Films by Jörg Bundschuh

2022, 90 min
by Matthias Heeder

Inflation is hitting with full force: Even in rich industrialized countries, many people suddenly don’t even have enough money to feed themselves properly or pay their bills. "Inflation is a kind of power struggle," says economic historian Adam Tooze. "Who's going to be able to pay the rising prices, and who's going to be the loser?" Why is inflation now suddenly an issue again in Europe or the United States? What are central banks doing about it? Our film shows which mechanisms have contributed to the return of inflation and how people from different social milieus react to it - in Germany, France, Turkey and the US.

Germany 2021, 98 min
by Axel Brüggemann

Richard Wagner is more than just music, he is a social phenomenon, a question of belief, and the Bayreuth Festival is the world's most important mecca for the cult of Wagner. GLOBAL WAGNER is a cheeky trip around the world of Wagnerians, from Venice to Latvia, Israel, Abu Dhabi and the US all the way to Japan – in between passion and music, politics, culture, glamour, rehearsals and bratwurst. How, to until this day, did such massive hype and such a cult following develop all over the world around this highly controversial artist for whom there only seems to be either lovers or haters?  With: Katharina Wagner, Christian Thielemann, Valery Gergiev, Plácido Domingo, Alex Ross, Piotr Beczala, Anja Harteros, Barrie Kosky, Catherine Foster, Kevin Maynor, Sheik Zaki Anwar Nusseibeh, Ronald Perlwitz, Jonathan Livny, Georg Rauch, Ulrike Rauch

Germany 2018, 90 min
by Luigi Falorni, Roland Wagner

When author Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa died in 1957 he was penniless. But one year later his only novel, 'Il Gattopardo', was published and went on to become a global success with more than 13 million copies sold to this day. In 1963, Luchino Visconti's film adaptation, starring Burt Lancaster, Claudia Cardinale and Alain Delon, received a Palme d'Or in Cannes. However, hidden behind the genesis of 'Il Gattopardo' there is a true love story – which almost outshines the novel: that of the author and his German-Baltic wife, the psychoanalyst Alexandra Wolff-Stomersee.

Germany 2017, 89 min
by Diego Pascal Panarello

After years drifting, Diego returns to Sicily. His dream of becoming a musician has not worked out. He has no job and no plans for the future but the sound of an ancient musical instrument, the mouth harp, points the way. From the torrid coasts of Sicily, Diego journeys to the frozen flatlands of Yakutia in Siberia where he becomes part of a prophecy from a century ago. The ‘sound of happiness’ is at last there.––––––––––––––––––––––––––After twenty years, the failed musician Diego returns to his Sicilian hometown of Augusta with no money, job or perspectives. In a dream he has a vision of a Jew’s harp, called Marranzano in Italian. The half vibrant, half buzzing sound of this small musical instrument echoes in the chant of the omnipresent cicadas – and in the sound of an electric shaver. After some initial research at the local souvenir shop, Diego soon finds himself in freezing Yakutia, where the Jew’s harp is called Khomus and considered a lucky charm. In Siberia Diego also meets the most famous Khomus player in the world, a generally respected blacksmith with a striking resemblance to the master from “The Karate Kid”, and learns about the rich mythology of the instrument. People say, for example, that one of the best Marranzani flew into space one night to be played by a Russian cosmonaut. Diego’s research on the universal history of the Jew’s harp merges with the story of his personal pursuit of happiness, while his journey is driven in equal measure by self-questioning, ethnographical interest and associative enthusiasm. (DOK Leipzig, Esther Buss)

2012, 104 min
by Jörg Bundschuh, Matthias Heeder, Nigel McCarthy

From Bazar to Wall Street:After the financial crisis and the events of the Arab Spring the Western world has been exposed to an alternative, religion-influenced system of economics called Islamic Finance. Indeed, in the shadows of our conventional financial system, Islamic states have developed another option that appears to have been less affected by the crises of recent years. But what is really behind this concept, how did it emerge, and what makes it different from the standard system? From the corporate law firms of London, Europe's centers of Islamic Finance, to the experts and key figures in Turkey, Bahrain, Qatar, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, we find out more about the differences, similarities, and problems within a system that Western economists believe will have a decisive influence on the 21st century.The Price of Paradise:The world’s highest concentration of Muslims is in Southeast Asia, Indonesia alone has about 200 million believers. In Malaysia, Indonesia but also in Singapore Islam is far more liberal than its counterpart in the Arab states, and as such it seems to play a smaller role in daily life, but it is here that a religion-based Islamic Banking concept is showing its most robust growth – figures that Western banks could only dream of. The basics of the system forbid interest charges, and proscribe dealings in industries related to pork products, weapons, gambling or pornography. With its promise of backing all banking transactions with real values, can Islamic Finance and Banking provide the security that Western banks and their increasingly speculative methods no longer guarantee?