Films by Niklas Kammertöns

Germany 2021, 217 min
by Maria Speth

MR. BACHMANN AND HIS CLASS is an intimate documentary portraying the bond between an elementary school teacher and his students. His unconventional methods clash with the complex social and cultural realities of the provincial German industrial town they live in.Where does one feel at home? In Stadtallendorf, a German city with a complex history of both excluding and integrating foreigners, genial teacher Dieter Bachmann offers his pupils the key to at least feeling as if they are at home. Aged between twelve and fourteen, these pupils come from twelve different nations; some have not quite mastered the German language. On the brink of retirement, Bachmann is eager to inspire these citizens-in-the-making with a sense of curiosity for a wide range of crafts, subjects, cultures and opinions. Watching this absorbing, sensitive documentary, one is overwhelmed with the realisation that, if only all children were blessed with such emotionally intelligent, ever-patient educators, conflict would be mitigated via discussion and John Lennon’s “Imagine” could be our reality. Those who, like filmmaker Maria Speth and her cinematographer Reinhold Vorschneider, are able to recognise and highlight so beautifully not only the importance of education but also what a quietly spectacular process it can be, are heroes in their own right, too.

2020, 102 min
by Frauke Sandig, Eric Black

What is consciousness? Is it in all living beings? What happens when we die? And why do we seem to be hardwired for mystical experience? In these times of existential crisis, there has been an explosion of research into consciousness - and scientists are confronting the Big Questions. AWARE follows six brilliant researchers, approaching the mystery from radically different perspectives, from within and without: through high-tech brain research and Eastern meditation, by scientifically exploring inner space through psychedelic substances and by investigating the consciousness of plants.with: Richard Boothby, Monica Gagliano, Roland R. Griffiths, Christof Koch, Josefa Kirvin Kulix, Matthieu Ricard, Mary Cosimano, Justine Fritz and special guest Mingyur Rinpoche

Germany 2009, 95 min
by Lilian Franck, Robert Cibis

Pianomania is a portrayal of Stefan Knuepfer, the virtuosic piano tuner from Steinway, Austria, and his many famous clients at work, including Lang Lang, Alfred Brendel, Andrej Gravilov, Mitsuko Uchida, Rudolf Buchbinder and Pierre-Laurent Aimard; the film offers an unusual and amusing look behind the heavy curtains at major concerts. This film is about the quest for the perfect tone. It shows each obstacle that is created by abandoning everyday routine and surrendering oneself to Art.The fortitude that devotion engenders, the supreme love of perfection and of divine moments; and yet the refusal to bask in one’s glory. Our protagonists are world-renowned pianists and their hero, piano tuner Stefan Knuepfer; and all are obsessed with the idea of the perfect sound.