Page 47 - AIT0621_E-Paper

Jeden Monat nähern sich unsere Kolumnisten, die Berliner Filmemacher Dominik und Benjamin Reding, dem jeweiligen Heftthema
auf ihre ganz eigene Art und Weise. Geboren wurden die Zwillinge am 3. Ja nuar 1969 in Dortmund. Während Dominik Architektur
in Aachen und Film in Hamburg studierte, absolvierte Benjamin ein Schauspielstudium in Stuttgart. 1997 begann die Arbeit an ihrem
ersten gemeinsamen Kinofilm „Oi! Warning“. Seitdem arbeiten sie für Fernseh- und Kinofilmprojekte zusammen.

Each month our columnists, Berlin-based filmmakers Dominik and Benjamin Reding, approach the respective issue-specific theme
in their very personal way. The twins were born on January 3, 1969 in Dortmund. Whilst Dominik studied architecture in Aachen
and film in Hamburg, Benjamin graduated in acting studies in Stuttgart. They started working on their first joint motion picture “Oi!
Warning“ in 1997. Since then they have tightly collaborated for TV and cinema film projects.

W ell, what was that like? You were hungry, thirsty or quite simply felt like going dangerous, forbidden and yet, something right all the same. And that is what they had
out, meeting people, laughing, talking, flirting, yes, smoking as well, definitely
done, since only half a life after the hazy-smoky old gents´ meal with dumplings and
like enjoying. You put on “something nice”, set out, outside, often into the alleys of a cucumber salad, roast pork and schnapps from cut glass, did I learn: They all had,
“pub district”, you looked where “a lot” was going on (the more people, the better, ac- when young people, fought against the Nazis in the underground by risking their lives.
tually), you sat down, observed neither a minimal distance nor were you thinking of And survived it. Do you still remember? The dinner with Robert Redford, high up in
KN98 masks, simply ordered face-to-face from the restaurant chef, barkeeper, pub the mountains of Utah? A reception in his private ski lodge, the dining room as large
owner, yes, you suddenly found yourself talking with the congenial group at the next as a Swiss hotel lobby. We the guests had been asked in writing to wear “mountain
table, raised your glass to them, talked with the new acquaintances, joked, tried food look”. What might that be? Mountain look …) I bought a woollen sweater with an elk
from others´ plates, drank from the same (!) glass, switched to first names, hugged pattern. The star gave a witty address in front of a monumental, ablaze fireplace re-
each other and so on and so forth … Editor-in-chief Petra Stephan had warned me, hu- minding of the film set for Citizen Kane. How does he stand this heat? Even at our table
morously, as it is her way: “The topic of the next AIT issue, hotel-bar-restaurant …al- (at a safe distance), the heat made the guests sweating rivulets into their elk-, stag-,
most seems bizarre in view of the current circumstances …“ Yes, it seems to have been dear-motif sweaters. Robert will soon go up in flames, I thought. But Hollywood actors
longer than a year … Do you remember the time when one simply went to a restaurant, are tough. He smiled casually, welcomed the guest, me as well, asked where I came
took a hotel room, stayed out late boozing in a pub? Regardless of tests, vaccinations, from: “Germany”. He nodded. “Hummus-Hummus?” What did he say? What did he
case numbers, critical values, the risk of exposure, want to hear? And then again, now it sounded like
without fear, without a guilty conscience, without “Hommo-Hommo?” Then it was released, like an
virologists … “Do you still remember….?” I said it to avalanche in the mountains (to keep with the alpine
my brother who was sitting next to the phone trying imagery) a cascade of thoughts. His wife, I had read
to get a date for his Covid vaccination, begging for somewhere, was originally from Hamburg, so he
an appointment. He had missed it, I said it again, had been on visits there probably meant “Hummel!
but this time to myself. Do you still remember? I Hummel!” The greeting of the Hamburg natives!
said as if stretching out my hands towards it, as if And I shouted, loud: “Mors! Mors!” Thereupon Mr
towards the flames of a bonfire, comfortably feeling Redford laughed and my life was saved. Do you still
the warmth in the ever-colder body. Do you still re- remember? The semi state banquet? Great expecta-
member? The feast in Beaune, the medieval little tions: regarding the architecture, the food, the
town in Burgundy in France? The mayor invited to guests. In the state council building. Formerly the
the Onzièmes Rencontres cinématographiques de Reichsbank, now the foreign ministry. And the fo-
Beaune: the trip there on a special train, a brand- reign minister had invited. To dinner (lobster ther-
new TGV, just for us 20 guests. In the evening, in midor) with creative artists. In one of the halls desi-
the former poorhouse of the city, in the Hôtel-Dieu gned by Hans Kollhoff. Mirrors, cherrywood, cream-
which had become magnificent in the course of coloured calf leather. And above it all a touch of Ver-
many centuries due to donations. A French feast: Foto: Benjamin Reding sailles. The air-conditioner was also working solidly,
Jambon persillé au Bourgogne Aligoté, then Coq au everyone was cold. The talk with the deliberately in-
vin cuisiné à l´ancienne, then Tarte fondante à terested- looking minister was slow in gaining mo-
l´ananas rôti or Lait de riz glacé and, of course, the mentum. What should one talk about? Peace talks
Sélection des fromages régionaux, to go with it a Beaune Champs Pimonts 1er Cru, in the Middle East? Failed-state tendencies in Libya? The nuclear programme of North
1996, served in a chapel, beneath the masterpiece by Rogier van der Weyden, the win- Korea? Maybe the minister noticed it, maybe he just simply wanted to be funny, in one
ged altar The Last Judgement. Christ sitting enthroned, the resurrected rising naked of the lulls – one heard the listless scraping of the knives and forks in the strangely over-
from the graves, and the damned with their faces distorted by fear, just an arm´s length boiled, lukewarm menu – he said we should not wonder about the temperature, the
away. The municipal leaders had had the protective bullet-proof glass removed on the meal for us artists had indeed only been leftovers of the geopolitically important ban-
occasion of the feast. And, while cutting my Coq au vin, I was thinking: What if the quet with the Japanese foreign minister in the morning. And do you still remember? The
grease were now splashing in the direction of the Last Judgement? But the mayor good- ravenous hunger potato in the forest? For it doesn´t take anything more. A summer´s
humouredly raised his glass to me and I drank, to calm down, copiously of the 1er Cru day, a clearing, a small bonfire and potatoes in silver foil on top of it. And real hunger
and was suddenly able, no doubt also a miracle, to converse far easier in French than to go with it. The journeymen who taken to the road were singing their songs, relishing
ever before. Do you still remember? The banquet with the old men connected by a se- in turning the silver ovals in the embers. They had taken us along on one of their tours.
cret? Witnessed as a child, brought along by the parents. A decrepit house at the edge Now the beer was passed around and the feet were hurting and they watched us gree-
of town, an afternoon by the light of incandescent lamps. All of them no longer agile, dily wolfing down the potatoes and they were pleased. All of us, all together. “Yes, this
thin-skinned old gentlemen, puffing on cigars and dressed in baggy suits which had I remember…” my brother sighed, “…. And a summer, cool in the morning and sunny,
long become too big, but then suddenly while eating, smoking and abundantly drin- hot and calm at noon, warm in the evening and soft, a caressing wind, the scent of the
king, acting cheerful, much younger, almost high-spirited. They smiled at each other, forest floor, of meadows, of the bonfire and the potatoes eaten with our hands, nobody
like with a wink, quickly exchanged, as if they had jointly done something daredevil, can forbid this. Not even corona”, and off he went to buy potatoes.

AIT 6.2021 • 047