German Film - Majubs Reise - CANCELED


Meticulously researched facts, circumstantial evidence and the reflections they give rise to form the energetic center of this amazing biography of the African Majub on the background of German film and colonial history. Majub, born in Daressalam and a German colonial soldier in the First World War, was a popular extra and bit player in 1930s German cinema. You won’t see him from a distance, because then you will only notice the light of the “A-list” artists. But if you come closer and the B- and C-category stars begin to twinkle, each of them shining forth as part of a constellation, the world will open up wide and art will be enriched. In that sense, director Eva Knopf’s idea to have her film begin in an observatory is heartbreakingly beautiful. (Ralph Eue)