We meet up with German director Uli M Schueppel who is at SPOT to present two of his best films Elektrokohle – Von Wegen from 2009 about the historic ’Einstürzende Neubauten’ concert in East Berlin shortly after the collapse of the Berlin Wall and The Road to God Knows Where, a 16 mm classic about and featuring Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds on tour in the USA in 1989.

The films are presented in collaboration with MusicFilmWeb, and after The Road to God Knows Where there will be a long Q&A session with the director and Andy Markowitz, editor and writer at MusicFilmWeb.

The movie, The road to god knows where, is made in 1990 and follows the band Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds on their very first North – American tour. Uli M Schueppel got to tag along with them for 6 weeks. During this movie you get a glimpse of a whole other side off being a rock star while touring.

The movie, Elektrokohle – known in English as Off ways, is a movie starring the band Einsturrzende Neubauten. It starts by following this band who will perform their very first concert in the of East Berlin, just 3 weeks after the Berlin wall was torn down. Although the material was filmed in 1989,  it was only brought out 20 years later. The movie features some materials from the concertgoers who look back to that special day in 1989. According to them, it was a day of German changes concerning political questions as a lot of French ministers we’re present backstage during the concert. The band that played that day had a great influence on the east German adiences, they originated from West Berlin and are about to play their first concert  in East – Berlin ever.

“After a while people start to express how they feel about the film, that´s very important to me” 

At the end of Uli M´s movies he always does some Q&A questions, ” Normally when you´re films are being played in the cinemas or on tv you receive comments on facebook or some other social media page. I like to meet the audience in real life and to discuss or hear what they thought of the movie, what they liked or what they didn´t like. I like this exchange with the audience, it´s more like a live performance thing for me ” explains Uli.
The Q&A is more centered at SPOT film as there a lot of business people here and also some music/film directors. Because of these Q&A they get to connect with new bands faster, this could be an interesting aspect and a possibillity for this festival. As it is getting more and more a genre itself, a festival like SPOT could be the perfect place to concentrate more on this interactive part.

“I like this exchange with the audience, it´s more like a live performance thing for me”

Did you had any expectations about SPOT before coming here?
- No not really, I heard that there are lot of bands playing here, I don´t know how you can visit all of them, but I think it is an amazing concept. There are so many venues here and everything is very well organized. I am really impressed, it is a good place to check out new music, new bands and on the way make some new contacts. I like the idea that film has become a bigger part of SPOT. Maybe some new film documentaries will come out of this years SPOT,  because of this, it can be a big step. Also for the scandinavian/danish film makers.

Do you think music and movie get more intwined within the years?
– For me this is not a new phenomen, my 25 years of film making is based on music. So music for me is really the thing were it all starts. It is not a new thing, but it is good to put a more visible spot on it. I think that is the good thing about this festival, that it puts a focus on it.

Why should people go and see these movies tonight?
– Because you get to see a young Nick Cave in a intimate way as you yourself would´ve probably never been able to see him. The second movie is about a really interesting German band and about the german political situation captured in one movie.
The Road to God Knows Where, Uli M Schueppel | DE | 1989 | 90 min.
Lør. 19:00 | Remisen, Godsbanen

Elektrokohle (Von Wegen) Uli M Schueppel | DE | 2009 | 90 min.
Lør. 22:00 | Remisen, Godsbanen