The Angel of History (2019)
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Country:
Germany
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Duration:
11 min
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- Type:
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Genre:
experimental
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Director:
Eric Esser
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Producer:
Eric Esser
About film
In 1921, German philosopher Walter Benjamin purchased a painting Angelus Novus by the Swiss-German artist Paul Klee. Benjamin admired it and described it in detail in his essay “Theses on the Philosophy of History.” The picture portrays a restless angel who tasted reality. For a moment the angel freezes as if observing the inevitable turns of history. German director Eric Esser filmed at the Spanish-French border, which used to be a place of smuggling routes. It is across this border Walter Benjamin once escaped from the Nazis too. The Angel of History is a short documentary poetic essay addressed to Europe. The director investigates the present and the future through the prism of the complicated past and carefully reminds that history tends to repeat itself.
Rewards and nominations
- 17th Warsaw Jewish Film Festival — Official Selection
Director
Eric Esser is a German director, producer, screenwriter, editor, and cinematographer born in Germany in 1975. He is currently based in Berlin. He studied Media Arts and worked for the Berlin Social Science Center WZB. In 2005 he began his studies at Filmarche Berlin, a self-governed film school. He later received his Master's Degree in documentary filmmaking in Potsdam. Esser’s filmography also includes feature films such as Non ci è stato regalato niente (2014) about an Italian partisan woman during WWII and Rotation (2018) about people swapping rooms in a housing project in Eastern Berlin.
Trailer
Director
Eric Esser is a German director, producer, screenwriter, editor, and cinematographer born in Germany in 1975. He is currently based in Berlin. He studied Media Arts and worked for the Berlin Social Science Center WZB. In 2005 he began his studies at Filmarche Berlin, a self-governed film school. He later received his Master's Degree in documentary filmmaking in Potsdam. Esser’s filmography also includes feature films such as Non ci è stato regalato niente (2014) about an Italian partisan woman during WWII and Rotation (2018) about people swapping rooms in a housing project in Eastern Berlin.
