Films by martin langner

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 2017, 90 min
by Martin Farkas

“After all, these are not good memories, fun memories. And really, that time is buried.” Between 30 April and 4 May 1945, several hundred civilians commited mass suicide in the Pomeranian town of Demmin. There was desperation between the ideological void and the fear of the Red Army. Whole families drowned, hanged or poisoned themselves. The nervousness of the old citizens of Demmin whom Martin Farkas visits is still noticeable: not a hand that stays motionless during the interview – they are rubbed against skirts or twitch all over the place. One inhabitant describes the perfection of the city before the war and the “tinkering” that began after it was over and is still going on today. “Tinkering” is not a bad term for what is going on in Demmin and what Farkas is looking to illustrate in his film. There are the right wing extremists who abuse the consequences of that mass hysteria as an occasion for an annual funeral march on 8 May, the anniversary of the German surrender. There are the citizens of Demmin who turn away, part disgusted, part indifferent. There are counter-rallies and a few mostly contemporary witnesses, who open up about their memories for the first time after 70 years. (Carolin Weidner, DOK Leipzig)

Germany 2013, 52 min
by Katrin Rothe

Rents have been exploding in Berlin, but it's not as bad as London or Paris yet. Students, families and pensioners can still live in the centre of Berlin. But affordable homes are getting scarce. International investors have also discovered the flat-trade in Berlin. The loosers of that boom are the tenants.  The filmmakers house was bought by investors of a 'dynamic' estate company, who want to convert the rental flats into freehold flats. But sales don't override contracts, and  tenants in Berlin-Mitte have 7 years security of tenure. Katrin Rothe and her neighbours start to fight for their rights and against the gentrification. It's a new world dirctor is confronted with. It consists of accusations, pretence surveyor's appointments and provocations. Her lawyer says, she’s to ignore it all. But it's hard. When the potential buyers attend her flat, the documentary continues with drawn and animated characters. The estate agent is getting more and more impatient while viewings. But also Katrin is getting more and more silent and anxious. director's statement: "...The global financial crisis started out as an American real-estate bubble. Now we have a real-estate boom, too. Worried investors no longer invest in stocks but in houses and flats, concrete gold. A little security in an uncertain world. I thought it was nothing to do with me until the day I received a refurbishment notification." ]

Germany 2011, 97 min
by Annekatrin Hendel

Once with the Stasi, always with the Stasi? Once you were in the agent controller's grasp you could never escape - that's what they say, anyway. Writer Paul Gratzik was an unofficial informer for the GDR State Security Service for twenty years, broke with them in the 80's and exposed his identity. "Vaterlandsverräter" ("Traitors to the Fatherland") is a portrait of an exceptional man. On one hand it is a psychological profile of one of an extraordinarily paradoxical figure, a "man of extremes": satyr, seducer, radical and hermit. On the other hand it tells a story about the GDR, its critics and the Stasi of the kind that has never been told before in all the 20 years since the end of East Germany.

Germany 2010, 90 min
by Dagmar Brendecke

Cato Bontjes van Beek's childhood was paradise. She, her sister Mietje and their brother Tim were very close In the 1930s Cato moves to Berlin. Here she learns the truth about the war and the cruelties in the occupied countries. She is stunned and gets involved in the "Rote Kapelle", a resistance organisation. Together with her sister Mietje, she organizes help for prisoners of war. With her friend Heinz Strelow she types leaflets against the war. Cato did what she could. Highly risky perhaps however, in every respect courageous and resolute. She is imprisoned and sentenced to death. In 1943, at the age of 22 Cato is guillotined in Berlin-Ploetzensee, together with 15 other woman and men. This film discovers the short and yet very full life of a an extraordinary woman.

Germany 2009, 60 min
by Christian Schidlowski (Christoph Tubbenthal)

The documentary tells the story of four Chinese social climbers in Hamburg, which are trained for a global mission. There is no other European city that is as highly regarded by these well-trained Chinese. But while other waves of emigration around the turn of the century formed whole districts, the Chinese influence on the European society apparently passed by unnoticeably. The film explores the main question of the daily challenges of our protagonists. What does it mean for them to live and work 8000 kilometers away from the own, mostly young families. Are they separated only for a period of time or for eternity?