McDeutch
Save the German Language! said the cover of Der Spiegel’s issue commemorating German Renunification Day. Demands for “more German” are on the rise in Germany. After Quotas for German Music on Radio! came the call for Obligatory German in Gyms, Bars, and Schools! Ensuing debates have even carried over to the popular Sabine Christiansen talk show, Germany’s so-called “ersatz parliament.”
Yet, what role does the German language really play today in propping up German national identity? Hasn’t this supposedly German cultural property long become common property worldwide? McDeutsch, a Berliner Gazette project, asked about 50 cultural mediators from all parts of the earth to reflect upon this question, thus opening up a surprising bird’s-eye view of that complex known as the German language.
Krystian Woznicki, Susanne Lederle, Anne Schreiber and Magdalena Taube presentedMcDeutsch for the first time to the Dutch public.
Couscous & Cola
Maartje Nevejan made Couscous & Cola about a group of Christian and Islamic youngsters who have been in Holland for a few years. The debating club at school provides the pulse of the series, it is there that the students - boys and girls with and without headscarves, rapping and rhyming - passionately confront and oppose themselves and others. The camera follows the youngsters in school, at home with their families and friends. In the first series they make a trip to the USA and in the second series they go to Africa.
Maartje Nevejan at Mediamatic -
Couscous & Cola at Mediamatic - Salon Couscous & Cola & McDeutsch Salon Couscous & Cola & McDeutsch
Florian Thalhofer talked about Vergessene Fahnen. Before and after the salon was his interactive roadmovie is on show.
