Films by Markus CM Schmidt

2022, 92 min
by Markus CM Schmidt

Popular music has its roots in West Africa, and especially in Mali. In Berlin, a bigband discovers old vinyls from the Malian Bigband era, music which embodied the hope for Malian independence before a coup brought an end to the legendary brass sections. Inspired by these songs, the Berliners travel to Mali to find the heroes of their vinyl-collection. There they research the origins of the songs, marvel at old archive footage and bring back the lost brass sections to play with forgotten Malian stars, leading often to heated arguments over the correct beats, and record an album in Salif Keita's studio in Bamako.

Germany, Brasil 2018, 88 min
by Hans Block, Moritz Riesewieck

When you post something on the web, can you be sure it stays there? Enter a hidden shadow industry of digital cleaning where the Internet rids itself of what it doesn’t like.. violence, pornography and.. political content. Who is controlling what we see and what we think?

Germany 2016, 90 min
by Lutz Gregor

MALI BLUES tells the story of four female and male musicians from the West African country of Mali, who espouse with their music a tolerant Islam and a country at peace.The West African country of Mali is considered the birthplace of the blues and jazz, brought later by abducted slaves to America’s cotton fields. For centuries music has strengthened Mali’s cultural identity, musicians are holding strong positions in society. Following Fatoumata Diawara, shooting star of the global pop scene, MALI BLUES is a musical journey, discovering the country’s rich musical culture and it’s threat by radical Islamists. On our way we meet other committed musicians, who are fighting for unity and the freedom to express themselves through their music, like world famous Ngoni player and traditional Griot Bassekou Kouyaté, street rapper Master Soumy and Tuareg band leader Ahmed Ag Kaedi.A beautiful and soulful doc with mesmerizing sound and music.– Katie O’Connor, Toronto Film SceneA colourful, vivid look at Fatou’s complicated history with her home, Mali Blues is both a triumph for Fatou and for Mali’s music traditions.– Jesse Kinos-Goodin, CBC MusicBest Freedom Film - Luxor African Film Festival (LAFF) Norbert Daldrop Fund for art and culture - German Documentary Film Festival

Germany 2013, 85 min
by Markus CM Schmidt

European bluefin tuna can grow to the size of a passenger them migrate from the Atlantic to spawning grounds in the Mediterranean. Fact is that tuna stocks face collapse. Yet they are still being fished during spawning season. The fishermen, too, are facing extinction: They can only service the loan debt on their boats by continuing to fish. While some have used questionable means to secure fishing licenses for still plentiful Libyan waters, the rest are left to trawl the already overfished areas. The Mediterranean fishermen’s desperate fight for survival is coming to a head. In the intense images the film tells a parable of hope, disillusionment and desperation. It exposes the mechanisms of a value chain, which is destroying its own basis with a strategy based on shortsighted greed. In the end both the fish and the people loose.