From Berlin to Cairo and back again, German filmmaker Piotr Reimer has been making waves in festival circuits with his recent family films.
Reimer, who is a father himself, has succeeded in capturing the essence of childhood, offering children an entertaining reflection of their lives and the chance for parents to reminisce over a simpler time in their lives.
“Der kleine Ben (Little Ben), is Reimer’s latest acclaimed short feature for children created as a response to the director’s biggest fear: growing up.
A theater director, musician and composer, Reimer told Daily News Egypt via e-mail how the idea came about. “In 2005, my wife was pregnant. I wanted to make a film for my child. So I remembered the first major problem that I faced while growing up: cycling
Cycling, Reimer believes, is a “problem [that] has a lot to do with the other problems coming through life.
The film tells the story of a child who dreams of joining his father’s theater group but must first learn how to cycle without training wheels. Made in five days, the 13-minute project received the silver award in the short feature films category at this year’s Cairo International Film Festival for Children.
Reimer studied visual communications at Art High School in Kassel, Germany and directing at the German Film and Television Academy. His influences are drawn from American, European and Asian cinema.
“Sometimes I like the entertainment of Spielberg, the courage of Goddard, the desire of Wong Kar-Wai, the timing of Tarkovsky, the truth of Kieslowski, the style of Antonioni and the humor of Kaurismäki.
Born in 1977 in Bytow, a town in northern Poland, he later immigrated to West Germany with his parents in 1988; a move that would influence much of his work.
“For me, memories are the personal view of reality or the past, he said. “I think I was a very happy child but my parents were not. And I really didn’t understand why my parents wanted to leave Poland. Today, I think I understand a little bit more.
His first movies would eventually explore those distant memories.
Part of his graduation film thesis, “A Half of Paradise is based on a love story set in a 90s Warsaw; an age marked by the advent of a free market and democracy following the fall of communism.
“People felt like birds locked in a cage, and then suddenly somebody opened the door, Reimer recalled. “That time was very special for me. So I wanted to go back to the time, which I miss a lot, and live again in my mother’s homeland.
Reimer’s ideas clearly resonate with those of Alice Miller, a child development psychologist and author. In studies, she explains how some of the works of Pablo Picasso, Franz Kafka, Dostoyevsky were products of their early childhood experiences.
Children seeking to enter a creative field, like arts or film, should feel, think and intuitively be given the chance to describe what they see around them.
“Never forget your pencil, Reimer says. “Children should experience a lot in their childhood; they shouldn’t stay ‘outside’ [these] experiences.
“The biggest fight for me as a child was accepting and understanding adult world, which is full of inconsistencies. When we realize how much we can learn from our children, maybe then we’ll open our ears to them, he says.
Reimer explains that what many children experience these days is closely connected to the world Hollywood creates for them. Animated and CGI blockbusters have been swarming global movie theaters, attracting both adults and kids with a mix of simple storylines catered for kids and pop culture parodies designed for their parents.
“I didn’t see ‘Bee Movie’ but I had a lot of fun with ‘Shrek.’ The thing is, children didn’t get the best jokes – that’s a pity, said Reimer.
Growing up watching one of Poland’s popular TV series, “Czterej pancerni i pies (Four Tank Men and a Dog), is a different experience than what children watch today. “Children spend more time with TV than they do with their parents or other children. This is a big problem of our present time, he said.
For Reimer, watching movies at an early age nurtured a strong passion within him for the seventh art.
“Being a filmmaker is sometimes like being a tourist in life. I didn’t like going to school because I didn’t like the way of teaching. I remember one time though when a teacher got ill, and so we had to see a movie in class instead. I loved this class and for a moment, school too.
Unlike Hollywood, Reimer’s dream worlds are deeply rooted in reality. The magic he churns in his films are fundamentally drawn from the simple, instinctive bond between parents and their children.
“Spending time with the kid; cooking, playing hide-and-seek, playing drums with some pots, eating an ice cream in the rain without thinking about the next date, are movies that all come for free.
