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Foto: © Dino Osmanovic

documentary – 77min – 2018 a film by Lion Bischof

For the Members of the student fraternity „Corps Germania“ it is lived democracy and a school for life – for outsiders it is a claustrophobic, hierarchic microcosm with strict rules and strange rituals. What are young men yearning for in the digital world? Where does a political attitude come from? When do you make decisions for life? The filmmakers explore how the young men find their way between tradition and modernity. SUMMARY The film GERMANIA explores young men on their search for identity in a time of impermanence and constant change. In observing scenes, the film approaches the members of the student fraternity Corps Germania. For the members of the conservative fraternity, it is lived democracy and a school for life. For outsiders, however, it is a claustrophobic cosmos with strict rules, rigid hierarchy and strange rituals. But what does it mean to be a man, what are they searching for in the digital age, where does a political attitude come from, and when do you make life changing decisions? In conversations, the filmmakers take a look behind the usual lines of argumentation and find out how the young men find their bearings in the tension between tradition and modernity.

Festivals 2018 – Film Festival Max Ophüls Preis // Saarbrücken, Germany 2018 – Crossing Europe Film Festival // Linz, Austria 2018 – EDOC - Encuentros del Otro Cine // Quito, Ecoador 2018 – Sehsüchte Studentenfilm Festival // Potsdam, Germany 2018 – DOK.fest München // München, Germany 2018 – International Film Festival Innsbruck // Innsbruck, Austria 2018 – Flahertina Documentary Film Festival // Perm, Russland 2018 – Filmfestival Kitzbühel // Kitzbühel, Austria 2018 – FILMZ Festival des deutschen Kinos // Mainz, Deutschland 2018 – this Human World – Human Rights Film Festival / Vienna, Austria

Tech Specs DCP, Color, 25 B/s, Cinemascope 2.39:1 (2048x858), DolbyDigital 5.1 FSK Suitable for ages 12 +

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MAX OPÜHLS AWARD 2018 „best filmmusic in a documentary“ Jury Statement: The music begins with a quiet dissonance, which gradually resolves over the course of the film: Hissing, noisy sounds from brass instruments that are only hinted at, causing an uncomfortable feeling. Film music, which instead of merely confirming feelings assumes the role of a director's commentary while still leaving space for interpretation by the viewer. The music picks up the theme of the film and translates it in an original way into a self-contained, consistent, reduced sound scape. Deutsche Film- und Medienbewertung FBW Germania // documentary film // Germany // 2018 Intimate documentary insight into a traditional Munich student corps from the year 2018. The Corps Germania is a traditional dueling fraternity in Munich, which has existed since 1863. These are the facts you can read on the fraternity's web site. But what exactly is a Corps? And how is it different from a so-called “Burschenschaft”? The usually completely closed-off fraternities often give rise to speculation, assumptions and even prejudice. Filmmaker Lion Bischof and his team accompanied the members of the Corps Germania for several months. Together with a new fraternity member, a so called “Fuchs” (fox), entering the Corps Germania, the viewer dives into the microcosm of the fraternity. Bischof restrains himself as an interviewer, avoids commentary or judgment – but the very close camera work, the clever montage and the poignant music, used in the right spots, give subtle hints and trigger thoughts to the images, which often show monotonous and repetitive rituals. The viewer is left to wonder exactly where the fascination of a Corps or a Burschenschaft in general might lie. The protagonists themselves also get to have their say, trying to put their motivation into words. But the film succeeds best when it simply observes the students interacting with each other. The search for orientation, for masculinity and a great deal of hierarchy and elitism become clear here. But even if the actions or utterances do not always seem comprehensible, the film does not expose the members of the Corps. GERMANIA is a documentary that is not commented but makes things visible. And thereby it stimulates the viewers to critically question what they see. A pleasantly relaxed and closely observed movie about an immensely charged topic full of prejudices.

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DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT Lion Bischof Retropia: This term, coined by Polish sociologist and philosopher Zygmunt Bauman, captures a current socio-political phenomenon, in which many people have given up hope for a better, utopian, future and look to the supposedly “good old days” for orientation instead. In a German context, “Corps” and “Burschenschaften” (fraternities), first established in the 1830ies have regained popularity in the past few years as part of this nostalgia for a more glorious past.

The question at the core of GERMANIA is: Why do especially young people turn back towards the ideas of a traditional student fraternity or find support in such an association; in a microcosm where the rules of a distant past are still valid? Why do they long for a time capsule of sorts, where nostalgia for a seemingly simpler and clearer order prevails?

The house of the Corps Germania, a student fraternity in Munich, is such a microcosm. The film takes a look into the hermetically sealed world of the fraternity and allows the audience a glimpse into the world view of its members, and the answers this cosmos has to offer these young men. The philosophical divide between me as a filmmaker and the protagonists of the film could hardly be bigger.

This portrait of a usually closed-off society was only possible because of our focus on the protagonists themselves and their wishes and dreams, as opposed to their perceived elitism and “teutomania,” which dominates the public discourse around German fraternities. We wanted to take a close look at these young men. Close enough for the audience to see how understandable these boys’ motives are – despite all political differences – and let the viewers decide for themselves where they stand in relation to the political views expressed. GERMANIA does not judge, but instead tries to give a differentiated view on a group that distances itself consciously from – and paradoxically at the same time feels marginalized by – mainstream German society. The film asks whether it is worthwhile to look for dialogue with these young men, or whether to just let them drift away in their retropian bubble. I, for one, am all for talking to anyone about anything. The limits of dialogue are drawn only by the constitution.

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LION BISCHOF Director’s Biography

LION BISCHOF, born 30.09.1988 in Munich, studied philosophy from 2009 to 2010 at the LMU in Munich. Between 2009-2010 he works as a journalist covering various film festivals and works in different departments for various cinema and short film productions. Since 2011 he studies directing at the University of Television and Film Munich. His first film SUPERVISION won the 1st jury prize on the "Klappe auf! Short film festival" in Hamburg.

His second film HINTERWELTEN was shown at the International Hof Film Festival, the Dok.fest Munich and was bought by WDR. Since 2014 he is a scholarship holder of the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes. In 2016 he produced and co-developed the short film TARA, which was shown in 2016 at the Berlinale Perspektive Deutsches Kino.

Foto: © Dino Osmanovic He is currently working as a freelance director and cameraman in various fields, from film through theatre to fine arts, among these, for the Münchener Kammerspiele and the Münchener Volkstheater. He is working regularly with the Artist Felix Burger (Exhibitions in Amsterdam an Rotterdam and Munich) and finished a multichannel video installation that confronts teenage Refugees with professional Actors from Germany. FILMOGRAPHY

Aufsicht (2012) – documentary, 11 Minuten - Internationales Kurzfilmfestival Hamburg - Internationales Kurzfilmfestival Klappe Auf! Hamburg, (1. Jurypreis)

Station: Pathologie (2013) – documentary, 22 Minuten - Internationales Kurzfilmfestival Hamburg

Hinterwelten (2014) – documentary, 46 Minuten - Internationale Hofer Filmtage - Internationales Dokumentarfilmfestival München /8.5.2015

Tara (2016) – fiction, 30 Minuten Regie: Felicias Sonvilla Produktion/Buchentwicklung: Felicias Sonvilla, Lion Bischof, Jonas Heldt (Motel Filmkollektiv) - Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin (Perspektive Deutsches Kino) - Sehsüchte, Berlin - GEGENkino Leipzig

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Foto: ©Dino Osmanovic CREDITS

Buch & Regie Kamera Schnitt

Produktion Musik

Sounddesign

Lion Bischof Dino Osmanovic Martin Herold Lion Bischof, Johannes Schubert Matthias Lindermayr Darius Shahidifar presented by Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film München Bernd-Eichinger-Platz 1 80333 München, Deutschland www.hff-muenchen.de distributed by mindjazz pictures UG Geisselstr. 12 50823 Köln, Deutschland www.mindjazz-pictures.de