Presented as part of WORLDS OF HOMELESSNESS
Germany, 1976/77, 108 minutes. German and English with english subtitles.
Writer-Driector-Producer: Werner Herzog, Cinematography: Thomas Mauch / Edward Lachmann Editor: Beate Mainka-Jellinghaus, Cast: Bruno S., Eva Mattes, Clemens Scheitz, Norbert Grupe, Burkhard Driest, Clayton Szlapinski, Ely Rodriguez, Scott McKain
Street Musician Bruno Stroszek (Bruno S.) has always been an outsider, who struggles with alcohol. Upon being released from jail for yet another drinking-related offense, he decides that it is indeed time to start anew. Together with his neighbors Eva (Eva Mattes), a prostitute, and the elderly and eccentric Mr. Scheitz (Clemens Schetiz) he sees an opportunity. Mr. Scheitz' nephew Clayton is a mechanic in America and has invited his uncle to live with them. When Eva's pimps attack her and vandalize Bruno's apartment, the three unlikely travel companions leave Germany for America in search of a better life. In Wisconsin, the trio rent a mobile home, Clayton offers Bruno a job as a mechanic, and Eva begins waiting tables at the local cafe. But in America, all is not what the three friends had expected. As Eva suddenly disappears, Bruno and Mr. Scheitz resort to drastic measures to pay their mortgage and save their home.
Worlds of Homelessness is a project of the Goethe-Institut that offers an interdisciplinary engagement with the issue of homelessness and its many related themes such as the gap between rich and poor, participation, inequality, gentrification, racism, and migration. Worlds of Homelessness brings together local and international artists, architects, scholars, and others to create a platform to share ideas, thoughts and to present their work, as well as examining the wide range of strategies being employed to engage with the many questions and challenges surrounding the issue.
The project is developed in cooperation with the Los Angeles Poverty Department, which has created art with and promoted the activism of Skid Row Artists for decades; the Thomas Mann House, the renowned and independent architecture school SCI-Arc, the Institute on Inequality and Democracy at UCLA Luskin and NAVEL, a collectively driven cultural organization.
The event series including discussions, music performances, and film screenings takes place from October 22 – 27, 2019 in Los Angeles at the Skid Row History Museum and Archive, NAVEL, and SCI-Arc, and culminates with the Los Angeles Poverty Department's 10th Annual Festival for All Skid Row Artists on October 26 – 27, 2019 in Gladys Park, Skid Row.
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