Fans travel from half of Europe

adminonMarch 22, 2023May 1, 2023Leave a Comment

When international top-class acts like millencolin from sweden or russkaja from vienna make kronach’s fortress walls shake on saturday, the meanwhile biggest festival in the region of upper franconia and south thuringia will be starting up. All 2600 tickets for "festung rockt the tickets sold like hot cakes – even abroad to england, the czech republic, austria and switzerland. "Unbelievable, insane! No one expected such an onslaught", says samuel rauch, head of the youth and culture center "struwwelpeter organizes the festival.

The reasons for the great demand are obvious: a great atmosphere, top musical acts, an excellent organization – and all this for a reasonable ticket price, for which you had to pay much more elsewhere. "No festival without sponsoring – at least not at such prices", samuel rauch points out. Fortunately, for the first time, we were able to gain a main sponsor in the form of the weber machine factory, which will continue to support the festival in the coming years.

"We support ‘festung rockt’ because it is a festival for all people in this region. It’s great when international bands play in kronach. In the past, you had to travel several hundred kilometers for such festivals; today you have one right outside your door", ludwig weber, member of the management board of maschinenfabrik weber, is delighted. "The event has taken a huge development. What is achieved here cannot be overestimated", notes ludwig weber.

According to samuel rauch, there are more than 100 young people and adults who volunteer in the run-up to the festival as well as on the main day itself – from band selection to poster design and band support. "Fortress rocks is also a broadly conceived cultural-pedagogical project, stresses the "struwwel-ladder. As he explains, one third of the tickets were sold abroad; about two thirds went to upper franconia and south thuringia.
In times of a shortage of skilled workers, weber naturally also hopes to inspire young people to join the company. Andreas ehnes, who is mainly responsible for marketing at weber, emphasizes, however, that they want to hold back on advertising on site. The festival should be the center of attention, weber adds.

He is sure that kronach has a lot to offer in principle. This refers, on the one hand, to the cultural offerings, whereby – in proportion to the size of the district or the number of inhabitants – the festival does not need to hide behind larger cities. He is thinking, for example, of the existing concert program, but also of "kronach leuchtet", "crana historica" or the free push. He said it was particularly important to emphasize that a lot of the work was done on his own initiative and on a voluntary basis.

"I think it’s great that our festival is valued so highly by the business community", samuel rauch is pleased. The festival is a signboard far beyond the region", he points out. But unfortunately this is not always perceived in this way. The anticipation of him and his team for the spectacle is huge. "We are ready and eager to start", he beams and hopes for a gigantic and equally peaceful festival as in the past years.

All visitors are reminded that on saturday there will be no parking at the fortress. Rather, the parking lots in the city and in the parking garages are to be approached.

Ekkehard roepert

Karlheinz schoofs is pleased about the "new way". If only because "it has to do with grassroots democracy", emphasizes the principal of the ehrenburg grammar school. The impetus to return to the nine-year gymnasium came from the parents in bavaria, karlheinz schoofs recalls. "And the work we have to do with it, we do gladly."
The advantages of the G9 model are obvious to the head of the egf: "in the nine-year high school, we have time to coordinate school and extracurricular activities." During the G8 period, for example, it was not easy to organize a vocational internship "because the week plays into the lessons. Even the exchange trips to spain, poland or italy are more relaxed "when the timetable stretches over nine years". School-based learning experiences now had more room again.
"Because the schools need the maturity", ingrid kafferlein, head of the herder grammar school, was "enthusiastic about G9 right from the start. But although jurgen sauer, the deputy head of herder, has also experienced the disadvantages of the G8 too much, he emphasizes: "there is something to carry on". The G8 model will be replaced by the "double period principle" retained. This rhythmization allows for an exam-free period. The herder will therefore continue to schedule compulsory classes on tuesdays and thursdays, elective classes on mondays and wednesdays, and friday afternoons will remain free. And "another positive" G8, says jurgen sauer: "the intensification lessons help to deepen content and make up for lost time."
No afternoon classes in the middle school and "more freedom of choice" in general – this is ingrid kafferlein's good news for the new G9 generation. One wish remains open, however: "in the future, high school graduates should also have greater freedom of choice." Without lowering the level of graduation, for example, consideration should be given to "whether you have to take a written exam in all three school-leaving subjects", says the herder boss.

No more packed days

"It is of course exciting", says karlheinz schoofs – and is referring to the curricular changes that have been made for the 8th grade., 9. And 10. And for the design of the baccalaureate, the first. "It's still uncertain how far the reform can go in the upper school", says schoofs. He personally would even like to see a return to the performance courses.
In any case, there is now a "coherent package" before, says erhard herrmann, the principal of the frankische schweiz grammar school in ebermannstadt. He also had "only positive" feedback from parents heard.
As a model school in bavaria, ebermannstadt has already tried out giving the students a longer period of time over the past few years: the "plus-schools got one year extra after middle school. That's why erhard herrmann has a clear idea of the contrast between G8 and G9: "especially for schools in rural regions, it means a great deal of relaxation. You don't have to wait for trains and buses and are home in the afternoon." More exercise, more sports, more time for extracurricular activities – the relief in favor of a "better development of young people" the main advantage of G9, says herrmann, is that "afternoons had to be crammed in with G8. Ten hours of instruction a day is something we no longer have to expect of anyone." At the same time, the principal's offices of all three district high schools emphasize that the "fast lane" is the only way to go the possibility of continuing to complete high school in eight years is welcome. In part, the schools wanted it. Principal herrmann says this not only with regard to highly gifted students, but also because of the option of having a second grade in the 11th grade. Going abroad for a year: "in the normal G8, this was hardly possible."
This "fast lane with its two speeds" is easy to organize, says karlheinz schoofs. Even before the legal return to G9, he had asked around in the collegium. And 88 out of 90 teachers had voted for the G8. It's still unclear who or what will decide in the future whether a schoolchild chooses the fast track: the will of the parents? The testimony?
"This is completely new territory, says jurgen sauer. In any case, thanks to the mentoring and tutoring system, the fast lane is a winner. Whereas ingrid kafferlein believes that the elective G8 "will not be a big hit" in terms of demand.

Documentary film has always had an important place in the cinematic landscape. Commercial successes like michael moore's "fahrenheit 9/11" works or "the journey of the penguins" of the french antarctic explorer luc jacquet made the genre public. But even in the short time of about ten minutes, it succeeds in effectively depicting aspects and actual events. The first role in the documentary film competition at the bamberger kurzfilmtage was a testament to this. "From searching and finding" was the overriding motto of the five cinematic entries.

"One in two" the title already reveals that the protagonists are double personalities. Producer jan mocka and director lilian nix researched the transvestite environment and documented the lives of normal men – and their parallel lives as women. We see the protagonists shopping for shoes and handbags, dive with them into the nightlife of rough metropolises, but also learn about their everyday work during the week. The makers have succeeded in portraying home-made conflicts, the search for living out one's own personality between publicity and privacy, the renunciation of "normality" partnerships, the difficult accord with prejudices.

Carmen butta observes in "akram and the wall in the sea an eleven-year-old fisherman at his daily work in the sea off gaza. She succeeded in creating a vivid reportage of a young man who, caught in his fate in many ways, is searching for his place in life. As a teenage breadwinner of his family caught in the difficult task, as an adolescent in the narrow confines of palastina, which are also found in the sea off the gaza strip.

Alina cyranek's film "scenes of a farewell" made a very powerful and moving contribution. She watched the rehearsals of a female senior theater group, who defied the approaching death and farewell to life with incredible playfulness and joy. The director herself grew up without any grandparents, and this explains her soft spot for old people and their life stories: "old women can tell you so much!"

Not a propaganda film
Jan Mocka provided similarly powerful insights with his portrait of two missionaries of the mormon church "jesus abroad", when he shows the meticulous rituals, the strict rules and commandments of the community, but also the unshakeable courage to live and the contentment of the young men. "But that's also the dangerous thing about the search: it's so open that you can quickly get sucked into it, mocka explained afterwards the problems with the shooting. He also faced the accusation from the audience of "a propaganda film" to have filmed, exposed. He disagreed, pointing to individual scenes in which the two missionaries also gave very convenient and inadequate answers to critical inquiries. And he added: "maybe we should have asked a few more dropouts whether they are still so happy and satisfied afterwards."

The berlin media artist marion pfaus, artist by the name of "rigoletti," takes a completely different approach to documentary film. Your three-minute "berlin disaster" irritated the audience with an obvious lack of documentary character. She was also looking for the missing star for roland emmerich on the boulevard of stars in berlin. Why roland emmerich? "We have in common that we can make good films with little money", pfaus revealed with a wink.

With a wink
This wink is her trademark in different dimensions. Ironically, strongly satirical and exaggerating, she takes everyday life to task. In most cases, this also has a serious background. As in the case of their actionism for "pro-quote-regie", a campaign to increase the visibility of women in the film business. Why does it need a quote? "Because women are actually disadvantaged. I've never really been interested in that, because i think i would actually make my films the same way if i were a man," she revealed, she revealed in a conversation the afternoon before the competition. But the campaign is also about not portraying feminism as mean-spirited or even hostile to men.

And so pfaus stages red-carpet interviews during the berlinale, taking the grain out of common cliches and stereotypes about women and men. "The 'pro-quote' is not about women's films being better and more interesting. It's simply a matter of everyone getting an equally large slice of the cake. For example, female directors don't get into television series at all. That liked the action others." The documentary film can also be actionistic.

The organizers of the short film days proved (and prove with the second role on today's saturday) a competent hand in the selection of the films. And also show in the 25. Year the first-class quality of the bamberger festival.

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