弗柯・克普(Volker KOEPP)1944年生於波羅的海旁的斯德丁(二戰前屬於德國,戰後被劃分為波蘭的領土,更名為斯塞新),在東德求學成長。克普在二戰將盡時出生,自幼即面對故鄉因政治與戰亂而起的變化,無論是有形的地景變遷,或是無形的文化轉變,都銘刻在成長軌跡與記憶中,而這樣的關懷視角,也成為貫穿他作品的創作觀點。

1969年,克普畢業於波茨坦的德國電影學院,隨後於國有的德國電影股份公司(DEFA)紀錄片部門擔任導演。早期關注東德變遷下的小人物生活,透過長時間的多次回訪,誠懇忠實地記下人事物地的變化,包括記錄長達23年的「維茨托克女工」系列、適逢柏林圍牆倒塌與東西德合併的「布蘭登堡三部曲」。

兩德合併後公司解散,轉為獨立創作者,創作足跡延伸至中、東歐地區,尤以波羅的海沿岸為主。克普至今完成超過60部紀錄片作品,經常於歐洲各大影展參展、獲獎,並曾受邀擔任2021 TIDF焦點影人。

是否顯示
代表圖片
台中限定專題|焦點再訪:弗柯・克普

Wittstock, Wittstock

A new kind of normality has taken hold in Wittstock, which the filmmaker has captured for us for the one last time. The big factory is no longer there. As for the three women workers, Elsbeth goes to retraining courses, always on the hunt for a job; Renate has now been working for five years as a chambermaid in a small hotel; Edith, who used to be so rebellious, has moved to Heilbronn for work and become very tranquil.

Modern Times in Wittstock

Although the director had planned to end the Wittstock documentary series at Life in Wittstock, he continued the project to capture the changes taking place in East Germany after the German reunification. This sixth instalment returns to the town shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The three women workers experience various forms of instability and upheaval when the factory is liquidated; Edith leaves and start a new life in Württemberg.

Life in Wittstock

In 1974, the filmmaker began his 23-year journey of filming the women workers in a newly built textile factory in the town of Wittstock, East Germany. Life in Wittstock is the fifth instalment in the series; by then, nearly 3,000 women were working in the factory. In this film, three of the workers talk about the changes in the town, their promotions at work, and the choices and compromises they have made in their lives over the years.

March Brandenburg, Inc.

The final instalment of March Brandenburg trilogy moves away from the town of Zehdenick in order to focus on the rural areas north of Berlin. Made in the period between the currency union in East Germany and the official reunification in October 1990, the film shows how drastically the lives of the residents have changed, as crippling unemployment has taken the place of hard work.

March Brandenburg Heath, March Brandenburg Sand

The second instalment of March Brandenburg trilogy captures the conversations taking place in Zehdenick during the weeks leading up to the first free elections in spring 1990. Including previously censored footage of March Brandenburg Bricks, this film reflects the hopes and concerns of the business community, working class women, and young people during 'Die Wende', the period of political change in East Germany.

March Brandenburg Bricks

Spring, 1989: For exactly 100 years, the brick-making industry has determined the rhythms of life in Zehdenick, a small town north of Berlin in the state of Brandenburg. Veteran and young brickmakers speak openly and critically about their working and living conditions. As the first instalment of Volker KOEPP's March Brandenburg trilogy, this film was premiered in October 1989, one month before the fall of the Berlin Wall, at the Mannheim Film Festival in West Germany.

Mr Zwilling and Mrs Zuckermann

Chernivtsi, a city in western Ukraine (Czernowitz in German) used to be the centre of the Jewish culture, but only a handful of its Jewish residents survived the concentration camps—Mr ZWILLING, the self-proclaimed pessimist, was one of them. Everyday, Mr ZWILLING visits the elderly Mrs ZUCKERMANN to speak German, to talk about Judaism and their city, and to reminisce about the war.

In Sarmatia

In ancient times, the vast area between the Vistula, the Volga, the Baltic Sea, and the Black Sea was called ‘Sarmatia’, where Moldova, Belarus, Lithuania, and Ukraine can be found today. Quoting the works of the Sarmatia-born German poet Johannes BOBROWSKI (1917–1965), KOEPP travels through the area, depicting the region as the ‘dreamland where all nations and religious [groups] would find their place if history had not ploughed it all up over and over again’.

Berlin-Stettin

The director revisits places of his own past. Born in 1944 in Stettin (now the Polish city of Szczecin) and grown up in Berlin-Karlshorst, he has met and turned numerous people and locations between the two cities into the protagonists of his films. Now, he returns to them to find out more about the history of this region, and how much of his own life has overlapped with the lives of his protagonists.

Leaving and Staying

Uwe Johnson's final study in the English town of Sheerness featured a map of Mecklenburg, his childhood home he never revisited post-emigration. Conceived as a geobiography, this film follows Johnson's texts to locations from his life, encountering people and landscapes linked to his work, sometimes closely, sometimes more loosely.

Exclusive Programme in Taichung|Revisiting Filmmaker in Focus: Volker KOEPP

Born in Stettin (now Szczecin, Poland) in 1944, and grew up in the former East Germany (GDR). He graduated from the German Academy of Film Art in Potsdam-Babelsberg in 1969, and entered the state-run DEFA Studio for Documentary Films as a director thereafter. When DEFA was dissolved in the wake of German reunification, Koepp began to work as a freelance director, writer, and producer. During the five decades of his career, he shot more than 60 documentaries. He filmed extensively in East Germany, and later also in Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine, and Russia. His earlier works, such as the Wittstock series (1974─1997) and the March Brandenburg Trilogy (1989─1991), document the lives of common people living in the radically changing East German towns with genuine care and compassion. From the mid 90s, Eastern and Central Europe, especially the Baltic coastal region, became another focus of his work. His films tell how people's lives, and the landscapes in which they are living, are impacted by history, economic change, and ecological destruction.

Films

Berlin-Stettin

Berlin-Stettin

2009
Germany
110min
弗柯・克普
Volker KOEPP

In Sarmatia

In Sarmatia

2013
Germany
120min
弗柯・克普
Volker KOEPP

Leaving and Staying

Leaving and Staying

2023
Germany
169min

Life in Wittstock

Life in Wittstock

1984
German Democratic Republic (GDR)
82min
弗柯・克普
Volker KOEPP

March Brandenburg Bricks

March Brandenburg Bricks

1989
German Democratic Republic (GDR)
35min
弗柯・克普
Volker KOEPP

March Brandenburg Heath, March Brandenburg Sand

March Brandenburg Heath, March Brandenburg Sand

1990
Germany
55min
弗柯・克普
Volker KOEPP

March Brandenburg, Inc.

March Brandenburg, Inc.

1991
Germany
75min
弗柯・克普
Volker KOEPP

Modern Times in Wittstock

Modern Times in Wittstock

1992
Germany
100min
弗柯・克普
Volker KOEPP

Mr Zwilling and Mrs Zuckermann

Mr Zwilling and Mrs Zuckermann

1999
Germany
126min
弗柯・克普
Volker KOEPP

Wittstock, Wittstock

Wittstock, Wittstock

1997
Germany
119min
弗柯・克普
Volker KOEPP
Subscribe to RSS - 台中限定專題|焦點再訪:弗柯・克普