MUTTERSTÜCKE

Regretting Motherhood
Merle Grimme/Felizitas Hoffmann, Germany, 2017, 18 min, OmeU

This work, which evolved whilst the director was studying at HFF Munich, questions motherhood. The women who openly share their doubts are represented anonymously. The taboo of questioning the almost sacred relationship between mother and child puts them under enormous pressure. The mothers speak openly about difficulties, doubts and fears that accompany them in motherhood and in which they seem to be more or less alone. The cinematographic work by the two female directors has a respectful approach to the topic, that listens carefully and doesn’t judge the women and their feelings.

Merle Grimme works as director, film-editor and producer. She absolved her Bachelor studies in Hildesheim and at the moment she studies at the HFF in Munich, in the field “documentary and TV journalism”.

Felizitas Hoffmann works as a director and screenwriter. She also studies at the HFF in Munich. In this context the joint work with Merle Grimme was developed.

Mutterstücke (Mother Pieces)
Sandra Kulbach/ Michaela Schäuble/ Nan Mellinger/ Johanna Straub, Germany 2006, 58 min, OV with English subtitles.

“The more I think about the relationship to my mother, the more clearly I realize that I shape my life consciously as a counterpart to hers. This position creates a special form of dependency, in which intimacy and distance both play important roles. This dynamic of attraction and rejection forms an area of tension, in which the film takes place.” (Michaela Schäuble’s comment on her film Roots from Mutterstücke.)

Mutterstücke formulates insecurities, intimacy and distance of an influential and life-long connection. Four mothers are portrayed by their daughters: the daughters share their view on their mothers and vice versa. The relationship complexity is shown in its brutality, but also in its warmth. Each one of the portraits can stand on its own, however, in a series, they offer and demonstrate the diversity of these relationships and in this case of the creative forms and choices of the film makers.

Sandra Kulbach, editor and filmmaker. She studied at the HFF in Munich and has been working as a freelancer since graduating.

Michaela Schäuble, documentary filmmaker and social anthropologist. She worked and taught at different universities. At present she is conducting research at the University of Bern in the field of ecstatic religious veneration of cults and of the Saints in the Euro-Mediterranean realm as well as with trance and stage-managing in ethnographic documentaries.

Nan Mellinger, lives and works in Munich. She is a freelancer and works in the field of cultural communication.

Johanna Straub, author and film-maker, was born in 1970 in Hamburg. Her first novel was published in 2007, it is titled The zebra has black stripes, so that you can see the white ones better. In 2010 her second novel followed: The best thing about it. In addition to her cinematic work in and on Mutterstücke, she co-produced the short film Dönerkebabuja together with M. Gürkan Önal.