SYMPATHIZERS – A GERMAN AUTUMN
A FILM BY FELIX MOELLER
DE 2018, 101 MIN
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SYNOPSIS
"No finer nuance seems possible now. They'll want to see a lynching.", noted Margarethe von Trotta, the mother of the director, in October 1977 in her diary - that was at the peak of the so-called "German Autumn". SYMPATHIZERS is a personal approach to the agitated times of the 1970s when many artists and intellectuals were branded as sympathizers of the Baader-Meinhof-Group. Why did the protests of '68 culminate in a militant movement, why did so many people, before the acts of violence, have sympathies for Baader-Meinhof's struggle for a better and just world? Based on Margarethe von Trottas diaries the film by Felix Moeller is at once the story of one German family, the history of a period in German film and the portrait of a society.
With: Margarethe von Trotta, Volker Schlöndorff, Peter Schneider, Marius Müller-Westernhagen, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, René Böll, Christof Wackernagel, Karl-Heinz Dellwo
CREW
Written & Directed by: Felix Moeller
Director of Photography: Börres Weiffenbach, Kumaran Herold
Editing: Gisela Zick
Visual Effects: Mackevision Medien Design/Francesco Faranna, André Christopher Gerhardt
Composer: Jörg Lemberg
Original Sound: Helge Haack
Sound Mix: Linus Nickl
Color Grading: Till Beckmann
Assistant Director: Lucy Jarnach
Line Producer: Jan Bullerdieck
Postproduction Supervisor: Uli Kunz
Postproduction Services: cine plus Media Service
Commissioning Editors: Christian von Behr, rbb/ARTE; Rolf Bergmann, rbb; Simone Reuter, SWR
Producers: Amelie Latscha, Felix Moeller
A Blueprint Film Production in Co-production with Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg, Südwestrundfunk, in cooperation with ARTE. Funded by Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Filmfernsehfonds Bayern, MFG Filmförderung Baden-Württemberg, Deutscher Filmförderfonds..
Release: Germany, May 24, 2018 distributed by NFP marketing & vertrieb
Festivals: Festival des Deutschen Films Ludwigshafen (2018), Goethe Institut Istanbul (2018), Bari Film Festival (2019).
World sales: Bavaria Media
PRESS
“A suitcase full of stories.” Der Spiegel
“In his profound cinematic reflection, specialist of political film Felix Moeller analyses in an unglorifying manner the ambivalent dilemma of the left-wingers in the Roaring Seventies in the face of Red Army Faction terror.” Applaus
“The film deals at once with history and family history. This is what makes the documentary so interesting.” Berliner Morgenpost
“What makes the film so different from the usual TV documentary is that it researches and listens with great patience, the lack of know-it-all commentary and at the same time the openness of the subjective perspective, the courage to face contradiction.”
EPD Film
“By relying on Margarethe von Trotta‘s tremendously zeitgeisty notes, the film quickly catapults the viewer who is interested in contemporary history into the Roaring Seventies in Germany.”
KINO-ZEIT.de
"The viewer learns a lot about the ideologies, controversies and fears of the time. This is particularly thrilling when mother and son are debating. It is almost like the classical role models – the rebellious child, the moderating parents – have been inverted.” Münchner Merkur
“A suitcase full of stories.” Der Spiegel
“In his profound cinematic reflection, specialist of political film Felix Moeller analyses in an unglorifying manner the ambivalent dilemma of the left-wingers in the Roaring Seventies in the face of Red Army Faction terror.” Applaus
“The film deals at once with history and family history. This is what makes the documentary so interesting.” Berliner Morgenpost
“What makes the film so different from the usual TV documentary is that it researches and listens with great patience, the lack of know-it-all commentary and at the same time the openness of the subjective perspective, the courage to face contradiction.”
EPD Film
“By relying on Margarethe von Trotta‘s tremendously zeitgeisty notes, the film quickly catapults the viewer who is interested in contemporary history into the Roaring Seventies in Germany.”
KINO-ZEIT.de
"The viewer learns a lot about the ideologies, controversies and fears of the time. This is particularly thrilling when mother and son are debating. It is almost like the classical role models – the rebellious child, the moderating parents – have been inverted.” Münchner Merkur
“Felix Moeller does not focus on a general search for truth but rather on a many-voiced recollection of a time that was marked by polarization.” Tagesspiegel
“This impressive documentary reveals among others, that the sympathies for the Baader-Meinhof Group were also an ideological fashion accessory and that not only the state has made mistakes during the German Autumn.” Süddeutsche Zeitung
"It is also about ethical correctness, about the view of the past from today’s perspective. What makes the film so remarkable, is that the views are very diverging.” Zitty
“This impressive documentary reveals among others, that the sympathies for the Baader-Meinhof Group were also an ideological fashion accessory and that not only the state has made mistakes during the German Autumn.” Süddeutsche Zeitung
"It is also about ethical correctness, about the view of the past from today’s perspective. What makes the film so remarkable, is that the views are very diverging.” Zitty