The Poetic Power of Theory: Aristotle, Heidegger, Spinoza, Marx, Nietzsche, Kant ("What Does it Mean to Orient Oneself in Thinking?"). Seven examples taken from 200 television reportage programmes. "One must take that which is of significance outside of television and introduce it into this medium without compromise." This is particularly true of the gentle violence of theory. The Gentle Cosmetics of Light: Eight one-minute films in large 65mm format. Somewhere between the 65mm film format and the tiny yet robust images of a laptop computer lies the future of film. In addition, a feature film from 2008, The Magic of the Darkened Soul, a film installation for 5 projectors and a documentary film about Alexander Kluge by Angelika Wittlich: All Emotions Believe in a Happy Ending.
The films
"Place and time without reason is violence" - First aired on: August 23, 1998, dtcp on RTL - Many of the words used by philosophers from ancient times are puzzling. The same holds true for texts by Hölderlin that he wrote in the year before he died and signed as Scardanelli. The puzzling texts are often quite lovely. They are thought-provoking without resulting in "comprehension." The motto is: Beware of overly hasty comprehension.
Spinoza and the Modes of God - With Stefano Bonaga, Alexandra Geese - First aired on: October 28, 2007, dtcp on RTL - Being anti-authoritarian in the name of God: That is the position of philosopher Baruch de Spinoza (16321677). The Dutch optician had fallen out of favor with all religious fundamentalists for centuries. In Friedrich Nietzsche's eyes, he was a "kindred spirit." What purpose does thinking serve if it is without joy?
What Does "Good Will" Mean? - With Béatrice Longuenesse - First aired on: October 8, 2007, dtcp on RTL - "Nothing can possibly be conceived in the world, which could be considered good without qualification, except a good will." Various egos are at work, an objective ego and a subjective ego, when dealing with the creation of good will. How do they cooperate? How does good will develop in people?
"Surplus Value" & its Images - With Oskar Negt, Alexander Kluge - First aired on: December 12, 2005, dtcp on RTL - The master Russian director Sergei Eisenstein planned in 1928 to make a film about Das Kapital by Marx. Is the "political economy" made up of abstract concepts or concrete images? What images depict "commodity fetishism," "surplus value," or "primitive accumulation"?
Nietzsche's Gay Science - With Digne Meller-Marcovicz, Annalisa Maggiani, Mario Morleo - First aired on: June 6, 1999, dtcp on RTL - For a long time, Friedrich Nietzsche shared a young Russian woman with his best friend Paul Rée: Lou Andreas-Salomé. When they met, he always brought along a whip and a cart. The erotic doings of this threesome remains a mystery to this day.
The Moon Has Risen - With Joseph Vogl - First aired on: January 10, 2005, dtcp on RTL - The moon, born from the ribs of the earth, has been its companion for billions of years. It is gradually moving away from us at a rate of several meters each year. The entire history of life is bound up with it. Man has directed his fantasies toward it. Today, with the conquering of space by the superpowers, the status of this untouchable has changed.
Thinking for Oneself - With Oskar Negt - First aired on: September 19, 2005, dtcp on RTL - Thinking for oneself means: Seeking the touchstone of truth in one's own self. In his essay "What does it mean to orient oneself in thinking?" from 1786, Immanuel Kant says that this maxim is the principle of the Enlightenment.
The Gentle Makeup of Light New 65 mm minute shorts - With Hannelore Hoger, Peter Berling, Sophie Kluge, Sofie Linke - Cinematography by: Michael Ballhaus - First aired on: September 7, 2007, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica Venice - 65 mm is the technical format with the best qualifications for classic cinema. The images and the history of cinema shift (as if the film were a phoenix) between this SHOWCASING OF THE BIG PICTURE (only possible at film festivals) and the small picture on the laptop you take with you to bed in the evening (broadcasting).
The Magic of the Darkened Soul - With Jutta Winkelmann, Henning Burk, Helge Schneider, Lisa Kuhlen, Eric R. Kandel, Joseph E. Stiglitz, Josef Dvorak, Leo Peichl, Gudrun Harrer, Peter Berling, John Christopher La Bonté, Catherine Naglestad, Sir Henry, Dimiter Gotscheff - First aired on: September 9, 2007, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica Venice - People fight against their oppression. In an opera by Luigi Nono, we see Vladimir Ilyich Lenin as a choir director, but the choir isn't following him. How many things are taking place between the cosmos and the individual body! The cinema projectors have been rattling on for 120 years. The art of film is young. The Magic of the Darkened Soul: They are visible and invisible motion pictures. Pictures that "move within." The title of the film is the result of a misunderstood word at the screening of a documentary film dealing with the Lumière brothers. The documentary film mentioned the "magic of the darkened theaters," referring to the movie theaters. But the misunderstanding is much better and the impetus for a new film.
Multiple Images for 5 Projectors - With Alexander Kluge - First aired on: December 2, 2007, Haus der Kunst Munich - There has always been multi-screen cinema, with the multiple projectors as its idol. Hans Richter's manuscripts for "The battle for film" and "Film opponents of today, film friends of tomorrow" (1929) are still trailblazers for the revolutionary dimension that is still open to cinema as it always was. Simultaneity is dedicated to it. Films consisting of six, twelve or eighteen rotating film sequences are projected onto four screens and onto the ceiling of the auditorium. The projections can be played with a time delay of a minute between them allowing for the creation of new dialogues between the films over lengths of time. The linking that forms a new type of public today (more revolutionary than the invention of the printing press) is actually a structure of all real relationships. Neither the individual aspect nor the entire aspect is true. Only their link to one another is.
All Emotions Believe in a Happy Ending - With Alexander Kluge, Edgar Reitz, Hannelore Hoger, Christoph Schlingensief, Jutta Hoffmann, Oskar Negt, Jürgen Habermas Directed by: Angelika Wittlich First aired on: February 18,2002, 3sat - A study of Alexander Kluge that also emulates his technique of seeking and linking. Angelika Wittlich visits with Alexander Kluge. At his apartment in Munich, Germany, which also accommodates a small studio with a blue screen that he uses to tape his talks for VOX, RTL, and SAT 1. At Elmau Castle, where he wrote many of the stories for "The Chronicle of Emotions." Kluge reads aloud, Kluge recounts. Including stories from his childhood and youth, from the bombing of Halberstadt, his home town. "What you don't understand as a child you will contemplate for the rest of your life." Kluge does it himself as author of films, books, TV programs. He has always had several professions at once. He is a legal advisor, director, author and the person in charge of the dctp's culture magazines. But if you think that these are all different jobs, then you're mistaken: It is always "Cinema of authors."
DVD feature (2-disc DVD)
DVD 1
- "Ort und Zeit ohne Grund ist Gewalt" 1998, 6'
- Spinoza und die Modi Gottes 2007, 15'
- Was heißt "guter Wille"? 2007, 24'
- Der "Mehrwert" & seine Bilder 2005, 20'
- Nietzsches fröhliche Wissenschaft 1999, 15'
- Der Mond ist aufgegangen 2005, 15'
- Selbstdenken 2005, 24'
- Die sanfte Schminke des Lichts 2007, 13'
- Texts by Alexander Kluge as ROM features
- 16page booklet with texts by Alexander Kluge
DVD 2
- Der Zauber der verdunkelten Seele 2007, 49'
- Mehrfachbilder für 5 Projektoren 2008, 23'
- Alle Gefühle glauben an einen glücklichen Ausgang 2002, 78'
- Two new books by Alexander Kluge and an index of the whole Kluge edition as ROM features
Edited by: Filmmuseum München and Goethe-Institut, funded by the Kulturstiftung des Bundes
DVD authoring: Ralph Schermbach
DVD supervision: Stefan Drößler
First edition February 2009
