Films by Mechthild Barth

Germany 2023, 92 min
by Lisa Wagner

Who says that women can't break dance? Frieda, Viola and Jilou are three of the most successful women in the male-dominated breaking world. At different points in their sports careers, the three friends are facing new challenges and life-changing decisions. DANCING HEARTBEATS accompanies the dancers during their hard training, international battles and their fight for recognition and equal rights. WithB-Girl Jilou – Jilou RasulB-Girl Frost – Frieda FrostB-Girl Viola – Viola Luise Barner

Germany, Austria 2022, 96 min
by Claudia Müller

A complex, associative work that embraces contradictions and offers a visual take on the Nobel laureate’s technique of linguistic montage.Wunderkind, scandalous author, traitor to the fatherland, fury of the theater, feminist, fashion-lover, communist, pessimist, language terrorist, rebel, enfant terrible, nest fouler, brilliant, vulnerable artist, Nobel laureate. This film about Elfriede Jelinek, who in 2004 became the first Austrian author to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature, focuses on her artistic approach to language. The montage of archive material with voiceovers and interviews, some of them recently recorded, is told from Jelinek’s point of view. [39 FFMUC]with: Ilse Ritter, Sandra Hüller, Stefanie Reinsperger, Sophie Rois, Maren Kroymann, Martin Wuttke

Germany 2021, 79 min
by Melanie Lischker

In LIFE ON TAPE director Melanie Lischker reconstructs the life of her mother whom she barely remembers from over 100 hours of video material of the family. In her diaries she finds the tragic story of a young woman who, driven by the spirit of emancipation of the 1970s, tries to free herself from the old thought patterns of her authoritarian parents. She is torn between her desire for freedom and that to lead a well-ordered family life. Even 20 years later her ongoing struggle with this rubs off on the childhood of the director. Both personally and politically the film travels through the decades and shows a woman in conflict with the patriarchal structures of her day.

Germany 2019, 106 min
by Cordula Kablitz-Post

The German (punk)rock band DIE TOTEN HOSEN is a phenomenon of superlatives. In this music & concert documentary we accompany Germany's legendary and most successful rock band with 19 millions records sold with unparalleled access on their biggest tour in band history – both in the limelight and backstage with 'access all areas'.

Germany, Mexico 2018, 75 min
by José Pablo Estrada Torrescano

José Pablo promised his extravagant grandmother, Mamacita, to make a film about her life, without knowing that this would lead to revelation of secrets, lies and deceptions affecting 5 generations of a highsociety Mexican family.Mamacita is an extravagant Mexican beauty queen living in her own kingdom in company of her loyal servants: gardener, chauffeur, chef, housekeeper and nurses. The 95-year-old lady has turned her house into a castle, hiding the open wounds of a prominent Mexican upper class family behind its stonewalls. When José Pablo went abroad to study film, Mamacita made him promise to return to Mexico one day to make a film about her life. He conquers his granny’s empire like a Trojan horse, discovering the haunted spirits of his own past and the lack of love that his entire clan has suffered from for generations.

2018, 91 min
by Bettina Borgfeld

Two billionaire brothers buy themselves into the island of Sark, where only 600 inhabitants live - till then in harmony with nature and with a strong sense of community.  A battle begins that unfolds a conflict in an idyllic setting. The brothers remain phantoms in the film as they never enter the battlefield themselves.