A wonderful book we read during our blog-time (by Tobias and Violeta)

It is always a bit delicate to call someone a universal talent. But in Germany there exists one man who could be called like that: Alexander Kluge (born in 1932). He started as a lawyer but hasen´t been fulfilled by (only) that job. He assisted to a shooting by Fritz Lang and started to write short stories during the shooting breaks. Until today his literary work is published. In the 60s he began with his own shootings and directed more that twenty-five films.
He also wrote extensive theoretical essays, and more than twenty years ago he founded his own company for TV programs.

Now he published a book that combines at least two of his fields of activity: literature and cinema. The book with the title GESCHICHTEN VOM KINO collects short stories, aphorisms and observations on and around the cinema. As central themes they pick out the first technical steps of the camera and the film-projector and the appearance of the first cinema-theatres as well as Kluge´s personal encounters with other directors and reminiscences of his own shootings. Among them the funny story about a shooting far away from the production-office meanwhile - in the office - the executive producer felt in love with the secretary and the female press officer with a production-driver and these two couples celebrated their own film which, in retrospect, would have been a better plot than the one of the effectively produced one.

Every single story is guided by Kluge´s strong belief that cinema respectively what he calls the “principle cinema” is immortal and will survive, beat or at least influence all the upcoming new media that will some day perhaps compete against the film. That principle consists of the simple diagnosis that in or with the cinema something that moves us is publicly communicated and therewith emotions are shared (filmmaker - spectator, spectator - spectator etc.). Immortality of that - a beautiful belief!