Black tape
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Black tape |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 2015 |
| length | 88 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 6 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Sékou Neblett |
| script |
Gregor Eisenbeiss , Sékou Neblett |
| production | Simon Riedl |
| camera | Pascal Schmit |
| cut |
Sanjeev Hathiramani , Philipp Thomas , Anne Wöhlert |
| occupation | |
Blacktape is a German mockumentary by Sékou Neblett from 2015. In the film, the protagonists Marcus Staiger , Falk Schacht , Neffi Temur and the director himself go in search of the fictional rapper “Tigon”.
action
In today's usual documentary film style, short interview sequences with the protagonists of the old and new school are repeatedly cut in between. Archive material is also used.
Sékou Neblett, himself a rapper with Freundeskreis and Brothers Keeper , among others , wants to make a film documentary about the German hip-hop scene from the beginning to the present day. After he already had a few interviews with, among others, Five Star Deluxe , Marteria and the Stieber Twins , Falk Schacht leads him to Marcus Staiger, former head of the underground label Royal Bunker , who now works as a building climber.
He is amazed because he received a black tape today with recordings of the obscure Heidelberg rapper Tigon. The song REV-olution inspires both hip-hop listeners. This is said to have caused an incident in the Campbell Barracks in 1986, in which a GI is said to have died. At the same time, he receives a Facebook message. After he initially considers the whole thing to be a bad joke by Falk, the three set off on a search for clues.
The first lane leads to Heidelberg. But after all traces get lost there, Staiger wants to stop again. So Falk brings Staiger's old nemesis, the label A & R Neffi Temur from Universal Music into play and a playful competition develops between the two.
Via an old graffiti artist, they continue to track down Tigon and even meet an old commissioner who can still remember Tigon and the hunt for him. He presents the two old tags from Tigon, which represent another piece of the puzzle. But the nocturnal hunt through the Heidelberg industrial areas is too much for Falk and he leaves the project.
Staiger and Sékou travel to Vienna because Staiger suspects that Tigon is actually Torch , who is currently performing there. But Staiger is thrown out by security. Back at the hotel they have to find that the tape is gone, as is Staiger's laptop with all the research. The project has died and everyone is returning home.
But a few days later Neffi gets in touch. He was sent a package with Staiger's stolen property along with a further note. With a little persuasion, Neffi Staiger succeeds in making a book and a CD out of Tigon’s story. Staiger should make sure that Tigon makes an appearance.
But Neffi does not keep his promises and tries to market the project on the Splash . After the splash, Staiger contacts Neffi and declares all previous agreements null and void. But Neffi is supposed to be questioned by the police who want to question him about the dead GI. Staiger tries to warn Tigon, but Tigon has long since disappeared. In the end there is a small club festival where legends like Afrob , Samy Deluxe and Megaloh embody the rapper. Falk Schacht is also in the audience.
background
Reza Bahar produced the film in collaboration with The little teleplay by ZDF . The film was funded by the MFG Filmförderung Baden-Württemberg , the DFFF and the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg .
The film tries to recreate truths about the hip-hop scene through the hunt for a fictional character. The style of the film is spontaneity. Therefore, the two protagonists Falk Schacht and Marcus Staiger were only informed the evening before what and where was being shot the next day. The dialogues arose spontaneously and were improvised in front of the camera. The shooting took place between the end of June 2014 and April 2015 at the original locations. The main shoot took place in June and July 2014. A total of 150 hours of film material were shot, which ultimately had to be shortened to 88 minutes. The archive material was collected by Michael Konstable ( UFA ) on the one hand, but also came from YouTube .
It was released in theaters on December 3, 2015. A DVD release of the film was released on July 1, 2016 via the independent label Indigo .
Reviews
The film received both positive and negative reviews. The interesting approach, which is sometimes reminiscent of Fraktus, was emphasized. In contrast, many reviewers felt overwhelmed, especially those who had little prior knowledge of the beginnings of the German hip-hop scene.
Nadine Lange reviewed the film for Tagesspiegel and came to the following conclusion:
“As entertaining as“ Blacktape ”turned out to be, the film is above all something for intimate connoisseurs. Everyone else better be patient until someone turns a real documentary about the history of German hip-hop. "
While at the cinema, Joachim Kurz praised the film and described it as a German version of the sex pistols film The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle :
“Blacktape definitely has what it takes, as The Great Rock'n'Roll Swindle, to lay the ironic foundation stone for a reappraisal of the pop phenomenon for German hip-hop - not as a meticulous historical hoax of facts, but as a mockumentary with an enormous potential for tension that goes far beyond the rifts and trench warfare, the hostilities and common roots and, last but not least, the cross-connections between pop culture, zeitgeist and history as well as the mechanisms of the music market. "
In contrast, Falk Straub wrote a rather negative review on the same page. He described the film as “a half-baked crime thriller that loses drive too quickly, leaves too many loose ends and risks leaving people unfamiliar with the scene confused. Especially the latter will end up shaking their heads in disbelief instead of nodding in time. "
Ulrich Sonnenschein's review for epd film was positive :
“In this respect, Sékou Neblett's film is both highly informative and a successful entertainment film that also confuses in a mischievous way. Because again and again in this fictitious search, real finds emerge that you then have to deal with. But precisely because the truth is hidden in the absurd, the importance of hip-hop for German pop culture becomes particularly clear. "
Web links
- Black Tape in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Official page on Camino Film Distribution
Individual evidence
- ↑ Release certificate for Blacktape . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry (PDF).
- ↑ Black Tape Press Book. Camino Filmverleih, Stuttgart 2015, p. 1.
- ↑ a b c Blacktape: The Great HipHop Swindle. Kino-Zeit.de, accessed on March 25, 2018 .
- ↑ Black Tape Press Book. Camino Filmverleih, Stuttgart 2015, p. 12f.
- ↑ Black Tape in the online movie database
- ↑ Nadine Lange: German Hip-Hop: Who is Tigon? Der Tagesspiegel , December 5, 2015, accessed on March 25, 2018 .
- ^ Ulrich Sonnenschein: Critique of Blacktape. epd film , November 26, 2015, accessed on March 25, 2018 .