Description
Director Biography – Karl-Friedrich König, Tilman König
TILMAN KÖNIG
1979 Born in Erfurt
1998-1999 One year internship at Production Company Schnittpunkt in Jena
2000-2006 student assistant at the music and theatre university
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Leipzig as cinematographer und editor
2001-2002 Scholar at the Waseda University in Tokio, Japan employee of the film group Shinaken, Attendance of film dramaturgy and film history lectures
Since 2003, yearly visits of Japan and subtitling of various Japanese short films of the film group „Shinaken“
Since 2006, curator of the international experimental film festival „Die Nacht des radikalen Films“
2007 Master’s degree in Japanology and sociology at the University Leipzig Focus areas: migration, Japanese culture in the 1920s, master thesis in Japanology about the Japanese community in Düsseldorf
Since 2007/2008 work as freelance filmmaker, documentation of the Japan festival OHAYO NIPPON in Leipzig
2008 project development, production and direction „Sour Strawberries – Japans versteckte Arbeitsmigranten“ (with Shingo Matsumura), documentary about the life of working immigrants in Japan (54 min.)
2009/2010 20 years euro-scene Leipzig, documentary (with Bernd Gengelbach)
2010 cinematographer of the graduation film „7x7x7 Geschichten von der Suche“ by Daniel Schwarz (looked after Wim Wenders – HfBK Hamburg.) Episode 4
2011 support of the „Theater der Jungen Welt Leipzig“ scenography/ film for plays from Jürgen Zielinski, Kay Link, Anne Kling, Olga von Wahl and Marion Firlus
2014 Foundation of the production company 2Könige Film
2014-2016 Production of the feature film “THE BLACK NAZI”
2016 nationwide release of the film “THE BLACK NAZI”; DVD and VOD distribution about Studio Hamburg Enterprises; film for the weekend at Spiegel Online
2017-2018 Further education in the field of script/directing within the framework of the Qualification program of the Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung (Central German Media Fund) for young directors in Central Germany “TP2-Talentpool”
KARL-FRIEDRICH KÖNIG
1982 born in Erfurt
2003 Foundation of the film group „Cinemabstruso“
2005 Foreign study at the Universidad de Alicante
seit 2007 Curator of the international film festival “The Night of the Radical Film”
2009 Graduated as Master’s degree in Ethnology and Hispanic Studies at the University Leipzig
2011 Further education in the field of script/directing within the framework of the Qualification program of the Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung (Central German Media Fund) for young directors in Central Germany “TP2-Talentpool”
2013 Honorary position as a director at the Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig
2014 Foundation of the production company 2Könige Film
2014-2016 Production of the feature film “THE BLACK NAZI”
2016 nationwide release of the film “THE BLACK NAZI”; DVD and VOD distribution about Studio Hamburg Enterprises; film for the weekend at Spiegel Online
2016-2017 tutor at TP2-Talentpool (dramaturgical accompaniment of the Iranian director Anoush Masoudi and his feature film “Brothel, a love story”)
2016-2017 twice as a tutor at MY STORY of the Filmverband Sachsen ((Saxon Film Association)
seit 2017 scriptdevelopment for new feature film
Director Statement
The idea of the story sounds absurd? Well it is. Partly, in any case,
for there are actual examples of black men suddenly becoming followers of Neo-nazis in Germany. However, the film doesn’t want to just retell reality, ridiculous exaggerations are also in store.
Just like in black comedy where the viewer’s laughter gets stuck in their throat. The film therefore tells not only of swastikas mapped on onto an ECG machine but also of the everyday mistrustful looks a Black man in Germany inevitably receives.
By means of the bizarre idea of a Black Nazi the film wants to lead racism into ad absurdum. Racism, in all it’s contexts is a subject matter with which we have long been dealing and which we want to creatively work on. Coming from an Evangelical Pastor’s house, since our childhood we have repeatedly lived with “Illegal people”, who were given asylum through the church community of our Father.
Migrants from North and South Africa were always staying with us.
The Racism which they went through was always a recurrent daily topic.
We want to shoot a film, which entertains the audience and at the same time provokes thought. With the stylistic elements of the Grotesque – in our case the mix of inversion, satire, and documentary – the question is posed, of what “being German” actually means. What happens when someone arrives and pushes the racist claims and mindset of a far right party in to extremity.
A black-man who simply overtakes the Neo-nazis from the right and challenges their ideology. The film is supposed to expose the crude racism which hides behind the idea that a foreigner is someone who essentially cannot fit into our culture.
