Quarterly 2 · 2008 - German Films

Plattln in Umtata
SHOESLAPPING IN AFRICA
Shoeslapping in Africa follows the Biermoesl Blosn, a
Bavarian folklore band, to Africa. Meeting musicians and
artists of South Africa’s and Namibia’s old and new folklore
and armed with a harp, a viola, alpenhorns and a
barrel organ, the three musicians celebrate a cultural dialogue
through music and dance. While Bavarians
Harfengstanzel’n (harp dance music), Schuhplattler (shoe
slappers) and South Africans Gumboot Dance, Munich
and Soweto collide with each other, the satirical artists
from conservative Bavaria get to know the world of
Africa’s people in a melting pot of cultures in a far away
land. The “Plattler“ of the black miners tells the Biermoesl
Blosn about the history of South Africa and Namibia:
stories of racial segregation, apartheid and colonial veal
sausages under the equator – or how the Schuhplattler
came to Africa …
Genre Culture, Music Category Documentary Cinema Year of
Production 2007 Director Peter Heller Screenplay Peter
Heller Director of Photography Otmar Schmid Editors
Thomas Balkenhol, Heiko Feld Music by Biermoesl Blosn,
Gerhard Polt, Corroboration Gumboot Dancers, Conscious
Marimba, and others Producer Peter Heller Production
World Sales
Kinowelt International GmbH · Stelios Ziannis
Karl-Tauchnitz-Strasse 10 · 04107 Leipzig/Germany
phone +49-3 41-35 59 60 · fax +49-3 41-35 59 64 19
email: filmverlag@kinowelt.de · wwww.kinowelt-international.de
Company Filmkraft Filmproduktion/Munich, in co-production
with BR/Munich, WDR/Cologne, in cooperation with Goethe-
Institut/Johannesburg Length 92 min Format DigiBeta, color,
1:1.78 Original Version German Subtitled Version English
Sound Technology Stereo With backing from FilmFernsehFonds
Bayern German Distributor Kinowelt Filmverleih/Leipzig
Peter Heller has conducted many film seminars under the
auspices of the Goethe-Institut in East and West Africa, Finland,
USA, India and Italy. He has worked as a lecturer at universities, and
is the author and co-author of numerous books, a founding
member of the German Media Advisory Council for Political
Development, of the Distribution Coop of Filmmakers and the
international film network “Zebra”. A selection of his films includes:
Das Geschaeft mit der Party (1975), Usambara (1980)
The Forgotten Fuhrer (1982), Jungleburgers (1985),
African Lady (1988), The Death of Ares (1995), General
Mama (1997), Cottonmoney & The Global Jeans (2001),
Woven Earth (2003), Moschee Hassan II (2005), and
Shoeslapping in Africa (Plattln in Umtata, 2007), among
others.
german films quarterly new german films
2 · 2008 62
Scene from “Shoeslapping in Africa” (photo © Filmkraft Filmproduktion/Munich)