THE MAN BEHIND THE MASKS


	Revue de presse THE MAN BEHIND THE MASKS GÜNTER WALLRAFF (Author of The Lowest of the Low) A DOCUMENTARY BY KLAUS SCHUFFELS and MARIA PARNELL Consultez les archives du film GENRE : DOCUMENTARY THEME : A PORTRAIT OF THE MASTER OF INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM TIME :52 MINUTES. DIRECTED BY : MARIA PARNELL ORIGINAL CONCEPT AND SCREENPLAY: KLAUS SCHUFFELS PHOTOGRAPHY: SEPP THOMA SOUND: MARCEL NEU EDITOR : VESSELA DOZTCHEVA PRODUCED BY: 3i, PARIS, FRANCE 1989. LOCATION: M. GERBAUD,30 BIS RUE SORBIER, 75020 PARIS; TEL : 47.97.88.49 TV SALES INQUIRIES: TAXI PRODUCTIONS, PARIS; TEL : 47.53.08.88 AVAILABLE: DUBBED, IN ENGLISH AND IN GERMAN VHS AND BW SCRIPT: GERMAN, ENGLISH, FRENCH, SPAIN, INTERNATIONAL Günter Wallraff is not only one of the West Germany best known journalists, he is also one of its best known personalities. But he is also a secretive man who dreads publicity and mistrusts cameras unless it is a case of using the media to promote his own struggle. The film constitutes the first exhaustive portrait of Günter Wallraff, which gets to the core of who he is. Its writers have gathered the rarest and most complete collection of information on all of his past "roles". Among other extracts from films made when he had transformed himself into Ali the Turk, previously unseen documents about his private life, other films produced by Turkish, West German and Soviet television... This portrait hinges on a few highlights: - Chancellor Kohl himself stating his mind on the usefulness of Wallraff's technique; - Wallraff's daughter confessing to not having recognized him when he was disguised as a BILD ZEITUNG journalist; - his German teacher remembering the first investigation Wallraff carried out at school when he was sixteen; - Wallraff filming Gorbatchov at the Kremlin with a hidden camera; - Wallraff revealing his true identity to his Turkish workmates who didn't have a clue who Ali was ... Above and beyond the documentary films themselves, the writers have succeeded in getting him to expound on his methods and give us his thoughts on the direction his life has taken so far, his notion of the "mask" and its success, the evolution of his concept of investigative journalism and the problem of filming and editing that go with it. Behind the public man, there is a fragile often tormented individual who reveals himself for the first time to an international audience. Beyond the public image and the individual, G.Wallraff is a unique phenomenon: his books have been translated into 35 languages and sold in total about 15 million copies. La première image du film présente un Wallraff inattendu, coureur de fond solitaire en survêtement et chaussures de marathonien. The first frame of the film presents an unexpected image of Wallraff, a lonely long distance runner in a track suit and running shoes. And this is precisely the question the film tries to answer: " What is that keeps Mr.Wallraff running? " GÜNTER WALLRAFF, investigative journalist and writer " You have to put on a disguise to unmask society! " Born in 1942 near Cologne (West Germany), he left school at the age of 16 and trained as a bookseller. 1963 to 1966 First investigations disguised as a worker in German industry 1967 to 1969As an alcoholic in a lunatic asylum; as an informer for the Intelligence Services; as president of a factory making napalm bombs; as council member in 1973 runner for a large German insurance company in 1974 political detainee in Athens under the colonels' dictatorship; in 1976 an extreme-right-wing banker working to help to finance General Spinola's at tempted coup against the new-born Portuguese democracy; 1977 underground journalist with BILD, the jewel in the crown of the SPRINGER group that came under such fierce attack in dans The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum. by Heinrich Böll. 1985 his latest investigation on the Turkish immigrants, The Lowest of the Low ( Ganz unten ), met with unprecedented worldwide acclaim. MARIA PARNELL, film director Born 1948, Warsaw (Poland). 1967 to 1971 studied at the Lodz Film and Television Academy; 1972 to 1974 Polskie Radio i TV (Warsaw) 1974 to 1985 Westdeutscher Rundfunk (Cologne) M.Parnell made about 50 films for television since 1971. Is currently living in Paris. KLAUS SCHUFFELS, screenwriter Born 1949, Krefeld (West Germany). German lecturer at Rouen University, France; made Wallraff known in France ( Le journaliste IndŽsirable, Maspero 1979; The Undesirable Journalist. Pluto Press, London 1979 and, New York 1979; " La vŽritŽ comme une arme", La DŽcouverte, Paris 1989) and translated Ganz unten (The Lowest of the Low) from German into French with A.Brossat (Tte de Turc, La DŽcouverte, 1986). Press Review... "A million miles away from stale ideological formulas, his book reads like a thriller, you simply can't put it down." Journal de Genève "Wallraff has rehabilitated the immigrant Turks by telling us of their every day hell." Le Nouvel Observateur "A society unmasked" Le Monde diplomatique "Courageous end truthful" Afrique- Asie " Not a single journalist has done anything like this before. Wallraff is dynamite... A Zorro, crusading for justice, who lives on the fringes of the international journalistic community. " Libération " More than a best-seller: a social phenomenon. " Le Monde " Wallraff has become the greatest popular writer of the moment. " Der Spiegel " Wallraff, sunk in a destitution of his own choosing, rises to an exceptional, almost superhuman dimension. A stroke of genius " Die Zeit " Contemporary of the release of the book, three major North European papers (Politiken, Denmark; Dagbladet, Norway; Dagens Nyeter, Sweden) published large extracts from it. Politiken devoted half of its front page to the book under the title: Wallraff unmasks West German xenophobia. " Suddeutsche Zeitung " Grimm tales of the dealers in men " The Times 'Lowest of the low' may result in more than pricked consciences. Several compagnies, including giant steelmaker Thyssen, for whom Ali worked, are under investigation of alleged labor-law violations. Newsweek West german portrays 'a piece of apartheid'. International Herald Tribune " It is easy to write about Wallraff. His life is very much like his book: dynamic, fascinating, full of unexpected discoveries. Wallraff is not a militant engaged in a solitary struggle. He is someone who makes people act. " Litératunaya Gazetta, Moscou