Die 120 Tage von Bottrop

Total chaos: A young director named Christoph Schlingensief (Martin Wuttke) is demoted to the role of set manager and replaced by some unknown person, who eventually receives the Bundesfilmpreis award. Film as a nightmare – or vice versa. Producer Volker Spengler sends an agent (Christoph Schlingensief himself) to Hollywood where he meets Udo Kier, Kitten Natividad, and Roland Emmerich on a mission to raise money and get ex-Visconti superstar Helmut Berger to appear in the film. Depicting a German cultural scene at the turn of the century that is still yet come to terms with the legacy of New German Cinema, Schlingensief tackles the topic once and for all. Drawing on an endless stream of references both open and obscure, Schlingensief takes the process of de- and reconstruction just far enough to at once completely demystify and pay tribute to an era and its heritage. With appearances from the German film, TV, and theatre scene, many actors, collaborators, and cultural icons (including Austrian avant-garde filmmaker Kurt Kren!) appear as themselves; but Schlingensief is not afraid to resurrect some of the dead, only to kill them off again: part parody, part heartfelt homage, THE 120 DAYS OF BOTTROP gives New German Cinema its final coup de grâce.

Mit MENSCH, MAMI, ...