Material (FID Grand Prize 2009) was, as we remember, a comprehensive film which revolved around the fall of the Berlin wall. The title emphasizing its ambition, his latest film is in turn an imposing block, with a summarizing purpose, based this time on documents originating from three generations of the Heise family, in other words on a century of German History. One can assess the extent of the challenge, especially as the sources deliberately remain heterogeneous and limited: a school assignment, family correspondence, diaries, a potholed motorway, children’s drawings, family photos. In the austerity of a grieving black and white, Heise makes a collage film deprived of any commentary, fully left in the care of the viewers. (J.P.R.)
Born in 1955 in Berlin, Thomas Heise his one of the major figures of documentary film in West Germany. His film Material won the Grand Prize at FIDMarseille 2009.
