Pia Frankenberg’s films aren’t interested in capturing clichés. They don’t make simple conclusions about our world, but show the world as as chaotic and unpredictable as it is. After two short films and two feature-length films, “Never Sleep Again” (1992) was the last film she made as a director. Her films tell the stories without elevating themselves above the events and situations, the experiences of their protagonists. They are revealing documentations, that don’t hesitate to confront the conflicts of their time and prove themselves to be both personally and politically. “The Assualt” (1984) is a reaction on new guidelines for film funding, which in 1984 were committed to commerce instead of art. In her film, Pia Frankenberg turns a statement by the former spokesperson of the Federal Minister of the Interior against itself and counters with a twist into the absurd. In “Noisy Martha” (1985), she appears on screen in the role of a director. The scenes of a filmmaker’s everyday life are interrupted by interview situations in which the director expresses her thoughts on questions of female aesthetics in the cinema.
In “Never Sleep Again”, three friends begin a chaotic odyssey through post-reunification Berlin. For one of them a camcorder becomes a handy tool with which she relates herself to the present ruins of old systems. As reflections with open ends that do not hide themselves as such, Pia Frankenberg’s films remain important and unique in German cinema. They are as radical, rebellious and provocative as they are light-footed and crazy and are therefore almost unrivaled to this day.
Five films by Pia Frankenberg can be rediscovered on demand at Filmgalerie 451. The films will be released in December on DVD accompanied by several screenings of her films in Berlin and Hamburg.
Save the Date
To the release of the DVD box set “Pia Frankenberg - Films”, 5 cinemas in Berlin and Hamburg are showing restored versions of the director’s films, accompanied by film discussions.
Cinema tour with Pia Frankenberg:
06.12. — Lichtblick-Kino Berlin
19:00 Noisy Martha, Pre film: The Assualt
07.12. — Klick-Kino Berlin
20:00 Never sleep again, Pre film: Sehnsucht nach dem ganz Anderen
10.12. — Abaton-Kino Hamburg
15:00 Noisy Martha, Pre film: The Assualt
17:00 Never sleep again, Pre film: Sehnsucht nach dem ganz Anderen
11.12. — Klick-Kino Berlin
20:00 Noisy Martha, Pre film: The Assualt
12.12. — Wolf Kino Berlin
18:30 Never sleep again
13.12. — Lichtblick-Kino Berlin
20:00 Never sleep again, Pre film: Sehnsucht nach dem ganz Anderen
14.12. — Filmrauschpalast Berlin
19:00 Never sleep again
21:00 Burning Beds
16.12. — Klick-Kino Berlin
20:00 Burning Beds (without Q&A)
18.12. — Filmrauschpalast Berlin
19:00 Noisy Martha (without Q&A)