In the German competition at Oberhausen, documentary-style filming was mixed with fantasy whilst complete "mini-features" lay side-by-side with others that depicted a single event. Not only were audiences overwhelmed by this variety, but also the programmers, and little effort was made in the German section to try and categorise films. Only a half-hearted talk after each screening tried to draw some strands or themes out of the showings. This was just as true of the second screening of the competition

In Ein Wunder (A Miracle, 1999), by Stanislaw Mucha, people are filmed looking at and discussing what they perceive to be Mary, the Mother of God. The camera exclusively films them as they discuss what they are seeing. Some see nothing. A child is "guided" by her father to what she should be seeing. An old woman sees Mary as wearing a head scarf - she too is wearing one. The conversations these pilgrims and villagers have with each other reveal much about themselves, rather than about what they are seeing. The suspense is maintained throughout the 10 minutes of this documentary, and although we as a cinema audience are never shown what the pilgrims see, we do not feel cheated. Mucha obviously has an eye for the quirky and humorous.

The plot thickens

Sülbiye V Günar's Maries Herz (Marie's Heart, 1999), although quite traditional in style, is eloquent and keeps the viewer interested until the end. It is essentially the journey of a young woman from country bumpkin to worldly wise town girl. En route she sleeps with a salesman, is proposed to by a Kenyan, studies philosophy, works as a cleaner, and becomes a fashion designer. All this in just 10 minutes. Not only might you be left feeling a little breathless, you might also wonder how much plot Günar would be able to squeeze into a full length feature.

New York Is Disappearing (1999), by Heiko Kalmbach, resembles a New York stream-of-consciousness conversation. It takes place in a cluttered, shambolic flat. The subjects are an extremely neurotic couple, who might be brother and sister. Neither of them appear ever to get out and they do not answer the phone. They seem to be in a sixties New York/Warhol-type time-warp. We are left with a feeling of that we have glimpsed a world that has long disappeared.

Travelling to Germany soon? Choose Hotels Central at HotelsGermany.net to reserve a hotel online at a great price.

Petra Biondina Volpe's The Kiss (1999), is by contrast a beautiful, atmospheric study of an actor preparing to go on stage. From the moment she is woken up by her dresser and her young lover leaves her bed, to the moment she finally has her make-up on, we are mesmerised. Each character has their own agenda. The diva slips into her other character as more makeup is applied. Her dresser/makeup artist gently applies each brush stroke of makeup, as if she were doing it for a lover. The sensuality of the procedure is sealed with the final unexpected kiss the actor plants on her make-up artist's lips.

Hobart (1999) by Caspar Stracke is - probably - an interesting exercise in film-making. However, it leaves you with the impression that for Stracke if a film is based on a surrealist novel - which this is - it is perfectly acceptable for it not to make any sense at all. The film evokes the world of 1920s surrealist cinema, using only music as with silent films. The absense of explantory intertitles though meant that the action's only function is to precipitate a series of questions, without supplying any answers: Why does the woman fall on the bed when she is already dead? Why is she then alive again? Why are there lots of men lying in a concrete tube? Why are they then all dressed in white, in a white room? Why do they try to get up with sticks tied to them?

The irrepressible von Praunheim

Can I Be Your Bratwurst Please? (1999) by Rosa von Praunheim is, by contrast, easy to understand and great fun. It has the usual trade mark mix of gay absurdist humour, though this time with The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover and The Rocky Horror Picture Show overtones and a touch of cannibalism thrown in for good measure.

Real-life porno star Jeff Stryker, in his first non-porn movie, is a real crowd pleaser, and all the other cast, whatever their sexual orientation, think so too. All the actors, however small a cameo part they play, are great in this 30-minute short, and the plot twists are by turns hilarious and revolting. Von Praunheim at his best!

On the whole, the technical standards involved in making these films were all high. At their best - such as with von Praunheim - the results are masterful. However, with several of them there simply is the feeling that the film-maker is mechanically executing a brief they had been given.

Elke de Wit, 5 June 2000

Also of interest:

• Revolutionary Spaces
  
  More Oberhausen films reviewed
• Sex=mc²
  
  Rosa von Praunheims's Der Einstein des Sex
• The Kinoeye Archive German film page

Moving on:

• Return to CER front page