In Berlin steht der Filmemacher, Journalist und Fotograf R. Valsecchi seit Jahren an der Seite aktivistischer Gruppen, die ohne finanzielle Unterstützung den Kampf gegen Rassismus in der BRD aufgenommen haben. So stellte er 2013 seinen Film „ID-withoutcolors“ – die 1. Dokumentation zu Racial Profiling in Deutschland – der Kampagne für Opfer rassistischer Polizeigewalt (KOP) zur Verfügung. 2014 veröffentlichte er seinen aktuellen Film „Schwarzkopf BRD“, der die jungen Theaterpervormer_innen des Jugentheaterbüro Moabit begleitet (www.http://www.grenzen-los.eu/jugendtheaterbuero/), die offensiv und radikal Widerstand gegen Unterdrückungsverhältnisse in ihren Stücken thematisieren.
R. Valsecchi möchte für „Schwarzkopf BRD“ das ermöglichen, was für „ID-withoutcolors“ durch seinen Einsatz bereits möglich wurde. Die kostenfreie Weitergabe des Films an Aktivist_innen, Projekte, Bildungseinrichtung, etc.
// „Schwarzkopf BRD“ hat noch keinen Release. //
Dafür müssen die noch ausstehenden Lizenzen bezahlt werden. R. Valsecchi bittet uns um Unterstützung. KOP bittet um Spenden. Die Crowdfunding Kampagne findet Ihr unter: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/schwarzkopf-brd-martin-luther-king-in-berlin
Kontakt R. Valsecchi
info@schwarzkopf-brd.com
Watch Martin Luther King and Malcolm X fighting racism in Germany
„Schwarzkopf-BRD: Martin Luther King in Berlin!“ is a documentary film that tells the efforts of a group of teenagers to stage a play about the US Civil Rights Movement in order to find a way to cope with the racial brutality of German police and society.
The students draw parallels between U.S. history and German situation, finding inspiration for their resistance.
But the reality burst abruptly on the stage when, Ibrahima, one of the actors, receives the notification that he cannot stay in Berlin. Due to German law, the 17 years old asylum seeker from Guinea has to leave his mates because he is assigned to another refugee camp in Dortmund. A new energy enforces the group and the messages of such heroes as Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and Angela Davis become even stronger. The life of their beloved friend Ibrahima depends on the success of the play, whose premiere is the last possibility to demonstrate that he is an essential part of Berlin’s community.
Something to know
Did you know that:
– in the last ten years a neo-nazi group, called NSU, financed and supported by the German Secret Service killed 9 immigrants and committed at least two bombings against Turkish communities and 14 bank robberies. Despite the evidences, none of the officers who „facilitate“ the nazi-killer have been ever investigated.
– at least 184 are the victims of racism killed in Germany after 1990. This number does not include all the „unclear“ cases. Like Oury Jalloh, who was arrested and burnt alive in a jail cell in Dessau on January 2005. Follow the campaign Initiative Oury Jalloh: Mouctar Bah and Oury’s friends and relatives are trying to make shining a light over his death since a decade now, but no one is guilty for his death until now.
– in 2010 the social democratic politician Thilo Sarrazin claimed in his book Deutschland schafft sich ab („Germany Is Abolishing Itself“) that the failure of German migration policy is a consequence of the genetic inferiority of Arabic and Turkish people. Sarrazin’s book is the highest sold book on politics by a German-language author after Hitler’s Mein Kampf.
– Would you believe that the slogan of the NPD party – National Democratic Party of Germany – for the 2011 campaign for the Mayor in Berlin was „GAS GEBEN!“ – we give gas! -? YES, IT WAS!
– The PISA Report and the 2013 studies by the Justice Initiative Open Society have shown that the German educational system is one of the most discriminating in Western societies. Students with a migration background are barely allowed to attend the University and they suffer discrimination throughout their entire educational career.
– on March 27, 2012, the administrative court of Koblenz, in Western Germany, ruled that skin color was „reasonable grounds on which to carry out ID checks.“ KOP (Campaign for the Victims of Racial Profiling) – www.kop-berlin.com – is an association who follow any cases of racial profiling in Berlin: more than 150 cases of police racial brutality have been documented on their yearly chronicle. Despite that, German police and government still claims that „the practice of racial profiling does not exist in Germany“.
– a new movement called Pegida – Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West – gathered together 25.000 people on January 12th for a demonstration against Muslims and migrants.
About „Schwarzkopf-BRD“
The film „Schwarzkopf-BRD: Martin Luther King in Berlin!“ is based on the theatrical play „Schwarzkopf BRD-Whos is the victim?“ by the Jugentheaterbüro Berlin.
The Jugentheaterbüro Berlin – www.grenzen-los.eu – is a theater company in Moabit, Berlin, whose purpose is to link art and political empowerment. The Jugentheaterbüro Berlin promotes artistic expression along with peaceful political education and campaigning.
The „Schwarzköpfe“ of our film are:
Damla Eser – Martin Luther King 2013
Dinah Büchner – Time traveller/Slave/Black Panther
Jasmin Ibrahim – Teacher/Angela Davis
Jamil Dishman – Time traveller/Slave/Black Panther
Ibrahima Baldé – Time traveller/Slave/Black Panther
Passar Salam – Director/Martin Luther King Jr.
Mohammed Rmeih – Director/Malcolm X
Nurcan Khan – Martin Luther King 2013
Ramon Smith – Policeman/Black Panther
Mustafa El-Hussein – Policeman
Ahmed Shah – Artistic director of the JTB
Esther Jurkewicz – JTB Coach
Katharine Kolmans – JTB Coach
Damani J. Partridge, assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology and at the Department of Afroamerican and African Studies at the University Of Michigan gave a workshop about the US Civil Right history at the theater. The idea of staging a play about the US Civil Right Movement came after those lessons.
The director and cinematographer
Riccardo Valsecchi is an awarded filmmaker, photographer and journalist. His previous film, ID-Withoutcolors: Institutional Racism in Germany, won, among the others, the 2013 Sardinia Film Festival, and the 2013 Respekt Gewinnt Preis for the „best project for the development of the democracy in Berlin“.
He contributes regularly to the German newspaper “die Tageszeitung” (TAZ).
He lives between New York, Berlin and Italy.
What We Need
The film is finished, we are just starving for releasing it.
On November 27 the first „unofficial screening“ in Berlin was attended by more than 300 persons. It gave us a great feedback about the potentiality of the film.
Another „unofficial screening“ is scheduled on February 17th at the Bat Haus in Brooklyn, New York. Anyone is welcomed, the event is free and we need your comment and critic before releasing officially the film.
Despite the fact that the film have been supported by such artists Keith Le Blanc, Klaus Doldinger, Peter Gutzeit, and the Specials, which allow the use of their music for free, and Music Sales Inc. and Carlin Music concede a very fair fee for the use of such important song as „Strange Fruit“, from the beginning the project had to deal with the reticence of German media in allowing the use of some footage. As a representative from the country’s Jewish Council noticed on an article published on MSNBC, „Germany lacks a coordinated „nationwide action plan“ when it comes to right-wing extremism or racism“. *
Despite that, we did not give up and WE WILL NEVER GIVE UP!
The cost for the footage and music licensing is actually estimated on an amount of $ 21950.000 – 18340 EUR- included legal advice.
This crowdfunding is really important for supporting the cost of those licenses and the legal advice. It allows us to make our main goal legally possible: to release the film for free to NGOs and associations working against racism, and to open an international discussion and confrontation about such topics as racism and discrimination.
The remaining fund will be used to promote the film and to print the materials (DVD and Postcards) for YOU, our beloved crowdfunders.
The Impact
The film will be released to festivals starting on Spring 2015. Since this project is mainly thought to enhance an international discussion about racism, the use of the film will be allowed for free to any associations, NGO, group of persons with a reliable interest in campaigning against racism.
The film has been already requested by Universities, NGOs and festivals, but we are sadly frozen until we pay the footage and music licenses.