RITA REPRESENTS MUTTER COURAGE
Short film | May 2023
conzept: Hannes Köpke, Laura Immler, Ferdinand Nowitzky script: Hannes Köpke costumes: Ferdinand Nowitzky camera: Laura Immler, Hannes Köpke post production: Juli Zimmermann, Hannes Köpke, Ferdinand Nowitzky production management: Hannes Köpke, Laura Pföhler
mother courage, farmer: Ferdinand Nowitzky Kattrin, cook: Laura Immler writer, recruiter, soldier: Laura Pföhler preacher, a voice, captain: Konstantin Sieghart captain, soldier: Hannes Köpke
"Art is not a land of milk and honey," says Brecht about the uncatchy music and the unwieldy plot of Mother Courage and her children. It's not just about entertaining, an audience needs to be warned about the Second World War. Unfortunately, according to Brecht, the audience does not understand the play.
In 2020, Rita Represents dealt with the relationship between the public and free art: What do people want? Can we do what people want? Do we want to do what people want? Our interim conclusion was: no. Otherwise we do too many pretty, nice concerts on the banks of the Elbe, that just feel good. So this time we presented the audience a classic, in city theater style, take it or leave it: a 100-year-old play.
Mother Courage is set in the Thirty Years' War, in Poland, in Ingolstadt, in Central Germany, in front of Halle. We went to these places, filmed Brecht's play and discussed the relevant themes and the aesthetics, that we would need to produce, with people along the way. The result is the short film Rita Represents Mutter Courage.
Funded by Fonds Darstellende Künste with funds from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media as part of NEUSTART KULTUR.
