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03
1967
- Der Wahlhelfer
- Der Wahlhelfer deals with the development of a young trainee lawyer and FDP (Free Democrat Party) supporter who becomes a revolutionary. As it is an agitation film one cannot really speak of 'development'. Harald Loch's political improvement takes place more 'by leaps and bounds' as indeed everything in the mid-sixties happened 'by leaps and bounds': the people's war in Vietnam; the escalation of class struggle in West Germany and West Berlin; the transformation of the SDS (Socialist Student Association) from an abandoned appendage of the SPD (Social Democratic Party) into the spearhead of the extra- parliamentary opposition; and the intensification of the conflict between students and administration of the German Film and Television Academy Berlin. Besides the story of a young man's politicization, the film tells of Kreuzberg, of the problems faced by the FDP in a traditional working class district of Berlin and about a love in Algeria. In other words, it is well worth examining it more closely. (Klaus Kreimeier)
- director, scriptwriter: Harun Farocki cinematographer:
- Thomas Hartwig production: DFFB, Berlin-West
- length: 14 min.
- format: 16mm, b/w, 1:1,37
1967
- Die Worte des Vorsitzenden
- The Words of The Chairman
- I was on a ship - this sounds like a novel: I had just embarked for Venezuela on June 2, 1967 as the Shah of Iran was arriving in West Berlin. There were protests, a student was shot, and a new form of opposition movement came into existence. The idea for this film came to me while I was still aboard the ship. The film is structured like a commercial. The film takes a metaphor literally: words can become weapons. However, it also shows that these weapons are made of paper. The weapon spoiled everything for the Shah and his wife, theyare wearing paper bags on their heads with faces drawn on them - the kind of bags worn by Iranian students during demonstrations to hide their identity from the Savak, the Iranian Secret Service. When I showed this film to the audiences in the late 60s, it was highly praised. I think people understood then that over obviousness is also a form of irony. This capacity was lost a few years later. I think it's coming back today. (Harun Farocki )
- director: Harun Farocki assistant director: Helke Sander
- scriptwriter: Harun Farocki, based on texts by Lin Piao
- cinematographer: Holger Meins production: DFFB, Berlin-West
- length: 3 min. format: 16mm, b/w,1:1,37
- first broadcast: 27.06.1969, ZDF