Schlingensief - In das Schweigen hineinschreien

Sein Leben lang habe er versucht, möglichst viel zu kreieren, schrieb Christoph Schlingensief in „So schön wie hier kann’s im Himmel gar nicht sein“, seinem „Krebstagebuch“. Man könnte sagen: Ein Gutteil von dem, was er gemacht hat, war das, was er darüber gesagt hat. In ihrem Kinoporträt lässt Bettina Böhler denn auch ausschließlich Schlingensief selbst zu Wort kommen. Entlang prägnanter Bild- und Tonbeispiele bis hin zum Operndorf Afrika ergibt das die märchenhafte Geschichte eines Mannes, der auszog, das Fürchten zu verlernen – und so manchem Gegenüber dabei einen gewaltigen Schrecken einzujagen.

In Anwesenheit von Bettina Böhler, Irene von Alberti (Produzentin) und Frieder Schlaich (Produzent).

Bettina Böhler’s intense, extremely entertaining, and moving portrait of a suitably loud artist focuses on Christoph Schlingensief as a family person, whose work dealt with his relationship to his parents and his relationship to Germany in equal measure. The film traces his development from being a pubescent filmmaker with an artistic bloodlust to his period as a revolutionary stage director in Berlin and Bayreuth, finally advancing to become Germany’s “national artist”, purportedly venerated by all and invited to create the German Pavilion for the 2011 Venice Biennale. The film explores Schlingensief’s untiring and ultimately inexhaustible love–hate relationship with Germany, its high culture, and petite-bourgeoisie sentiments – which he attributed to himself more than anyone else – via scenes of East Germans being made into sausages, shouts of “Kill Helmut Kohl!” (a legendary performance at documenta X) and an attempt to rehabilitate Richard Wagner with “Parsifal”. Even those already aware of this artist’s most peculiar universe will be surprised by this newly discovered footage.

In the presence of Bettina Böhler, Irene von Alberti (producer) and Frieder Schlaich (Producer).

Bettina Böhler: AUF DER SUCHE NACH INGMAR BERGMAN (2018, Ko-Regie)