melting ink

[jeder schreibt für sich allein]

dominik graf | germany, 2023 | 167'

based on anatol regnier's 2020 book jeder schreibt für sich allein: schriftsteller im nationalsozialismus ("every man writes alone: writers under national socialism"), which re-examines the lives and work of prominent and arguably brilliant german writers such as hans fallada ("little man, what now?", "every man dies alone" or "alone in berlin"), erich kästner ("fabian" as well as several celebrated children's novels such as "emil and the detectives" and "the parent trap") and the poet gottfried benn, who chose to stay and work in (and, as regnier's research reveals and/or reminds us, occasionally also for) nazi germany instead of emigrating. dominik graf (director of the recent outstanding kästner-adaptation fabian: going to the dogs, 2021) adapts regnier's work in his trademark polyphonic-essayistic style, combining interviews, voiceover, and split-screen footage both archival and contemporary, gradually expanding the scope of inquiry into the larger social and political questions also of our days: how do we understand the relationship between art and politics? how should we relate to art with an ideologically thorny provenance? and ultimately, what does our behaviour when confronted with these questions tell us about our culture, about ourselves?

directors dominik graf, felix von boehm | cinematography florian mag, markus schindler, niclas reed middleton, pierre nativel, sven jakob-engelmann | editing claudia wolscht | sound johannes kunz, julian gropp | production felix von boehm | distribution / copy source lupa-film