100 Jahre Adolf Hitler - Die letzte Stunde im Führerbunker

“Shot in complete darkness over 16 hours without any breaks in a World War II bunker, Schlingensief’s 100 JAHRE ADOLF HITLER – DIE LETZTE STUNDE IM FÜHRERBUNKER has one single light source to guide the camera through the controlled chaos: a flashlight. During filming, cast and crew were not permitted to leave the set. Laying the groundwork for Schlingensief’s later works, including on stage and TV (U3000, TALK 2000), it is a key film in his artistic oeuvre that enables the viewer to witness the unfolding of an aura. It is perhaps the closest Schlingensief ever came to direct cinema”, writes Austrian curator and Schlingensief-expert Kathrin Rhomberg. For Laurence Kardish, the film is “Schlingensief’s concise riposte to Hans-Jürgen Syberberg’s HITLER, EIN FILM AUS DEUTSCHLAND. Syberberg’s elaborate film attempts to understand the rise of Nazism via quotes from primary sources and elegant visual devices. Schlingensief will have none of that discourse. (…) The Nazi officials are as small-minded and ridiculous as they must have been in reality when they exercised power.” Kardish: “The viewer is engaged in a kind of constant kinesthetic puzzle.” 

With DAS DEUTSCHE KETTENSÄGENMASSAKER and FÜR ELISE