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Filmstill Johnny & Me

Johnny & Me

Johnny & Me
Katrin Rothe
International Competition Animated Film 2023
Animated Film
Germany,
Switzerland,
Austria
2023
100 minutes
German
Subtitles: 
English

As she visits an exhibition, a graphic designer is mesmerised by the photocollages of the anti-fascist John Heartfield, who became known as the “montage dada.” Stefanie falls through a vortex of paper and photo snippets into an old-fashioned looking studio. A pair of scissors – an analogue tool she herself hardly uses – attracts her attention. She begins to cut a figure out of cardboard, a miniature version of the artist who at once addresses her and explores his life and works with her. The studio turns out to be a living archive that ceaselessly produces documents and information about Johnny. The research gives Stefanie, stressed and disappointed by her job, new motivation, and the courage to choose a different path as a designer.

Both protagonists have the same profession and find themselves facing the same questions about the significance and recognition of their work. Both are struggling in their own way with frustration and fears, caused by the different social and political circumstances of their generations. The different elements of this animated documentary come together in a dialogic collage that reflects on the mission of art, its educative and critical power, and its potential to bring about changes in our society.

Franka Sachse

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Director
Katrin Rothe
Script
Katrin Rothe
Cinematographer
Thomas Eirich-Schneider, Richard Marx, Manon Pichón
Editor
Hannes Starz
Producer
Gunter Hanfgarn, Andrea Ufer, Ralph Wieser, Sereina Gabathuler, Werner Schweizer
Co-Producer
Rolf Bergmann, Carolin Mayer, Gabriela Bloch Steinmann
Sound
Stephanie Stremler, Manuel Harder, Michael Hatzius, Dorothee Carls
Sound Design
Lukas Brandes
Score
Micha Kaplan, Thomas Mävers
Animation
Lydia Günther, Caroline Hamann, Tonina Matamalas, Anne-Sophie Raemy, Benjamin Swiczinsky
World Sales
Elina Kewitz
German Distributor
Joachim Kühn
Artistic Design
Amelie Couchet, Malte Stein, Lisa Neubauer, Wolf Matzl, Birgit Scholin, Rosanne Janssens, Jonatan Schwenk, Kerstin Zemp, Werner Kernebeck, Gyula Szabó, Cornelia Freche, Lisa Sinram, Theresa Grysczok, Mandy Müller, Melanie Hauff, Edoardo Pasquini, Cornelia Diomis