Artful montage film about the RAF by Jean-Gabriel Périot
French filmmaker Jean-Gabriel Périot takes an outside look at the Federal Republic of Germany during the Red Army Faction era. For his film, Périot distills a sharp commentary on violence and history from over a thousand hours of archive material. His film documents the conflict between the state and the RAF, which was also a war of images. A war that was hotly discussed and commented on not only in the media but also in the film scene. Périot artfully cuts the positions against each other to create a many-voiced kaleidoscope. Among them are numerous film quotes from Fassbinder's "Germany in Autumn" and Antonioni's "Zabriskie Point" to student films by Holger Meins and reports by Ulrike Meinhof, which have never been shown again since.
Through the high art of montage, "A German Youth" opens up a new view of Germany and the RAF. A lesson in radicalisation and the social reactions to it. Frighteningly topical! Opening film in the section "Panorama" at the Berlinale 2015 and "Best Innovative Swiss Film" at the documentary film festival Visions du Réel 2015.
Festivals / film awards
- 2015: Berlinale, DE, Opening Film, Panorama Dokumente
- 2015: Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema, AR
- 2015: Cinéma du Réel, Paris, FR, Scam International Prize
- 2015: Docaviv Festival, Tel Aviv, IL
- 2015: DOK.fest München, DE
- 2015: Französische Filmwochen Sachsen-Anhalt, DE
- 2015: IndieLisboa, PT
- 2015: San Francisco International Film Festival, USA
- 2015: Visions du Réel Nyon, CH, Jury Prize SSA/Suissimage