''Demminer Chants'' () is a 2023 German documentary film directed by

Hans-Jürgen Syberberg Hans-Jürgen Syberberg (; born 8 December 1935) is a German film director, whose best known film is his lengthy feature ''Hitler: A Film from Germany''. Early life Born in Nossendorf, Province of Pomerania (1815–1945), Pomerania, the son of ...

. It is about the town of

Demmin Demmin () is a town in the Mecklenburgische Seenplatte district, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, in north-eastern Germany. It was the capital of the former district of Demmin. Geography Demmin lies on the West Pomeranian plain at the confluen ...

where Syberberg grew up and his long-time work to revitalise its central square. It was the first film Syberberg made in 25 years.

Synopsis

Over three hours,

presents the town of

in north-eastern Germany. He grew up in

Nossendorf Nossendorf is a municipality in the Mecklenburgische Seenplatte district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North ...

, ten kilometers north of the town, where his father was the '' Gutsherr''. He moved back to Demmin in the early 1990s. He interweaves his personal connections to the place with its history. At the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, there was a

mass suicide Mass suicide is a form of suicide, occurring when a group of people simultaneously kill themselves. Mass suicide sometimes occurs in religious settings. In war, defeated groups may resort to mass suicide rather than being captured. Suicide pacts ...

in the town where at least 1000 women children took their lives, right before the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

reached them and burned down the town. Syberberg was nine at the time and saw the town burn from a distance. The event left a trauma in the post-war period, when raping and pillaging of the Soviet Union were forbidden subjects in East Germany. Forty years later, only

Neo-Nazis Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and racial supremacy (often white supremacy), to att ...

addressed this part of German history and there have been attempts to criminalise any descriptions of Germans victimhood. Since the 1990s, Syberberg has made attempts to reestablish the communal role of Demmin's central market square. One of his projects has been to set up a film café. Two architecture firms have submitted proposals for how the square's communal function can be improved. The film goes into

urban planning Urban planning (also called city planning in some contexts) is the process of developing and designing land use and the built environment, including air, water, and the infrastructure passing into and out of urban areas, such as transportatio ...

and the future of local communities in general. It goes into the relationship between commerce and a thriving community and Syberberg describes his programme as "not just buying, but also being".

Production

Syberberg had emerged as part of the

New German Cinema New German Cinema () is a period in Cinema of Germany, West German cinema which lasted from 1962 to 1982, in which a new generation of directors emerged who, working with low budgets, and influenced by the French New Wave and Italian Neorealism, ...

and made an impact with often divisive films about subject such as

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

Winifred Wagner Winifred Marjorie Wagner (née Williams; 23 June 1897 – 5 March 1980) was the English-born wife of Siegfried Wagner, the son of Richard Wagner, and ran the Bayreuth Festival after her husband's death in 1930 until the end of World War II i ...

and

Ludwig II of Bavaria Ludwig II (Ludwig Otto Friedrich Wilhelm; 25 August 1845 – 13 June 1886), also called the Swan King or the Fairy Tale King (), was King of Bavaria from 1864 until his death in 1886. He also held the titles of Count Palatine of the Rhine, Duke ...

. ''Demminer Chants'' was Syberberg's first film project in 25 years. He wrote, directed and edited the film through his company Syberberg Filmproduktion. The production received funding from the Kulturelle Filmförderung Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and the

Bayerischer Rundfunk (; "Bavarian Broadcasting"), shortened to BR (), is a public broadcasting, public-service radio and television broadcaster, based in Munich, capital city of the Bavaria, Free State of Bavaria in Germany. BR is a member organization of the ARD (b ...

. Production took place from 2017 to 2023.

Release

''Demminer Chants'' had its world premiere at Demmin's market square on 17 June 2023. Filmgalerie 451 handled distribution in Germany from 7 December 2023. Syberberg gave an introduction and interview to a screening in Munich on 17 December 2023. The film was submitted to the

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...

but rejected.

Reception

Jan Brachmann of the ''

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung The (; ''FAZ''; "Frankfurt General Newspaper") is a German newspaper founded in 1949. It is published daily in Frankfurt and is considered a newspaper of record for Germany. Its Sunday edition is the ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung'' ( ...

'' wrote that ''Demminer Chants'' combines deliberately amateurish "Internet diary" footage with photos, spoken commentary and music that works as "a polyphonic collage". He connected the non-professional form to Syberberg's stated goal to avoid turning the town into a commodity. Bachmann wrote it was strange the film had been rejected by the Berlin International Film Festival and called Syberberg "one of the most important filmmakers of the last half century".

References

External links