Quirky and often breathless, Köln 75 tells the story behind one of jazz history’s most famous concerts. In 1975, eighteen-year-old Vera Brandes defied the odds to organise Keith Jarrett’s legendary Köln Concert.

On Friday, 24 January 1975, American jazz pianist Keith Jarrett gave a solo concert at the Cologne Opera House:  66 minutes of free improvisation that would go on to make music history. Recorded live and released as a double album by the Munich-based ECM label, The Köln Concert has not only become the best-selling solo jazz record, but also the best-selling piano album to date.
Given the enormous success of the recording, it is surprising that the circumstances in which the concert came about were far from ideal. This is what Köln 75 about. It is not a film about Keith Jarrett and his music, but about a love for that music and about one very determined young woman who made the concert possible in Cologne.

At the age of 16, jazz enthusiast Vera Brandes meets British saxophonist Ronnie Scott after a concert. Impressed by her energy, he asks her to organise a tour for him. Thrown in at the deep end, Brandes rises to the challenge. Still a high school student, she becomes a concert promoter despite strong objections from her father. When she later hears Jarrett play in Berlin, she is determined to bring him to Cologne. She manages to book the Cologne Opera House on the only date available during Jarrett’s European tour at the beginning of 1975. However, this is only the start of a series of challenges that will test both Brandes and Jarrett himself. A little warning. Don't expect to hear Jarrett’s music in the film. Jarrett did not grant permission to use it. He is nevertheless present as a character, played by American actor John Magaro, who portrays him as a tired and irritable musician suffering from back pain. Of all the obstacles Vera must overcome, he proves to be the greatest. Mala Emde, whom Goethe Kino audiences may remember from Skin Deep (Aus meiner Haut, Goethe-Kino August 2025) portrays Vera Brandes as driven in turn by enthusiasm and desperation.

Director Ido Fluk presents the film as an ode to those who help bring great art into being. Alongside Vera, this includes her friends, a pair of piano tuners, ECM producer Manfred Eicher, who drives Jarrett across Europe, and a fictional journalist who wants the world to understand his music. Together, they shape the film’s quirky tone and hectic pace, which makes for a nice contrasts with the calm, concentrated performance it builds towards.

Germany, Poland, Belgium, colour, 116 min. With English subtitles.
Directed by Ido Fluk. With Mala Emde, John Magaro, Michael Chernus, Shirin Lilly Eissa, Enno Trebs, Leo Meier, Leon Blohm, Ulrich Tukur, Jördis Triebel, Susanne Wolff, Daniel Betts, Alexander Scheer.

On Friday, 5 June, 7pm, there will be a special screening attended by director Ido Fluk, actor Mala Emde & music producer Vera Brandes at Picturehouse Central.

The film will be on general release in the UK and in Ireland from 5 June 2026.