Wenzel - Glaubt nie, was ich singe
- Glaubt nie, was ich singe - Wenzel (Working title)
Documentary Feature | 2022 | Docu, Music, Portrait | Germany
Main data
| Director | Lew Hohmann |
|---|---|
| Production | Clip Film- und Fernsehproduktion GmbH |
| Distributor | Arsenal Filmverleih [de] |
Shooting data
| Filming regions | Germany - Berlin, Germany - Brandenburg, Germany - Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany - North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany - Saxony, Germany - Saxony-Anhalt, Germany - Thuringia, USA - New York, USA - Tennessee |
|---|
Project data
Brief synopsis
Anyone who has experienced him live on stage once falls under his spell and is a fan forever. Bringing this atmosphere, Wenzel and his audience, the authenticity of his often ironic, biting, but also lyrical lyrics and his music to the big screen and linking it to his biography is the artistic approach of the film. For every lyric, every song goes back to Wenzel's very personal experiences. In this way, the film also records what the Corona pandemic does to artists and what Wenzel does to save the Kamper harbor.
He lives and works most of the year in Bugewitz, not far from the Szczecin Lagoon. In Kamp, a small harbor in the neighborhood, he founded a festival, now a cult for over 1000 visitors from all over the country. Wenzel is the most important living singer-songwriter in the East and probably the most passionate in the Republic. He receives all the awards of this scene. The film tells not only his biography, but how a songwriter - in the GDR critic and provocateur - positions himself today, 30 years after reunification. In addition to flashbacks documented with archival footage, the film is set in the present day, between 2020 and 2022. Corona is constantly present.
Wenzel, born in 1955 in Kropstädt near Wittenberg, becomes rebellious when he goes to high school in Wittenberg, wears long hair, refuses to wear the FDJ shirt. From 1976 to 1981 he studies cultural theory and aesthetics at the Humboldt University in Berlin. He becomes the main author of the music theater group "KARLS ENKEL". Using means of political revue and elements of Dadaism, they criticize existing conditions, often distorted into the absurd. Their concept, a tactical game of maintaining integrity in art without being banned. Wenzel also experiences bitter defeats at the end of the 80s, which bring him to the edge of his existence. With the clown Dou "MEH&WEH" Wenzel &Mensching make 1982 to 1989 several programs on the topic "DaDaEr". The Dou becomes cult. They are often banned, once arrested. And everything is recorded by the Stasi. They continue even after the fall of the Wall, with new attacks.
Lew Hohmann's film lives from the open conversations with Wenzel against the background of his eventful biography and from the magic of his concerts. Songs full of tender poetry, others attack the new Federal Republic with biting mockery. Rousing rhythms, dazzling humor and irony in his moderations. This is also appreciated by his friends Antje Vollmer, Konstantin Wecker, Andreas Dresen and Christoph Hein. The fans find themselves in his lyrics, which they sing along to at concerts. He has remained the provocateur and bard that people know.
The daughter of the legendary folk singer Woody Guthrie [This Land Is My Land], Nora Guthrie, invites Wenzel to New York. Two CDs are produced. In 2003 Wenzel sings in the Mecca of country music, the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. An accolade. Wenzel successfully tours the USA for 3 months with Arlo Guthrie, the son of Woody Guthrie.
Highlight of the year: The Open-Air-Festival in Kamp at the Stettiner Haff. Wenzel started it 15 years ago, when the small community already needed money to save its harbor from being sold. Now he wants to start crowdfunding to finance the purchase of another part of the harbor. That it had to be cancelled in 2020 is painful for everyone, but it will take place in 2021. At the end of the concert, around 3:00 in the morning, everyone sings the Kamper Trinklied, by now an anthem.
He lives and works most of the year in Bugewitz, not far from the Szczecin Lagoon. In Kamp, a small harbor in the neighborhood, he founded a festival, now a cult for over 1000 visitors from all over the country. Wenzel is the most important living singer-songwriter in the East and probably the most passionate in the Republic. He receives all the awards of this scene. The film tells not only his biography, but how a songwriter - in the GDR critic and provocateur - positions himself today, 30 years after reunification. In addition to flashbacks documented with archival footage, the film is set in the present day, between 2020 and 2022. Corona is constantly present.
Wenzel, born in 1955 in Kropstädt near Wittenberg, becomes rebellious when he goes to high school in Wittenberg, wears long hair, refuses to wear the FDJ shirt. From 1976 to 1981 he studies cultural theory and aesthetics at the Humboldt University in Berlin. He becomes the main author of the music theater group "KARLS ENKEL". Using means of political revue and elements of Dadaism, they criticize existing conditions, often distorted into the absurd. Their concept, a tactical game of maintaining integrity in art without being banned. Wenzel also experiences bitter defeats at the end of the 80s, which bring him to the edge of his existence. With the clown Dou "MEH&WEH" Wenzel &Mensching make 1982 to 1989 several programs on the topic "DaDaEr". The Dou becomes cult. They are often banned, once arrested. And everything is recorded by the Stasi. They continue even after the fall of the Wall, with new attacks.
Lew Hohmann's film lives from the open conversations with Wenzel against the background of his eventful biography and from the magic of his concerts. Songs full of tender poetry, others attack the new Federal Republic with biting mockery. Rousing rhythms, dazzling humor and irony in his moderations. This is also appreciated by his friends Antje Vollmer, Konstantin Wecker, Andreas Dresen and Christoph Hein. The fans find themselves in his lyrics, which they sing along to at concerts. He has remained the provocateur and bard that people know.
The daughter of the legendary folk singer Woody Guthrie [This Land Is My Land], Nora Guthrie, invites Wenzel to New York. Two CDs are produced. In 2003 Wenzel sings in the Mecca of country music, the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. An accolade. Wenzel successfully tours the USA for 3 months with Arlo Guthrie, the son of Woody Guthrie.
Highlight of the year: The Open-Air-Festival in Kamp at the Stettiner Haff. Wenzel started it 15 years ago, when the small community already needed money to save its harbor from being sold. Now he wants to start crowdfunding to finance the purchase of another part of the harbor. That it had to be cancelled in 2020 is painful for everyone, but it will take place in 2021. At the end of the concert, around 3:00 in the morning, everyone sings the Kamper Trinklied, by now an anthem.