FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Klaus Lemke - Ein komischer Heiliger 

Klaus Lemke, who just turned 80, films according to his own rules, and they are strict. O-Ton Lemke: "German film is paralyzed by agreement with a funding system that is a kick in the creativity of every director. Creativity needs independence. And that only exists in film as long as the money at stake is the director's own. Everything else is clapping with one hand. Distortion. The aesthetics of casualness. I try to draw the audience into my films by inventing what happens right before their eyes. I don't know exactly what happens next. This gives the viewer the impression that he is the one whose premonitions are pulling the story. Film was the last great boy's sport - where there's always more in the mouth than kissing in the dark. Today, there are only crybaby proposal writers. And key pressers. I always ask: Who is actually acting out in my films? Who is this "dark passenger"? Under the skin. With every film I try to lure the invisible stranger out of the blind spot of perception... by making the concentrated irrationality of the film even more irrational. I don't have a computer. I've never seen Tatort. And I haven't had a shower in 35 years until a year ago. I have very few pockets to reach into. But at least they're my own. I'd rather be the film itself - than just the director of my films. Like in Japanese films: where the furniture in the house eats the master of the house. I know how film wants to be moved. You don't need money for that. Because you can buy market share. Profit can't. Few films get beyond a German Leistungskurs about the FFA (Film Förderungs Anstalt). Because usually the mechanics of a stupid plot kills story and characters. Exception: Petzold, Graf and few others. And THE BIGGEST SECRET: Supa loose beachmen and greedy nymphs locked in the Charterhouse of Parne, Stendhal. Mon Amour" (In Thomas Groh blogspot, post by Lemke). Klaus Lemke's rules are recognizable as dogmatic. None of his actors may be an actor, because actors are spoiled and prefer to become stars. But they don't exist in Lemke's world. The filming locations must also be the same as in real life. Nothing may be changed. Lemke works with little scratch sheets. He scribbles dialogues and instructions on them and gives them to his actors shortly before shooting. Sometimes something inspires him during the shoot, and then the story changes. That's why he needs actors like Cleo Kretschmer, who obviously has great comic talent and improvises freely. She always seems genuine and spontaneous. The girl next door, who may not be as tall and blond as the other girls, but always says exactly what is on her mind. Just as unfiltered as Lemke's films. Beautiful, isn't it?