FESTIVAL CLUB 2016

The festival club is where you can meet, take part in film talks and enjoy a special after-hours show every night. We open half an hour before the first screening of the day. Our programme includes concerts, readings and a bit of fun. Admission is free, except for the closing party. Come in and enjoy!

Prelude to the PROVINZIALE: A globetrotter in blue and white plays Bavarian and other folk music.

Oliver Bukowski’s grotesque story is a breakneck race through the outskirts of all-German reality. A dusty, almost forgotten village somewhere in a German province. Economic upturn has passed by. As though to mock the residents, a shining Intercity train flies past every day without stopping. Then an idea takes hold of the last locals in the pub: What if the train could be derailed? Press and TV arrive, raising new hope. Eventually the lever in the signal box gets thrown, and the village of Lakow ends up with two inhabitants less and one more bitter conclusion. The Intercity passes through as usual, though.

Director: Jörg Lehmann
Players: Christine Müller, Irene Winter, Torsten Gesser, Martin Karl
Puppets & scenery: Atif Hussein

Clemens Meyer and Claudius have risked it: For one year, they rummaged old VHS archives, dismantled DVD collections, neglected social life and watched their way through mountains of crazy films. Part of what they found was pathetic to the point where it hurt to write about it, but there were also hidden treasures and unrecognised gems of film history among their finds. Not to talk about the journey of self-discovery they made on the way.

What these guys are going to present is a show based on a book based on films. Which is no less crazy than the films themselves. Crude video clips, ludicrous texts, great prizes for the audience, presented by the two most clever bastards of the German literary scene.

Clemens Meyer worked as a construction labourer, furniture mover and security guard before studying at Deutsches Literaturinstitut (German Institute for Literature) in Leipzig. His debut novel, ‘Als wir träumten’ (When We Were Dreaming), was published in 2006 and received numerous awards and was made into a film by Andreas Dresen. ‘Die Nacht, die Lichter’, a volume of short stories, received the Leipzig Book Fair Award in 2008. His most recent novel, ‘Im Stein’, published by S. Fischer, was shortlisted for the Deutscher Buchpreis and given the literary award of the city of Bremen.

Claudius Nießen studied at Deutsches Literaturinstitut in Leipzig. He designs literary events, for instance L3, the largest reading event during the Leipzig Book Fair, the Turboprop literature show and the Krautgarden Festival, wich takes place in New York. He has been director of the German Institute for Literature since 2008.

Fresh from the press: Lars Fischer interviews Matthias Friedrich Mücke about his latest work.

Everybody knows the stars and starlets of the film industry, but how does a lighting technician contribute to a blockbuster’s success? The guy shouting over there must be the director, right? And that nag with the megaphone is the unit manager, is she? With tongue in cheek, Matthias Friedrich Muecke presents the characters who work behind the screen and explains what Kokolores is good for, why a Genny provides electricity and what the ominous clapperboard is all about. A must-see for all filmmakers and film lovers.

Matthias Friedrich Muecke is a painter, graphic artist and set designer for film and TV productions. A freelance artist since 1988, he looks back at various exhibitions and published books. He founded a publishing firm for graphic books in 2000. In 2009, one of his books was given an award by the Stiftung Buchkunst foundation. He received the Brandenburg Art Prize in 2013 and the Nordhäuser Grafikpreis award in 2015. Matthias Friedrich Muecke lives in Falkenberg and Leipzig.

“Wonderful, funny drawings, a great love for films and their makers and knowledgeable writing: Muecke’s cinematic compendium is as valuable as a traineeship with both Wim Wenders and Andreas Dresen.”

Knut Elstermann, film journalist

Do you know what links Dubai’s Burj Khalifa with the former Palace of the Republic in East Berlin? The location of the custard-pie equator? The monument that inspired the design of Fit washing-up liquid bottles? Jochen Schmidt, who grew up in East Germany, makes a journey through the Eastern Bundesländer, still unknown territory to many Germans. In order to change that, he takes us to the hometown of the first German in space and visits the spaceflight exhibition there. He explores national building projects like the Rostock sea port and scrabbles the Köpenick Forest for the head of a buried Lenin statue. We witness what the modern age was like in East Germany, see how people developed a knack for improvising and hear their stories first-hand.

Part of the way, Jochen Schmidt was accompanied by comic artist Mawil, who is also going to join us tonight. They will discuss, Jochen Schmidt will read his stories while Mawil is going to show pictures. Both of them will take a look at the East to rediscover things. A look that goes beyond nostalgia or demonisation.

Jo Bartmes (organ, voc) – Michael “Kosho” Koschorreck (git, voc) – Erwin Ditzner (drums, perc)

Kosho, Bartmes and Ditzner. the three musketeers, playing free funk.

Eyebrows raised in irritation. Wait a minute! Ain’t that… Right, but then again… There’s no use in trying to pigeonhole these three musicians. Is it pop? Is it jazz? If so, it might be called space jazz. A swinging excursion into the exciting world of a mid-sixties French film, then “Tryin’ to make it real compared to what” sneaks around the corner, a political soul-and-jazz classic, then a daring, yet confident homage to The Beatles… All accompanied by tasty self-made tracks. Dig it!

Jo Bartmes (*1964) studied jazz in New York with Maria Schneider, Kenny Werner and Joe Lovano, among others. Film composer and cocktail pianist. Worked with Jon Sass, Joo Kraus, The Soul Jazz Dynamiters and DePhazz. His own band is called bartmes.

Michael “Kosho” Koschorreck (*1962) played with Afrodisia, Jon Otis, Sanfte Liebe, Les McCann, Söhne Mannheims, Zelia Fonseca and Wolfgang Haffner. He’s a much-asked-for studio and session guitar player.

Erwin Ditzner (*1960) played with Guru Guru, Rif, Sanfte Liebe, Sind Sie Außer Gefahr, Mardi Gras.bb, Ditzner Lömsch Duo, Barbara Lahr Trio, Netnar Tsinim…

„Maybe the future – or even the present – belongs to electronic artists of the COBODY kind!“

(Hans Hielscher, SPIEGELonline kultur)

Kalle Kalima (git) – Igor Spallati (bass) – Max Andrzejewski (drums)

Kalle Kalima and his band started out playing Finnish folk music and marches by Sibelius. When they realised that their music could be played in the style of American country music standards, it took them by surprise. Their playful musical style and free, sometimes even sloppy approach to their material throws a fresh light on the music they play. ‘High Noon’, the group’s first album, released 2016 by ACT Music, was hailed enthusiastically by the press, as in this review:

“Kalle Kalima, the band’s shining hero, weaves diverse strands of musical tradition, such as Scofield, Frisella and Ribot, into a colourful, resplendent fabric. The way he massages new life into old Western music hits must be called ingenious… Magnificent cinemascopic entertainment between soft and hard. An Oscar-worthy soundtrack full of suspense.” (Sven Thielmann, hifi & records 04/2016)

Madness and idyll: a concert cabaret show and an exuberant finale. ‘Anarchical, crazy, brilliant’, that’s what Süddeutsche Zeitung, a big German newspaper, wrote about one of Gankino Circus’s concerts. Talking about concerts, when these four musicians perform, it’s more of a world-music play, a cabaret spectacle, a subcultural sensation than just a concert. Looking back at their very successful album ‘Franconian Boogaloo’, the band from Diedenhofen are now presenting their next stroke of genius. Gankino Circus attack their homeland’s musical tradition with breakneck tunes and boisterous enthusiasm and lay it at their audience’s feet exuding their unique sense of humour.

Ralf Wieland, an ingenious storyteller and guitarist, will host the programme and reveal the hilarious madness behind the Franconian rural idyll. Also appearing: Dr Simon Schorndanner junior, an elegant doctor’s son in need of a therapy playing the saxophone and clarinet; Maximilan Eder, from the long-standing Eder dynasty, a moody genius on the accordion; and, of course, Johannes Sens, the mischievous percussion jack-of-all-trades, the one who fiercely drums his way into the audience’s hearts and then rips off his clothes at the peak of his virtuosity.

Up-to-date folk music, anarchic enthusiasm and sophisticated wordplay make this band’s performances an odd mixture of which the cabaret artist Matthias Egersdörfer said it was ‘the most beautiful bit of consecrational music I’ve ever heard.’ And, as he admits freely: ‘When I heard Gankino Circus for the first time, I had tears in my eyes.’

Over the last years, Gankino Circus have played countless gigs on cabaret, theatre and festival stages and toured across Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Hungary, the Ukraine, Bulgaria, Serbia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia. In October 2015, the Franconian export hit represented Germany and its music at the EXPO in Milan.

The Concert is a part of our closing party!
(Awards Ceremony, Reception, Award-Winning Films and Live Music: 6/4€)

Festival Club Programme by Udo Muszynski Konzerte + Veranstaltungen
Equipment: oton Tim Altrichter
Bar: Katia Ziebarth / Till Kirchner
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