Mr Bachmann and His Class Herr Bachmann und Seine Klasse
by Maria Speth
Out of Competition 2021
Official synopsis
In Stadtallendorf, a German city with a complex history of both excluding and integrating foreigners, brilliant teacher Dieter Bachmann offers his pupils the key to at least feeling as though they were home. Aged between twelve and fourteen, these pupils come from twelve different nations; some have not quite mastered the German language. On the brink of retirement, Bachmann is eager to inspire these citizens-in-the-making with a sense of curiosity for a wide range of crafts, subjects, cultures and opinions.
The programmer’s eye
Maria Speth's film offers an immersion in a non-academic classroom, an antithetic mirror – because of its solar aspect – of the French film “The Class”. The charismatic super-teacher, Mr. Bachmann, however, could definitely be a fictional character: he’s attentive, endowed with multiple talents, communicative and lucid about his pedagogy, and he even allows himself to be funny. His portrait is not idealized, and develops an important theory on difference, one which involves the refusal of uniformising the minds of children. Mr Bachmann and His Class is a film from which we have a lot to learn.
Biography and Filmography
Maria Speth is a writer, director, and producer of features and documentaries. Her graduate thesis film and debut feature “The Days Between” premiered at the Rotterdam International Film Festival in 2001, where it won the VPRO Tiger Award. Her second feature, “Madonnas” (D 2007), won the Hessian Film Prize in 2007. In 2009, Maria Speth founded Madonnen Film and produced her first documentary, “9 Lives”, which she wrote, directed, and edited. In 2011, she was awarded the Incentive Prize for Film and Media Arts from the Academy of Arts in Berlin. In 2012, Maria received the German Metropolis Award as Best Director of a documentary. Her feature ”Daughters” (D 2014) premiered at the Berlinale. In 2015, Maria received script development funding from the German National Film Fund FFA for her project “Stadt Allen Dorf” that she shot as “Mr Bachmann And His Class” until July 2017. “Mr Bachmann'' was released theatrically in Germany following its premiere at Berlinale 2021. Maria Speth is currently working on a feature film, “For Kate”, and the project “One Lives Because One Is Born”; they’re both supported with funds through the German Federal Government.
2021 - MR BACHMANN AND HIS CLASS - Maria Speth - Director, screenwriter
2014 - DAUGHTERS - Maria Speth - Director, screenwriter
2009 - 9 LIVES - Maria Speth - Director, screenwriter
2007 - MADONNAS - Maria Speth - Director, screenwriter
2001 - THE DAYS BETWEEN - Maria Speth - Director, screenwriter
1999 - BAREFOOT (Short) - Maria Speth - Director, screenwriter
by Maria Speth
Maria Speth is a writer, director, and producer of features and documentaries. Her graduate thesis film and debut feature “The Days Between” premiered at the Rotterdam International Film Festival in 2001, where it won the VPRO Tiger Award. Her second feature, “Madonnas” (D 2007), won the Hessian Film Prize in 2007. In 2009, Maria Speth founded Madonnen Film and produced her first documentary, “9 Lives”, which she wrote, directed, and edited. In 2011, she was awarded the Incentive Prize for Film and Media Arts from the Academy of Arts in Berlin. In 2012, Maria received the German Metropolis Award as Best Director of a documentary. Her feature ”Daughters” (D 2014) premiered at the Berlinale. In 2015, Maria received script development funding from the German National Film Fund FFA for her project “Stadt Allen Dorf” that she shot as “Mr Bachmann And His Class” until July 2017. “Mr Bachmann'' was released theatrically in Germany following its premiere at Berlinale 2021. Maria Speth is currently working on a feature film, “For Kate”, and the project “One Lives Because One Is Born”; they’re both supported with funds through the German Federal Government.
2021 - MR BACHMANN AND HIS CLASS - Maria Speth - Director, screenwriter
2014 - DAUGHTERS - Maria Speth - Director, screenwriter
2009 - 9 LIVES - Maria Speth - Director, screenwriter
2007 - MADONNAS - Maria Speth - Director, screenwriter
2001 - THE DAYS BETWEEN - Maria Speth - Director, screenwriter
1999 - BAREFOOT (Short) - Maria Speth - Director, screenwriter