Goethe-Kino (Online - Only Available in the UK)
They were on their way to a Venezuelan friend’s farewell party when they were arrested by the police in the entrance of the house at 9 rue Toullier. That was in Paris in 1975. Ulrike Schaz was 25 years old then and was accompanied by her French boyfriend Jean Marie Leleu. They were away and Ulrike Schaz was held in the basement of a police station, wasn’t allowed to wash, couldn’t sleep and was interrogated. After four days she was deported from France to Germany without any explanation. Only later did she learn the reason. On the night of the party two members of the French secret service and a Lebanese PFLP*-member had been shot dead in the house. The murderer, Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, later known as the internationally wanted terrorist "Carlos the Jackal" had escaped. Coming from Germany and baptized with the name Ulrike, the French police suspected Schaz of belonging to the RAF (Red Army Faction) and being associated with the deed. Though she was cleared of all suspicion by the French and German authorities, the events of that night changed Ulrike Schaz's life and impacted it for decades after.
In her autobiographical essay film, Schaz returns to these events some 40 years later. She meets former companions, including her then great love Jean-Marie, but also creates a physical memory space where she presents photos and diaries and, with the help of a shadow theatre designed by Nicola Unger, evokes scenes from the past rather than reconstructs them. The result is a sophisticated and carefully crafted, multi-layered reflection on the interaction of chance, historical circumstances and political climate.
*Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Germany / France 2020, 104 mins. With English subtitles.
Written and directed by Ulrike Schaz,
Editor: Magdolna Rokob,
Cinematography: Jule Katinka Cramer,
Sound: Daniel Telkieli,
Music, Sounddesign, Sound Mixing: Roland Musolff,
Shadow Theatre: Nicola Unger,
Producer: Melanie Andernach,
Production Companies and Funding: MADE IN GERMANY Filmproduktion, Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, Gerd Ruge Stipendium, Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, BKM, Ann Kathrin Scheerer.
Please note that this online screening is only available in the UK.
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Ulrike Schaz was born in southern Germany and lives in Hamburg St. Pauli. She studied at the Kunsthochschule Stuttgart and at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Hamburg. In 1989 she made her first essay film: Hommage an einen Raum. Die Werkstatt meines Vaters (Homage to a room. My father's workshop). Since then she has been working as an independent filmmaker. She has directed documentaries and essay films in Thailand, India, Bangladesh and Europe. Some of her films are the result of her many years of involvement in international feminist networks: e.g. Die Glücksspirale (The Spiral of Happyness) (1984) and Antikörper gegen Schwangerschaft (Antibodies Against Pregnancy) (1990). Since 2005 she has been a tutor at the Yangon Film School in Myanmar, where she mentors student film projects (including »again and again« by The Maw Naing, 2005, and » Nargis – als die Zeit aufhörte zu atmen (Nargis – when time stopped breathing), (2010). Since 1999 she has a studio in the self-managed project »Ottenser Werkhof« in Hamburg. She is a member of the AG DOK (Documentary Film Working Group).
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