Films 1994

1994

Die Umschulung
Yes.Yes.Yes.Yes.Yes.Yes.. This is the record of a successful sales discussion. When the buyer has said five times, the teacher explains, his brain has become so sluggish, that he'll say yes a sixth time. The teacher comes from West Germany. The classroom is in a Clubhotel in Tessin. The pupils come from East Germany. They are employees of two East German building firms now belonging to a West German owner. Harun Farocki's new documentary "Die Umschulung" is an instructional film concerning work on the inner unity of the country. […] The refinement of the educational method captured by Farocki, lies in self-reference. The dialog in the lesson, which is intended to teach the art of sales talk, is itself conducted in the form of a sales talk. The teacher weaves in anecdotes, asks rhetorical questions, entices and warns. Goal and method are one; a reduction of complexity. "When you leave here, your vocabulary will be significantly reduced."The laws of supply and demand govern the marketplace for words too. The rise in demand for 'yes' corresponds to the shortfall in demand for 'no'. View More »

1994

Die führende Rolle
1989, the fall of the Berlin wall. Television crews trying, for days on end, to get an emblematic image which would crystallise the event: to no avail. Five years later, Farocki delivers a montage film of this footage, trying to define this ‚absent image'. "Today, 5 years later, this material shows the extent to which the collective conscience was affected by the event, as well as all the efforts made to repress the trauma" declares the filmmaker.