Thomas Giefer

Twenty-five years after the death of Holger Meins, filmmaker and former student friend of the deceased, Gerd Conradt takes an in-depth look at the helmsman of the Baader-Meinhof gang. Who was Holger Meins? What led him into the underground? What circumstances resulted in his death, a death which made him the declared symbol of the radical opposition in Germany? What remains of his legacy?

Gerd Conradt films men carrying a red flag in a relay race through Berlin, to hoist it on the balcony of the current Mayor’s seat. A cinematic experiment based on Eadweard Muybridge, Andy Warhol and New American Cinema. A study in men, movements and a symbol. This is the 7th part of this series of film exercises. The other 6 parts were staged by Harun Farocki (Part 1), Carlos Bustamante (Part 2), Helke Sander (Part 3), Holger Meins (Part 4), Wolfgang Petersen (Part 5), Philip Werner Sauber (Part 6).

Only the chosen few know this woman who started working as a secretary for the German Film and Television Academy (DFFB) on 13 February, 1966. The path of Helen’s career is paved with famous names – including that of Wolfgang Petersen, Holger Meins (who later became a member of the Red Army Faction) as well as directors Wolfgang Becker, Detlev Buck and Christian Petzold. All have fond memories of forgetting their troubles after having poured their hearts out over a cup of coffee in Helene’s office – for Helene was both friend and advisor to countless film students.

Documentary about one of the most significant migrant battles in the Federal Republic of Germany, a wildcat strike mainly sustained by migrant workers (euphemistically called “guest workers”) at the Ford plant in Cologne-Niehl in August 1973.

Film announcing the November 4, 1968 demonstration and urging demonstrators to be prepared to fight.

The documentary, produced by the General Student Committee of Freie Universität Berlin, documents the brutal police crackdowns on anti-Shah demonstrators, preserves evidence, interviews eyewitnesses, and confronts thugs with film and photographic evidence. Thomas Giefer and Hans-Rüdiger Minow interpret the police assaults as “the first attempts to implement the state of emergency against an extra-parliamentary opposition seeking to prevent it.” The film aims to create a counter-public sphere and calls on viewers to stop the anti-democratic forces and resist.

Giefer documents the International Vietnam Congress, which took place on February 17 and 18, 1968 in the Audimax of the Technical University of Berlin (TU). With his photographs of the counter-demonstration, which was organized on 21 February 1968 under the slogan "Berlin stands for freedom and peace" on John-F.-Kennedy-Platz in Berlin-Schöneberg, Giefer also shows the counter-movement.

Giefer documents the International Vietnam Congress, which took place on February 17 and 18, 1968 in the Audimax of the Technical University of Berlin (TU). With his photographs of the counter-demonstration, which was organized on 21 February 1968 under the slogan "Berlin stands for freedom and peace" on John-F.-Kennedy-Platz in Berlin-Schöneberg, Giefer also shows the counter-movement.

Patrice Lumumba – the first Prime Minister of the newly independent African state, The Congo. To fellow Africans he was a hero – the man who had won his country’s independence from the Belgians. But for the secret services of the western powers he was a threat. It was at the height of the Cold War, when the superpowers of both East and Western blocs were competing for spheres of influence in the New Africa. Congo was vital to Western interests because of it’s vast mineral resources. The West believed Lumumba was pro-soviet and would open the door to communist control of this mineral rich region. CIA agent Larry Devlin received 100,000 dollars from the Agency along with telegraphed instructions to make the “elimination of Lumumba” the “priority goal” of his covert action.

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