FESTIVALS AND AWARDS

74th Berlinale Special, 2024 (world premiere)

SYNOPSIS

“As long as film is not taught at school, we fail to take note of the most important revolution in human education.” – Béla Balász

In 1968, the classroom of a girls’ secondary school in Munich is transformed into a film studio under the direction of young director Edgar Reitz. Subject: Filmmaking begins, it’s the first ever documented attempt in film history to teach film aesthetics as an individual subject. 2023: Edgar Reitz, the world-famous director of the Heimat trilogy, is approached by an elderly lady. She recognises herself as one of his former students. They arrange a class reunion. Composed of a documentary film about the project at the time, the Super 8 films of the schoolgirls and the filmed reunion in 2023, a kind of long-term exposure of the last 55 years of film history unfolds. Did the seeds of their personalities already show in the little training films? And what do the women have to say about today’s film culture? Subject: Filmmaking is a declaration of love for filmmaking and an appeal to finally bring film education into schools. A film about lifetimes and the still unfulfilled possibilities of the cinematic arts.

Edgar Reitz
Anette Liersch
Angelika Spitzenberger
Beate Hannig-Grethlein
Dr. Elisabeth Dreyssig
Elisabeth Glocker
Elisabeth Penzel
Friederike Weichenhan
Gabriele Fingerle
Dr. Gertraud Lochner
Gloria Kraemer
Henriette Pascoe
Ingrid Lämke-Schmidt
Luise von Kamptz
Luitgard Hegele
Nora Sobol
Ulrike Mari
Dr. Magdalena Boettcher