Films by Michael Richter

Germany 2021, 104 min
by Michael Richter

Ten years after the Arabellion, we tell the whole story of the uprisings, from the viewpoint of the protagonists. How did it all start and what is life like today in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt?On 10 December 2010, the Tunisian street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire out of despair at his hopeless living conditions. His fate moved hundreds of thousands of mostly young people to take to the streets to protest against the regime. The protests not only ousted the elderly dictator Ben Ali but also sparked a series of uprisings that rocked the Arab world. A new era of democracy, dubbed the “Arabellion” or “Arab Spring”, seemed to be dawning that would sweep the entrenched authoritarian structures onto the rubbish heap of history. Taking stock ten years later, however, the aftermath of those momentous events is sobering. All across the Arab region, the old regimes have been restored, wars have broken out and people are fleeing their homelands. And yet the Arabellion was not in vain, because pressure for reform is as great as ever. We give a comprehensive overview of developments, looking for similarities between the 2011 uprisings and the current unrest in Lebanon and Iraq. The Arabellion is recounted from today’s vantage point and through the eyes of the protagonists on the ground. What is life like today in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt, ten years later?

2019, 52 min
by Michael Richter

Hezbollah, the Shiite “Party of God”, is becoming more and more powerful. In its home country, Lebanon, it is now a state within a state, relying on the might of its weapons. The Sunni prime minister, Saad Hariri, depends on the goodwill of Hezbollah, which is represented by two ministers within the government of Lebanon. The Hezbollah militias are now fighting in all the conflicts in the region – their fighters also helped Syria’s dictator Assad to remain in power. Israel considers Hezbollah to be the extended arm of Iran, its greatest enemy. The danger of an armed conflict is growing – not least in the face of an escalation of the tensions between the US and Iran.

Germany 2014, 80 min
by Michael Richter

DEFUNCT by Michael Richter tells the story of traumatized soldiers coming home from their mission unable to lead a normal life anymore. Their emotional disturbances are so serious that they are in need for psychiatric therapy. The disorders result from a war which we have emotionally avoided so far. The feature length documentary portrays also an armored regiment being trained for their operation in Afghanistan.