Signs of the Times (TV series)

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Signs of the Times (TV series) was the name of a documentary series of the Süddeutscher Rundfunk (SDR) , in which a total of 56 films were made between 1957 and 1973. The films looked “behind the scenes of the economic miracle, visited rifle clubs, mocked the German-style Wagner cult, accompanied an election campaign, exposed the fascist potential of the fraternities, dealt with animal cruelty, traffic, schools and garbage. (...) The voiceover was laconic, a mocking and ironic look also arose from the fact that contradicting scenes were deliberately assembled together. This style should characterize the whole series. ”The series is seen as a prime example of the so-called Stuttgart School of Documentary Film and is called“ to this day (as) style-forming ”.

history

The series “ Marks of the Times” was developed by the documentary department of the SDR under the direction of Heinz Huber . After his death in 1968 Dieter Ertel took over the management. Many of the authors came from the radio or from the magazine Der Spiegel , from where they brought with them a pointed, ironic, sometimes sarcastic style of writing. They wanted to break away from the documentary tradition of the Third Reich with whitewashing, idyllic cultural films. “I think our starting point was always subliminally to do the opposite with film of what the Nazis had done with it, who had used it extremely skillfully to exaggerate reality in order to trigger enormous patriotic emotions. (...) We were determined to use the film critically. To use these means of visualization, of liveliness, to present reality in an unheroic and rather unmasking and critical way. "

At the end of 1957, the editorial team produced the film Ein Großkampftag - Observations at a boxing event by Dieter Ertel , which became the model for the series “ Signs of the Times” which was subsequently developed . In the film, the sensational part of the fight was not emphasized, as was customary up to then, but a look behind the scenes was taken of the everyday life of boxers who were tormented by stage fright. The first film in the series When the Christmas Boxes Ring was shown shortly afterwards . The editorial team reacted to the influence of Direct Cinema in 1966 with the film Die Misswahl - Observations at a beauty contest by Roman Brodmann . One of the best-known films in the series was The Police State Visit - Observations among German Hosts , also by Brodmann (1967), who documented the state visit of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to Germany, the riots against Berlin demonstrators, during which the student Benno Ohnesorg was heard by a police officer was shot.

It was typical for the work of the documentary department of the SDR at the time to produce numerous different series in parallel, such as Facts About Legends , Observed at Work , The Third Reich, etc. The series " Signs of the Times" became particularly well known and established the reputation of the documentary department of the Süddeutscher Rundfunk as the " Stuttgart School ".

Authors of the series

Films in the series (selection)

DVDs

Selected episodes were published in an edited DVD edition as a DVD box in 2011. 16 episodes were published on five DVDs - each assigned to a topic - with PDF files and an accompanying booklet. The DVD box entitled “Signs of the Times - Observations from the Federal Republic (1956–1973). Die Films der Stuttgarter Schule “was published by absolut Medien in cooperation with Haus des Dokumentarfilms and Kay Hoffmann .

  • DVD 1: Politics
(Films: The Forgotten ; The Police State Visit; The Excellent Germans; Bonus: The best thing about ARD is its beginnings)
  • Disc 2: Sports
(Films: Tortur de France; The Borussians are coming; The contest)
  • DVD 3: Women
(Films: The Dissatisfied Women; A Wedding; Taking a Child away)
  • Disc 4: Militarism
(Films: The German Federal Armed Forces; Schützenfest near the train station; A draft)
  • DVD 5: Work and Culture
(Films: Ödenwaldstetten; The Fall of Count Bismarck; Art and Ketchup; TV Fever)

literature

  • Hoffmann, Kay: signs of the times. On the history of the Stuttgart school. Ed .: House of Documentary Film. 1st edition. TR-Verlagsunion, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-8058-3149-8 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kay Hoffmann: Signs of the times. On the history of the Stuttgart school. House of Documentary Films and TR Publishing Union, Munich, 1996, page 32
  2. ↑ DVD: Signs of the Times - Observations from the Federal Republic (1956-1973) . The films of the Stuttgart school. (2011). absolut Medien GmbH .
  3. ↑ Stefan Niggemeier: Signs of the Times , accessed on December 10, 2018.
  4. ↑ intern.ARD.de: ARD chronicle August 1, 1957 , accessed December 10, 2018.
  5. ↑ Kay Hoffmann: Signs of the times. On the history of the Stuttgart school. House of Documentary Films and TR Publishing Union, Munich, 1996, page 42
  6. ↑ William Bittdorf. In: Rüdiger Steinmetz, Helfried Spitra: Documentary film as a "sign of the times". Munich, 1992, page 27
  7. ↑ Stefan Niggemeier: Signs of the Times , accessed on December 10, 2018.
  8. ^ Signs of the Times - The Films of the Stuttgart School 1956–1973. In: absolutmedien.de. Retrieved September 6, 2019 .