Films by Knut Schmitz

2023, 94 min
by Petra Mäussnest

Jonny, a young teacher from Berlin cannot do his job during the coronavirus pandemic because he suffers from a chronic lung disease. He has to isolate himself and carries on teaching his class online from Sweden with the help of his brother. When the management team of the Waldorf school does not want to support this arrangement, he begins a passionate struggle against exclusion. [38 DOK.fest München, Ina Borrmann]

Germany 2021, 89 min
by Antje Boehmert, Dominik Wessely

The vaccination campaign against Covid-19 represents a challenge of unprecedented proportions for the whole of society and, at the same time, our only way out of the pandemic. Sooner or later, the virus will reach everyone who has not been immunized by vaccination, according to the assessment of leading experts. Over a period of nine months, the documentary film Germany's Race to Vaccinate tells the story of this vaccination campaign: from the initial debate surrounding which population groups s

Germany, Spain 2020, 81 min
by Dominik Wessely

What began 1989 as a tiny street parade in Berlin has long since grown into a million-strong spectacle garnering international attention. In 2010, the “Love Parade” left Berlin for a tour of the Ruhr valley, German’s former industrial stronghold, a region weak in infrastructure and youth appeal. Hundreds of thousands of electronic music lovers took pilgrimage to Duisburg to celebrate, but the day tragically ended in a fatal stampede. What went wrong?The location of the parade was a former freig

Germany 2010, 73 min
by Sonja Baeger

As we get to know the internationally reknowned, Berlin based, German artist Thomas Zipp, we discover the background of his installations, which refer to the human urge of hubris and selfdestruction and are dark and humourous at the same time. His interest in psychonautics – the research of the psyche and the subconscious – is the angle from which he questions the supporting pillars of our culture and education. As he connects acknowledged values and historical characters beyond logic, he uses t

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