Thanks to the Goethe-Institut Belgium every year three of the most important German Filmfestivals make a stopover in Brussels, one of them DOK Leipzig on June 13th in BOZAR Cinema.

DOK Leipzig is one of the leading festivals for documentary and animated film. The festival, being the first in the world to combine these two genres, is built on more than 60 years of history and tradition. The festival is a celebration of films with the highest artistic and innovative approaches to storytelling, embodying our values of peace, tolerance, human dignity and freedom of expression.

 

Synopsis:

Werner Herzog meeting Mikhail Gorbachev opens a fresh door to some of the most significant happenings of the late 20th Century from nuclear disarmament to the unification of Germany. It also puts into perspective today’s era of populist political leadership. Herzog and Gorbachev meet three times over a six- month period, and although the last President of the Soviet Union is an ailing man, his mind is sharp. His warmth and humour, and Herzog’s ability to tackle unexpected and personal areas of his life, make the encounters engaging, insightful, moving and important.

Directors Statements

Werner Herzog

Meeting Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev three times over a six-month period was a fascinating and enlightening experience. I was anxious not to film a biography of him but to try to understand the character of such an important figure. Here was a man who changed the course of the twentieth century and whose actions transformed the world I grew up in; yet in Moscow, I found a somewhat tragic and lonely figure, surrounded by people who blamed him for the loss of the Soviet Union and for not fulfilling the promises of perestroika and glasnost that he had hoped would improve their lives. Our conversations were frank, and wide-ranging, from his anger over the lack of progress over nuclear arms reduction that he had initiated with Ronald Reagan to personal tragedies such as the loss of his beloved wife Raisa in 1999. Although Mikhail Sergeyevich was not a physically well man, his intelligence, charisma and sense of purpose were still sharp and illuminating and it was a pleasure to have been able to meet such a charismatic, genuine and significant giant of the 20th century.

André Singer:

When agreeing with MDR (the German ARD Channel) to make a film about the last President of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, the filmmaker in me asked how we could create a narrative that was engaging, unique and attractive to a new generation who had little experience or knowledge of the ‘Gorbachev Years’ and the Cold War? Having collaborated with Werner Herzog over a thirty year period, I thought that his inimitable insights might provide the key. I was therefore delighted when he agreed to participate, co-direct and conduct the interviews with the ailing ex-Soviet leader. It worked wonderfully. There was a great bond between the two men and Werner was able to ask questions other interviewers would not have dreamt of. “What would you like inscribed on your gravestone?” He asked. “ We tried”, Gorbachev replied. “I am a German, and the first German you met you probably wanted to shoot” Werner says referring to the hatred between Russia and Germany stemming from World War 11.

“NO” said Gorbachev, and relayed how as a boy nearby Germans made wonderful biscuits in the shape of rabbits that made the young Gorbachev really like Germans!! We made a film that was deliberately not a stereotype history documentary. Instead of detailing all the events of the 1980s and 90s we followed the personal story seen through Gorbachev’s eyes enabling us to expose the humanity behind political characters that shaped the end of the Cold War, the unification of Germany and the attempts to end nuclear proliferation.

Eventually Gorbachev failed in his attempts to fully reform the old Soviet Union, but the contrast between what is happening in the world now and what he was confronting in the 1980s is dramatic. Whilst making the film we were moved by the loneliness of the man who tackled the impossible and is regarded today by many Russians as the person responsible for the collapse of the Soviet Empire. He is now an ailing 87 year old figure living in isolation in Moscow but still has lessons he wants to give the world and which he relayed to Werner in his interview – particularly about the dangers of nuclear weaponry which he sees with alarm going in the opposite direction to what he and Ronald Reagan fought for thirty years ago. We both felt this was a man still worth listening to and we were privileged to hear his insights and to be able to share them in this film.

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The Goethe Institute, the Mercator Foundation, and its cultural partners have explored these and other questions related to the notion of freedom across Europe in an ambitious two-year project called, ‘Freiraum – On The State Of Freedom In Europe.’

From the 12th to the 17th of March the experiences and findings collected during these two years are being shared in a series of debates, film screenings, concerts and performances taking place at the ZK/U Center for Art and Urbanistics, Berlin.

On opening day, under the high wooden ceiling of an old storehouse in the Moabit neighborhood, a multidisciplinary panel addressed the idea of how we narrate Europe these days.

“My father voted to leave the EU, even if he migrated from Poland years ago,” said Sarah Grochala, playwright and senior lecturer at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, Eurodram Network. “It was as if it was okay for him to migrate and then it was no longer okay for anyone else to do so.”

Grochala expressed the kind of tensions she has experienced in Britain in the current environment of polarization. “I see it in people’s eyes, how they see me as the symbol of everything they stand against. How did we reach this point?”

Her question lingered in the air; the audience shuffled in their seats. On March 12th and 13th, crucial votes are taking place in the UK to determine whether Brexit happens with or without a deal, of whether it is extended. For the time being, uncertainty remains.

Johannes Ebert, Secretary General at the Goethe Institute, spoke about how Europe looked to him after living 15 years abroad. “I had dinner a childhood friend of mine, a French exchange student I met in middle school, and we used to tease each other about how our countries had been foes forever. At at table sat his adopted son from Madagascar, my wife, who is Asian-American, my children, and that moment it became clear to me that several narratives can co-exist in Europe. That’s what makes it so rich.”

A question that has been raised throughout the project is how to bridge the differences with people who do not necessarily agree with the values one has, for example people who hold an anti-migration, anti-diversity stance.

“Should we include people with far-right beliefs in our ’24 hours Europe’ documentary? That was one of the first questions we posed ourselves,” said Britt Beyer, film maker. “And we decided that yes, we also have to include them. Otherwise the documentary will not show the full complexity of European society.”

24H Europe – We are the future (24 Stunden Europa), is a 24-hour expedition into the European continent and to the people who are its future. The program follows 60 protagonists from 25 nations, between the age of 15 and 30.

In the evening there were screenings of films from Sarajevo (Lejla by Sasa Pesevski) about the restricted life Bosnian women currently live; from Krakow (Strajk 88 by Inga Hajdarowicz) about the 1988 steel workers’ strike in Poland; from Belgrade (I am What I am – The Story of Gipsy Mafia) about Roma rap musicians from Serbia who fled the war and move to Germany.

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The exhibition Berlin (1912-1932) at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium is an impressive collection of two decades of German art that represents Weimar culture, Expressionism, Dada and new objectivity in paintings, sculptures, drawings, photographs, films and architecture.

In this period Berlin was the cosmopolitan and mythical artistic hotspot of the twenties which experienced an unprecedented transformation. Social, political and technological upheavals revolutionised postwar society and artistic creation. The exposition highlights this key period with a Belgian view of the German art scene in mind, it pays special attention to an everyday reality that was marked by crisis and utopia, ravage and euphoria, misery and decadence.

This period, also known as the ‘Golden Twenties’, is represented through more than 200 major artworks by recognised artist like Otto Dix, Raoul Hausmann, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Kazimir Malevich, Aleksandr Rodchenko, Max Beckmann, George Grosz, Hannah Höch and more.

Discover the art of Berlin until the end of January at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium in Brussels.

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The group first gathered at Meiser Square, then headed for the city center. The police escorted the demonstrators to the crossroads of Botanique and the inner ring.

The police forces then directed them to Rogier Square, where the group disbanded. This time the police did not have to use water pumps.

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