In 1968, the classroom of a girls’ grammar school in Munich is transformed into a film studio under the direction of young director Edgar Reitz. The “film lesson” begins: the first documented attempt in film history to teach film aesthetics as an independent subject. 2023: Edgar Reitz, the world-famous director of the “Heimat trilogy“, is approached by an elderly lady. She recognises herself as one of his former students. They arrange a class reunion.
“FILMSTUNDE_23 [Subject: Filmmaking]“, premiering at the 74th Berlinale, directed by Edgar Reitz and Jörg Adolph, is a montage documentary of the 1968 film class experience made by Reitz and his class reunion with his students in 2023.
As the directors declare in their press notes: “SUBJECT: FILMMAKING is a declaration of love for filmmaking and an appeal to finally bring film education into schools. A film about lifetime and the still unredeemed possibilities of the art of film”.
“FILMSTUNDE_23 [Subject: Filmmaking]” is an ode to film literacy reminding us that film should be taught in school since childhood.
Plot
In 1968, the young Edgar Reitz teaches filmmaking at a girls' school - a pioneering experiment in educational policy. 55 years later, an unlikely class reunion takes place.