ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS

Film&Discussion | 30.08.2022
Bundesplatz-Kino | Berlin

Series PSYCHE & FILM
Cooperation of C.G. Jung Society Berlin with Bundesplatz-Kino and dfk*films
Tuesday, 30 August 2022 at 8:30 pm
Moderation: Edith Rosin | Speaker: Donat Keusch * Gabriele Sindler

ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS | OmU

USA 1955 | 89′ | screenplay by Margaret “Peg” Fenwick | story by Edna L. & Harry Lee | directed by Douglas Sirk aka Hans Detlef Sierck | with Jane Wyman | Rock Hudson | Agnes Moorehead

Classic – considered to be a masterpiece among melodramas and was the unrivalled model for Fassbinder’s ANGST ESSEN SEELE AUF (1974) and Todd Haynes’ FAR FROM HEAVEN (2002).

Wealthy widow Cary Scott falls in love with her much younger nurseryman Ron Kirby. This causes gossip at the country club. Her children are ashamed that she wants to remarry below her status and buy her a television as a substitute for love and partnership. Ron is an independent man who can ignore the petty conventions of society, but can Cary also ignore them? In timeless manner, author Peg Fenwick tells a story about false morals, suppressed lust for life and the courage of a woman.

Produced in the USA and directed by Hans Detlef Sierck from Hamburg, who left Germany with his wife in 1937. As Douglas Sirk, he became world-famous as a filmmaker in the 1950s and is still considered a style-setter for the genre of melodrama.

We are showing this classic in the themed series SUPPRESSED LUST.

About the speaker:

Edith Rosin studied psychology at the Free University of Berlin, trained as an analyst at the C.G. Jung Institute in Berlin, has worked in her own practice since 1996, and has been a lecturer in Active Imagination at the Lindau Psychotherapy Days since 2012.

Donat Keusch studied psychology and journalism. Experience in film distribution, world sales, production and as a lecturer. Most successful film: “YOL – The Way” (Golden Palm). For 30 years script analyst/consultant/writer under pseudonym or unnamed. Motto: “The script is the film!”

Gabriele Sindler Political Scientist | Screenplay Expert | Lecturer

Location: Bundesplatz-Kino | Bundesplatz 14 | 10715 Berlin
Fee: 10,50 € | reduced 9 €

#FEMALE PLEASURE

Film&Discussion | 26.07.2022 | 8:30 p.m.
Bundesplatz-Kino | Berlin

Series PSYCHE & FILM
Cooperation of the C.G. Jung Society Berlin with Bundesplatz-Kino and dfk*films
Moderation: Edith Rosin | Referent: Gabriele Sindler

#FEMALE PLEASURE

CH 2018 | 101′ | Concept & Director Barbara Miller | Cinematography Anne Misselwitz, Gabriela Betschart, Akiba Jiro | Editing Isabel Meier

The documentary film unmasks global, socially, culturally and religiously traditioned oppression of female sexuality.

Barbara Miller observes five courageous, strong, smart women of five world religions. She shows their successful, risky struggles for a self-determined female sexuality, for an equal, respectful coexistence between the sexes.

The protagonists break the taboo of silence and shame imposed on them by society, their religious communities along with their archaic patriarchal structures.

Leyla Hussein (from Somalia),
Rokudenashiko (in Japan),
Doris Wagner (in Germany and the Catholic world),
Vithika Yadav (in India) and
Deborah Feldman (in the USA and the Orthodox Jewish world).

Each of these women is working for sexual education and self-determination for all women with incredible positive energy and all their strength. They fight against social, religious and culturally traditional norms and barriers. Each of them paid a high price – they were and are publicly defamed, persecuted and threatened, rejected by their environment, accused by religious leaders and fanatical believers and even threatened with death.

Often awarded. Deservedly so.

About the speakers:

Edith Rosin Studied psychology at the Free University of Berlin, trained as an analyst at the C.G. Jung Institute in Berlin, has worked in her own practice since 1996. Since 2012 lecturer for Active Imagination at the Lindau Psychotherapy Days.

Gabriele Sindler Political Scientist | Screenplay Expert | Lecturer

Location: Bundesplatz-Kino | Bundesplatz 14 | 10715 Berlin
Fee: 10,50 € | reduced 9 €

Golden Apricot, Yerevan, 2022: “YOL – The Full Version”, restored and expanded raises festival consciousness

By Alex Deleon for filmfestivals.com
16.07.2022 | ALEX FARBA’s blog

19th Golden Apricot Film Festival Reviews, Yerevan, 2022 YOL, The Full Version, restored and expanded raises festival consciousness. 

Freshly minted and fully packed to stir the soul!

The Turkish film YOL (The Way | The Road)  caused quite a stir when it was “rescued from prison” and presented at the 1982 Cannes film festival where it shared the  top prize, the Palme d’Or, jointly with MISSING by Costa Gavras.  (Currently a Special Guest of GIAFF)

The film was banned in Turkey for many years because of the way it showed the oppression of the Kurdish minority — a no-not to this very day — and the implicit harsh criticism of Turkish society in general.

In 1982 the story concerns the varying fates of five  prisoners, three Kurdish , who are granted one week’s home leave from jail for the Bayram holiday and find to their dismay that they face continued oppression outside of prison from their families, the culture, and the government.  The central story is that of Seyit Ali (Tarik Akan) who is expected to kill his beloved wife, Zine, who turned to prostitution during his absence and has been held prisoner by the family awaiting his return to perform the  Honor Killing required by Islam. Seyit is determined to do his religious duty but has a change of heart when he sees her and their two children again — which will lead to enormous tragic consequences.

 

The film  was written, and directed —  incredibly via instruction from his prison cell,  by Yılmaz Güney, at the time Turkey’s most popular movie star and, as such, a national idol.

A parallel side story, itself a thriller, is the way in which  Donat Keusch who is Swiss and the current distributor of a restored  full version of YOL, went to Turkey and personally smuggled Güney out of prison on false papers,  then miraculously managed to get him to France.  Whew — whutta story!

What is noteworthy is how gripping and once again relevant YOL is, now forty years later. I think a better English translation would be “On The Road”… from then to now!

The YOL shown at Cannes in 1982 was an abridged version rushed to be shown at the festival not completely finished — and was yet compelling enough to merit a share of the grand prix, appropriately paired with Gavras’s Political thriller MISSING.

Having lived with YOL for four decades Keusch always wanted to bring out a Full Version which he finally masterminded and Brought back to Cannes in 2017.

The fleshed out new edition  contains a sixth story in addition to the original five and,  crucially for the orientation of foreign viewers,  onscreen identification of each city visited by the temporarily free Kurdish jailbirds.  The final scenes in which Seyit is desperately trying to save his estranged wife from freezing to death in a driving snowstorm is simply excruciating not to mention bone chilling.  As it so graphically represents the rejection of the  whole idea of “honor killing”  which  brings such poisonous dishonor to Islam.

At any rate “YOL – The Full Version” was for me the high point ot the week and a reminder of how powerful cinema can be in the right hands, regardless of national origin. The power of YOL is that it does not preach, but merely tells a gripping set of stories that will move you to your own conclusions, if any.

 

Mr. Keusch and his DFK organization have done a great service to the film community at large by bringing this forgotten Turkish masterpiece  back out of the dark at a time when a new Turkish dictatorship is very much darkening the news. Gabriele Sindler and  Donat Keusch have been all over town visiting museums and other places and persons of interest.  At lunch Keusch retold the incredible tale of helping Yılmaz Güney escape from jail and flee the country, which he is now putting into book form, — so hair raising a tale that I could already see the movie that may eventually come out of it.

I  then asked Mr. Keusch about his overall impression of the festival.  His answer was another chilling eye opener calling attention to the obvious — — “The worst festival I have ever attended — there is no awareness of the art of film here —  Terrible projection in the main venues is the norm, and too many bad  prints undermine everything … plus very bad festival organization,  relying primarily on amateur volunteer help …”

The dark side of stark reality,  not  meant specifically to spoil the fun

 

 

Master Class @ Moscow Kurdish Film Festival | July 2022

EUPHORIA & MISERY of DEVELOPING STORIES, SCRIPTS and FILMS with RELEVANT CONTENT

Lecture & discussion

Donat F. Keusch | Gabriele C. Sindler
dfk*films & script*service | www.dfkfilms.com

In 1982 Yılmaz Güney’s film YOL got the most important festival award of the world: The Golden Palm in Cannes. But the CEO of the production company, Donat F. Keusch, still didn’t know what makes a film successful. After having produced 20 films and having distributed more than 300 films which won all sort of prizes and were praised by film critics, he asked himself: How is it possible that 80% of our films attract only a small audience? Why are most of our “great films” flops? So, he looked for the basics and started to concentrate on the essence of film: STORY and SCRIPT.

Today his multilingual team of dfk*script*service, run by Gabriele Sindler, analyzes 120 scripts per year from all over the world. They are convinced that filmmaking is a process of collective creation and that every successful film is based on a good and professional script. A film’s impact on the audience is intrinsically bound to the quality of its script. Based on a bad script you will shoot a bad film with no chance to become successful – with a good script your chance rises to 50% at least. The definitions of a good story and a good script and much more will be part of our lecture.

Donat Keusch and Gabriele Sindler will present a brief impression how they evaluate, analyze stories and scripts. We kindly invite you to ask all sorts of professional questions.

Lecture Moscow | July 2022 | ENGLISH & KURDISH | SORANI

Lecture Moscow | July 2022 | ENGLISH & PERSIAN

Lecture Moscow | July 2022 | ENGLISH & TURKISH

YOL – The Full Version | Opening Film @ Moscow Kurdish Film Festival

Opening ceremony and screening of YOL – The Full Version
in Moscow | June 29, 2022 (Wed) | 19:00 | Cinema center “October” HALL 1
screening in  St. Petersburg |  June 29, 2022 (Wed)  | 20:00 | Cinema “Karo 11 Ohta” HALL 5

41 years ago, the Turkish military junta brutally attacked the opposition.  This is closely intertwined with the history of the most famous Turkish film. For decades YOL has moved audiences all over the world. The unfinished version won the most coveted award, the Golden Palm at the 1982 Cannes film festival. One can watch the masterpiece of Turkish-Kurdish film history, complete and restored as “YOL – The Full Version”. This is a must-see for anyone who wants to understand Turks and Kurds – and you will learn a lot about yourself.

The people portrayed in the film are Turkish and Kurdish, but such people are to be found wherever there is a struggle against oppression. They are all prisoners, some behind bars, many are prisoners of their own minds, but all are prisoners of the state.

In its depiction of the living conditions of six prisoners on home leave, YOL portrays an outline of the human landscape of Turkey. We experience how the people are oppressed, in particular, the Kurds and women. The patriarchal structure and its attitude to morality make up part of the repression.

The story is predominantly told through the fate of three prisoners, Seyit Ali, Mehmet Salih and Ömer. Three men who are torn from their daily lives. They had hoped that three days would suffice to forget the humiliation of everyday prison life and solve their most pressing issues at home. These shattered dreams make their crippling circumstances seem all the worse. So much for a glorious life of freedom! Ömer breaks out, Mehmet is shot and Seyit Ali remains a prisoner of his indecision. The struggle for a better life must continue and will last a long time…

Yılmaz Güney, Paris 1982

YOL – Tam Versiyon (2017, Altyazılı)

12 Eylül 1980’de Türkiye’de gerçekleşen ve toplumsal muhalefete vahşice saldıran askeri darbe, Türkiye sinemasının yüz akı olan YOL’un hikayesiyle iç içe geçmiştir. Yıllardır dünyanın pek çok yerinde karşılaştığı sayısız seyircide her zaman bir iz bırakan YOL’un tamamlanmamış versiyonu, 1982 yılında Cannes Film Festivali’nde en büyük ödül olan Altın Palmiye Ödülü’nü kazandı. Türk-Kürt sinema tarihinin bu başyapıtı eksiksiz biçimde restore edildi ve  “YOL – Tam Versiyon“ adıyla yeniden seyircinin karşısına çıktı. Yılmaz Güney’in onur ve tutku, cesaret ve acı, merhamet ve zulüm, dehşet, öfke, aşk ve hayat hakkındaki bu baş döndürücü filmi, 1980’lerden beri güncelliğinden hiçbir şey yitirmedi. Film, Yılmaz Güney’in orijinal kurgu planına göre titiz biçimde yeniden kurgulandı ve Cannes’daki süre kısıtlaması nedeniyle ilk versiyondan çıkarılan bir ana karakter filme yeniden dahil edildi.

Bu filmdeki insanlar Türkler ve Kürtlerdir, ancak bu hikayelerde anlatılan insanları, baskıya karşı mücadele verilen her yerde bulabilirsiniz. Kahramanların hepsi mahpuslardır, bir kısmı demir parmaklıkların, çoğu da kendi ahlak anlayışlarının mahpusudurlar, ancak hepsi devletin hapishanesinde tutulmaktadırlar. YOL, altı mahkumun ev izni için çıktıkları seyahati anlatırken, Türkiye’nin beşeri bir haritasını çiziyor. Bu filmle, insanların, özellikle de Kürtlerin ve kadınların nasıl baskıya uğradığını seyrediyoruz. Ataerkil yapıların ve ahlakın nasıl baskının parçası olduğunu izliyoruz. Hikaye, koşulların onları sürüklediği güzergahlara ilerleyen üç mahkumun, yani Seyit Ali, Mehmet Salih ve Ömer’in yazgıları üzerinden anlatılmıştır. Bu mahkumların umudu, hapishanenin aşağılayıcı koşullarını unutmak ve hanelerindeki en acil meseleleri çözmek için bir haftalık izin süresinin yeterli olmasıdır. Yıkılan hayalleri ise yenilgilerini daha çarpıcı hale getirmektedir. Özgürlük günlerinde takdir görecek bir hayat için çıkarlar bu yola! Ömer devletten kaçar, Mehmet vurulur ve Seyit Ali de kendi tereddüdünün esiri olmaya devam eder. Daha iyi bir hayat için verilen kavga devam etmelidir ve uzun sürecektir…
Yılmaz Güney, Paris 1982

DER ANSTÄNDIGE (German version only)

Film&Discussion | 21.06.2022

Bundesplatzkino | Berlin

Series PSYCHE & FILM
Cooperation of the C.G. Jung Society Berlin with Bundesplatz-Kino and dfk*films
Tuesday, 21.06.2022 at 8:30 pm

Moderation: Edith Rosin | Speaker: Donat Keusch * Gabriele Sindler
DER ANSTÄNDIGE
D 2014 | 94′ | directed by Vanessa Lapa, screenplay co-written with Ori Weisbrod | edited by Noam Amit, Sharon Brook

In 2014, private letters of Heinrich Himmler, the “architect of the Final Solution,” were published, which had been in private Jewish possession for decades. Vanessa Lapa has used the Himmler estate and other archival material (151 sources from 53 archives in 13 different countries) to make a documentary about a man who was at peace with himself, both professionally and personally.
Lapa transforms the documents into a psychogram about the perverse thinking of a senior member of the Nazi regime. Using his own records, the filmmaker exposes Himmler’s ideals, plans and most secret thoughts. She shows photos and films and underpins everything exclusively with quotations left by Himmler, his wife, children and the Nazi criminal’s mistress.
DER ANSTÄNDIGE premiered in 2014 in the Berlinale section “Panorama Dokumente” and received the Van Leer Award for Best Israeli Long Documentary at the Jerusalem Film Festival.

About the speakers:
Edith Rosin studied psychology at the FU Berlin, trained as an analyst at the C.G. Jung Institute Berlin, working in her own practice since 1996. Since 2012 lecturer for Active Imagination at the Lindau Psychotherapy Days.
Donat Keusch studied psychology and journalism. Experience in film distribution, world sales, production, screenwriting and as a teacher. Most successful film: “YOL – The Way” (Golden Palm). For 30 years working as a screenplay analyst/consultant/writer under pseudonym or unnamed. Motto: “The screenplay is the film!”
Gabriele Sindler Political Scientist | Screenplay Expert | Lecturer

Location: Bundesplatz-Kino | Bundesplatz 14 | 10715 Berlin
Fee: 10,50 € | reduced 9 €

AUS EINEM DEUTSCHEN LEBEN (German version only)

Film&Discussion | 31.05.2022

Bundesplatzkino | Berlin

PSYCHE & FILM
Cooperation of the C.G. Jung Society Berlin with Bundesplatz-Kino and dfk*films

Tuesday, 31.05.2022 at 8:30 pm
Moderation: Edith Rosin | Speaker: Donat Keusch * Gabriele Sindler

AUS EINEM DEUTSCHEN LEBEN
D 1977 | 145′ | Written & directed by Theodor Kotulla based on a novel by Robert Merle
with: Götz George | Kurt Hübner | Elisabeth Schwarz | Hans Korte | Matthias Fuchs

The life of Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höß, uniquely embodied by Götz George.

AUS EINEM DEUTSCHEN LEBEN is based on the novel Der Tod ist mein Beruf (Death is My Profession) by the French Robert Merle, who was able to draw on numerous documents because Höß, despite false papers identifying him as Franz Lang, was arrested alive and willingly gave information. He saw himself as a recipient of orders and thus represents the prime example of a high-ranking desk jockey of the Nazi regime.

Kotulla’s 1977 feature film traces the career of its protagonist, named Franz Lang. AUS EINEM DEUTSCHEN LEBEN dispenses with a pronounced staging, which would always be a judgment as well. Without musical accompaniment, the film describes the most important events in Franz Lang’s life in fourteen chapters. With his non-judgmental approach, Kotulla gives the audience the opportunity for level-headed reflection: at what point in his “career” could Lang have left this system?

Lang’s career seems almost unspectacular and straightforward, the genocide he organized inevitable. AUS EINEM DEUTSCHEN LEBEN succeeds in illustrating the nature of an authoritarian system and documenting the despondency of the individual.

A rare opportunity to see and discuss this outstanding film work in the cinema, which is unfortunately more topical than ever.

About the speakers:
Edith Rosin studied psychology at the FU Berlin, trained as an analyst at the C.G. Jung Institute Berlin, working in her own practice since 1996. Since 2012 lecturer for Active Imagination at the Lindau Psychotherapy Days.
Donat Keusch studied psychology and journalism. Experience in film distribution, world sales, production, screenwriting and as a teacher. Most successful film: “YOL – The Way” (Golden Palm). For 30 years working as a screenplay analyst/consultant/writer under pseudonym or unnamed. Motto: “The screenplay is the film!”
Gabriele Sindler Political Scientist | Screenplay Expert | Lecturer

Location: Bundesplatz-Kino | Bundesplatz 14 | 10715 Berlin
Fee: 10,50 € | reduced 9 €

2 ODER 3 DINGE, DIE ICH VON IHM WEISS (German Version only)

Film&Discussion | 26.04.2022

Bundesplatzkino | Berlin

Series PSYCHE & FILM
Cooperation of the C.G. Jung Society Berlin with Bundesplatz-Kino and dfk*films

Tuesday, 26.04.2022 at 8:30 p.m.

Guest: Author and director Malte Ludin, son of a war criminal
Moderation: Edith Rosin

2 ODER 3 DINGE, DIE ICH VON IHM WEISS

D 2005 | 85′ | Screenplay & Director Malte Ludin | Cinematography Franz Lustig | Editing Hanka Knipper, Amos Ponger

Malte Ludin’s documentary begins with the words: “This is the story of my father, a war criminal, my mother, my siblings, nieces and nephews. A typical German story.

Family legends and historical truth collide in the film about the legacy of prominent Nazi Hanns Ludin, who was executed for war crimes in 1947. The son Malte Ludin, breaks through 60 years of silence and repression. He addresses and shows his father’s crimes and questions his sisters who continue to deny them. The film is an intimate look at the descendants of a Nazi perpetrator, most of whom refuse to accept their families’ history in Nazi Germany and confront the murderous family shadow.

Malte Ludin, who barely knew his father, makes these processes of repression visible. His courageous film is an indispensable provocation.

Quote from the FBW jury, which unanimously awarded the rating “especially valuable”:

“2 ODER 3 DINGE, DIE ICH VON IHM WEISS is one of the most exciting and intense German documentaries of recent years. In its psychological complexity and aesthetic precision, the film is a remarkable one-off. The extremely relationally reflected German family cosmos is exemplary as an antithesis to the current tendencies of repressing history and frivolous media games with taboo violations. Last but not least, this is a cinematically virtuosic work (camera Franz Lustig), whose sound level and music are also highly interesting.”

Following the screening, Malte Ludin will discuss his film with the audience.

About the speakers:

Malte Ludin, born* 1942 in Bratislava (Pressburg, Slovakia) studied political science in Tübingen and at the FU Berlin as well as directing at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (DFFB). Since 1976 Malte Ludin has been working as a freelance author, filmmaker and producer.

Edith Rosin studied psychology at the FU Berlin, trained as an analyst at the C.G. Jung Institute Berlin, has been working in her own practice since 1996. Since 2012 lecturer for Active Imagination at the Lindau Psychotherapy Days.

Location: Bundesplatz Cinema | Bundesplatz 14 | 10715 Berlin
Fee: 10,50 € | reduced 9 €