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Weitermachen Sanssouci

Music and Apocalypse
Forum 2019
© Carlos Andrés Lopéz & Amerikafilm
The Institute for Cybernetics and Simulation Research is threatened with closure – the starting point for this satire about how the university system is to be transformed into a turbo-capitalist research machine. Phoebe Phaidon, a highly qualified, up-and-coming young academic, accepts yet another temporary teaching contract. With her progressive ideals on climate research still more or less intact, she acts as a link to the frustrated, yet combat-ready students who have occupied the library. On the other side of the battle lines are the established faculty, whose will to survive in the cesspool of third-party funding acquisition has ground them down into vain cynics for whom no ridiculous concession to evaluation madness is too grotesque. Max Linz crafts his film with a keen sense of Berlin’s sensitivities, urban backdrops, office décor and academic attire. And he exaggerates decadent university jargon with gusto, its buzzwords functioning almost like the bait in behavioural studies. By the end, the film has practically become a musical, with a catchy tune that could be a post-capitalist revolutionary anthem: “Why can’t it be nice here, why are we not happy?”
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by Max Linz
with Sarah Ralfs, Sophie Rois, Philipp Hauß, Bernd Moss, Maryam Zaree, Bastian Trost, Leonie Jenning, Luis Krawen, Martha von Mechow, Max Wagner Germany 2019 German 80’ Colour World premiere

With

  • Sarah Ralfs (Phoebe Phaidon)
  • Sophie Rois (Brenda Berger)
  • Philipp Hauß (Julius Kelp)
  • Bernd Moss (Alfons Abstract-Wege)
  • Maryam Zaree (Wendela Wendela)
  • Bastian Trost (Dakkar Prinz)
  • Leonie Jenning (Pepa)
  • Luis Krawen (Oswald)
  • Martha von Mechow (Elinor)
  • Max Wagner (Facility Management)

Crew

Director Max Linz
Screenplay Max Linz, Nicolas von Passavant
Cinematography Carlos Andrés López
Editing Bernd Euscher, René Frölke
Music GAJEK
Sound Design Jochen Jezussek
Sound Andreas Mücke-Niesytka
Production Design Sylvester Koziolek
Costumes Pola Kardum
Make-Up Julia Böhm, Ferdinand Föcking
Producers Maximilian Haslberger Amerikafilm, Cooky Ziesche Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg

Produced by

Amerikafilm

https://amerikafilm.de https://amerikafilm.de

Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg

Photos

Max Linz

© Christian Werner

Born in 1984 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. He initially studied film studies and philosophy, followed by film directing. Max Linz works as an author and a director. From 2019 to 2021, he was guest professor for stage design at the Berlin University of the Arts. His films Ich will mich nicht künstlich aufregen (2014) and Weitermachen Sanssouci (2019) were screened at the Berlinale Forum.

Filmography

2011 Die Finanzen des Großherzogs Radikant Film (The Finances of the Grand Duke Radicant Film); 33 min. 2012 Das Oberhausener Gefühl – Eine Depressentation in zehn Folgen; 68 min. 2014 Ich will mich nicht künstlich aufregen (Asta Upset); 84 min., Forum 2014 2019 Weitermachen Sanssouci; 80 min., Forum 2019 2022 L'état et moi; 85 min.

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2022