Films by Roman Schauerte

Germany 2017, 90 min
by Charly Hübner, Sebastian Schultz

“Wildes Herz” is a film about “Feine Sahne Fischfilet”, one of the most successful German punk rock bands, and their lead singer, Jan “Monchi” Gorkow. A young band who are under surveillance by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, which gives them the right to call themselves the most dangerous band in Mecklenburg-West Pomerania. A film that shows how musicians fight against Nazis and feelings of emptiness and frustration, in a region where home means the beautiful flat countryside. With music that’s quite unlike their home: strong, loud, joyous.As this film examines Jan “Monchi” Gorkow’s life in home movies and interviews with his parents we gradually begin to understand that it is a parable on, a coming to terms with and an answer to what happened in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern after the reunification. When a refugee centre in Rostock-Lichtenhagen was on fire, the population applauding and the police looking the other way. That is the time Monchi grew up in. His path – or his rage – took him via the ultras of F.C. Hansa Rostock to the moment when his punk band realised at the end of the noughties that Nazis enjoyed their gigs. Taking a stance was called for. The leftist movements of the 1990s failed, Gorkow says, and that this must never happen again. An important, almost normal, poetic and rough film – exactly like the band.( DOK Leipzig, Leopold Grün)

Germany 2017, 90 min
by Reto Caduff, Stephan Plank

Konrad ’Conny‘ Plank is undoubtedly one of the most innovative sound designers of his time. The recordings realized in his sound studio near Cologne between the 60s and 80s, revolutionized the music world. He was the pioneer of ’Krautrock‘ and paved the way for the revolutions of electronic and pop music respectively. Bands and artists who were fathered by the sound wizard (mostly before they became world famous) all agree that their careers would have been different without the talents of Conny Plank. Kraftwerk, Neu!, Can, Whodini, Brian Eno, DAF, Gianna Nannini, Ultravox and the Eurithmics are just some to be named. Conny Plank died much too early aged 47. For his wife, the actress Christa Fast, and his 13 year old son Stephan, he left behind a sound studio known near to everywhere. 25 years later his son embarks on a journey to find his father, his importance and his impact. Because all these musicians know Stephan from a young age from the studio, this film brings an unusually intimate and emotional insight to the artists, their work with Conny Plank and all that defines music production. The documentary THE POTENTIAL OF NOISE is the search for the person and producer Conny Plank, a journey through music history, a son getting to know his father and a soundtrack that has influenced millions of music fans over three decades.

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)