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 Robert Van
Ackeren,
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1965. A new age dawns. From then on
Super-8 film (cheap automatic cameras with handy film
tapes) made it possible for everyone to make films : home
movies in which personal fantasies can be given their
full, frank expression. The spread of home video in the
eighties signalled the end of the Super-8 age. So in his
film Deutschland Privat, Van Ackeren has not only
paid hommage to the genre, but at the same time
"written" its testament. Despite the use solely
of films sent in or found (a collection selected from
over 200 hours of material), it has become more than just
a compilation : it is a genuine exposition on the laws of
the format used specifically for home-movies. In the end
the amateur film only establishes its right to existence
in the intimacy of the living room. A public showing can
do nothing other than an injustice (possibly conscious)
to the material. But by severing all links with the
relevant context one makes its limitations, possibilities
and achievements clearer than ever. And it cuts both ways
: when faced with these private pictures, the viewer, who
is already a "voyeur", now becomes a
"voyeur" to the "nth degree", more
particularly of the ultimate film document of a society
prey to exhibitionism. From the images of childhood
to the holiday snapshots, from the family pictures to
the erotic film, the amateur film enthusiast films his
world from his own point of view, thereby merrily
forgetting his work. The structure of Van Ackeren's film
proves that Super-8 is a predominantly leisure-time
format, and the world of work remains unrepresented. The
amateur film-maker never points his camera at the less
charming aspects of his existence. The gloss triumphs
every time. This private world is a compact version of Hollywood, though
in this case the makers and actors sometimes go even
further in the representations of their fantasies.
Whether it is a publicity film for their own car or a
hardcore pornographic scene with the wife and a pet, the
cinema, television and advertising have undeniably left
their mark.
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 Bambule |
 Heintje |
 November Days |
 Berlin |
 Arbeiter verlassen die Fabrik |
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 Deutschland Trilogy |
 Der Reise |
 Combats au Kurdistan d'Iran |
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