sarah Bosetti, Claudia Hillebrandt u.a.

Switzerland, Germany 2022, 90 min
by André Schäfer

This film is not a classic portrait but a documentary using fiction to bring Martin Suter’s novels to life while introducing us to the author behind the stories on a whole new level. "Fantasy is usually truer than reality itself," says Suter. He strolls through his stories, exposing his protagonists and their secrets – and especially his own, private cosmos. [75 Locarno FF]"The portrait about Martin Suter took four years to develop. He freely talks about his life, thoughts, and tools of the trade." – André Schäfer

Germany 2021, 53 min
by André Schäfer

She was recently awarded with Munich's Cultural Prize of Honour, Hanna Schygulla, the great Diva of European Film, who, at the age of 76, is still working with renowned directors such as François Ozon. The film revisits her major roles from Lili Marleen to Effi Briest, but also shows a fascinating woman up close, who is tirelessly building bridges between cultures: In Berlin, where she makes films with refugee children, in Paris, where François Ozon tells us of his work with her, and in Barcelona, where she films a series with teenagers.

2017, 90 min
by André Schäfer, Jascha Hannover

"There are three golden rules to filmmaking: thou shalt not bore, thou shalt not bore, and thou shaltnot bore!" Billy Wilder was one of the greatest writers and directors in Hollywood. The man who filmed Marilyn Monroe with her dress blowing up, wrote screenplays with Raymond Chandler and created film history with classics like 'Sunset Boulevard', 'Some Like It Hot' or 'One, Two, Three'.Billy Wilder was a legend in his lifetime and embodies a period of contemporary history. He was successful beyond measure, and became very rich as a result – but he never sold out.Our film rediscovers this cultural figurehead. Via trailers and film extracts from his greatest works, it documents and analyses Wilder's filmmaking. In exclusive, newly-filmed interviews companions and contemporaries of Billy Wilder, such as Volker Schlöndorff, Marthe Keller und Paul Diamond document a century of contemporary history and portray a person who above all was never boring.

Germany 2014, 180 min
by Sebastian Lemke, Jonas Niewianda, André Schäfer, Viktor Stauder

This series accompanies the geographer, photographer and explorer Michael Martin on five of his unique desert expeditions. Michael Martin's goal is to compare the world’s most spectacular hot and indeed cold deserts. Over the course of three years he has undertaken 40 expeditions to 24 locations and circled the globe four times. He not only documents the fantastic landscapes in his photographs but also the people who live under these most extreme circumstances. Of these 24 locations, we have chosen five destinations to be featured in the first season of MICHAEL MARTIN – A DESERT ADVENTURE. We accompany him on dog sleds, helicopters, ships and planes and – whenever possible – on his motorbike.

Germany 2013, 89 min
by André Schäfer

Willy Brandt, who would have been 100 on the 18th December, was one of the greatest German and European political figures. He was a person who was crucial in shaping post second world war history, firstly as mayor of Berlin during the Cold War, then as foreign minister in a major coalition government, next as Federal Chancellor of the Bonn Republic and finally as a long-serving SPD leader with a major international reputation. For this 100th anniversary, André Schäfer’s film tells the story of the important stations in Willy Brandt’s political life. The filmmaker allows this charismatic politician to speak for himself in rare and intimate footage from his years in exile, his time as Mayor of Berlin and his short but formative time as chancellor. Friends and close companions reminisce about him and together portray a very personal picture of Brandt. Among them are his son Peter Brandt, his fellow campaigner and close colleague Egon Bahr, the journalists Gerd Ruge, Gunter Hofmann, Werner Perger and Wibke Bruhns, Wolf- Dietrich Schilling, Klaus Harpprecht, Albrecht Müller and Harry Walter, the Bonn photographers Josef Darchinger and Konrad R. Müller, and last but not least 98 year old Elizabeth Fisher-Spanjer, a friend from his time in exile as a young man.

2013, 90 min
by André Schäfer

The idea for DEUTSCHBODEN? “I want to get out and go where hardly any of us have ever been before – to Hardrockhausen.” The reporter Moritz von Uslar takes a close at hand but nevertheless spectacular step for his novel by simply leaving Berlin to immerse himself into the everyday life of a small East German town just 60 kilometres away.The film is – just like the book – a thoughtful story involving insider observations which makes for a great piece of contemporary history. It describes Germany, 20 years after reunification, in a sometimes drastic but always loving and completely original way. On the outskirts of the big city, in Brandenburg, the reporter Moritz von Uslar sets off in pursuit of East German clichés like unemployment, alcoholism, emigration and right-wing radicalism. With great empathy and intuition Uslar observes and describes what he discovers in the provincial town: a pils at the bar, a barbecue under the German flag, hanging out at the petrol station – and the everyday life of young men who, although they may not have a particularly great future ahead of them, have a pretty keen sense of humour.