What is Beuys doing at the documenta 7 in Kassel? Luckily, the camera was there to capture it.

"Everyone was animated by the idea of making a political film," recalls (not only) documentary film director Thomas Frickel of the cultural awakening of the 1980’s in Kassel. A sworn group of film enthusiasts founded the Filmladen Kassel and thus defines a film-oriented countermedia under the motto "Das Kino sind wir". What resulted from this, what role did the documenta and Joseph Beuys play, and how did the Kassel Dokfest emerge from this movement? Livia Theuer not only gives a voice to visionaries such as Ulrike Ottinger (“Bildnis einer Trinkerin”) and Monika Treut (“Bondage”), but also to filmmakers such as Raymond Ley, who hails from the Kassel Filmladen collective and most recently, in collaboration with his wife Hannah, has presented a docudrama about the murder of Walter Lübcke (“Schuss in der Nacht”). Documentarians such as Klaus Stern (“Die Autobahn – Kampf um die A 49”) and Andres Veiel (“Beuys”) and the already mentioned Thomas Frickel, long-time managing director of AG Dok, show how important the decades-long work in Kassel was and what fruits it has already borne. In the spirit of Joseph Beuys, however, more delicate film plants must be created and nurtured! 

Das Kino sind wir is a must-see for all film fans and cineastes!

(Text: Lichter Filmfest)