The True Film
Siegfried Kracauer suffered from a speech impediment, but as a newspaper critic he was feared for his sharp tongue before he and his wife Elisabeth fled from the National Socialists and emigrated to the USA. A historian is now digitising his estate. Friedel and Lili, the avatars and restless souls of Siegfried and Elisabeth, appear in the archive and try to influence the historian in her work. Inconsistencies emerge in the circle of friends, which includes renowned philosophers such as Walter Benjamin, Theodor W. Adorno and Ernst Bloch. In the interactive exploration of THE TRUE FILM, we stumble across gaps in the legacy and the suppressed role of women in male self-representation.
A co-production of Mira Film and INVR.SPACE.
Wife, loyal companion, and support in daily life, she earns most of the regular income at a government organisation. The job does not correspond to her musical training (she plays the violin). Influenced by the image of women in the post-war era, she describes her marriage as a working partnership and refers to herself as her husband's colleague.
A doctor of chemistry and enterpreneur who actively integrated herself into her husband's intellectual circle. She took minutes of meetings, corresponded with intellectuals close to her - such as Walter Benjamin and Ernst Bloch - and ran the Institute for Socail Reserach alongside her husband. They returned to the University o Frankfurt in the early 1950s.
She is an inquisitive and ambitious historian who has been entrusted with digitising the Kracauer estate. She hopes to make a sensational discovery in the archive. She will introduce you to the material and take you on a journey through time.
Lili and Friedel are eternal souls and time travelers. They try to influence the historian's work to ensure that their historical relevance is depicted positively. Friedel engages with past conflicts, while Lili fights for her representaton in the archive to be accurate.
A jewish intellectual and former editor-in-chief of the Frankfurter Zeitung. He was forced to flee from the Nazis and struggled to find work in New York for a long time. In addition to writing occasional articles, he published significant theoretical works on film. He developed his philosophy through intensive discussions with his friends and his wife, who preferred to remain in the background.
Philosopher and composer. He and Max Horkheimer are considered the leading representatives of critical theory. In 1938, Adorno moved to New York and, together with his friend Leo Löwenthal, took over the editorship of the Journal of Social Research at the Institute for Social Research. He later headed the institute. Adorno has been friends with Siegfried Kracauer, who was 15 years his senior, since their youth in Frankfurt.
1 / 6
DOK.fest München
DOK.digital – award for new narrative formats
Creative Director & Skript
Christina Zimmermann
Technical Director
Sönke Kirchhof
Producers
Susanna Guggenberger, Sönke Kirchhof, Christina Zimmermann
Line Producer
Jessica Zippel
Associate Producers
Hercli Bundi, Vadim Jendreyko
Unity Developer
Timo Heikkilä
Art Director
Juan Garcia
Sounddesign
Thomas Baumgartner
Voice Artists
Caro Bruchmann, Hanns Zischler, Tom Vogt, Kornelia Boje, Ulrike Hübschmann, Asad Schwarz
Voice Recording
Andreas Loof, Christine Helmer, recorder studios, Berlin
Character Design
Sandro Lochau, Alessandro Holler, Oliver Stephan, Yume Tanaka
Animation
Yume Tanaka
3D-Artists
Sugar, Simon de Diesbach
VFX-Effects
Timo Heikkilä, Jony Margelist
Motion Capture Recording
Valentin Huber, Norbert Kottmann, Immersive Arts Space ZHdK
Motion Capture Coordinator
Kristina Jungic, Immersive Arts Space ZHdK
Motion Capture Actors/Actresses
Suramira Vos, Corinne Soland, Jonas Götzinger
Motion Capture Editing
INVR.SPACE
Additional Unity Programming
Chris Leisi, Oliver Sahli
Production Assistants
Stephanie Constantin, Emily Hopf, Eline Kersten, Kateřina Vesela
Back-Office Mira Film
Fabienne Spiller
A coproduction of Mira Film, INVR.SPACE
Mit finanzieller Unterstützung von
Zürcher Filmstiftung
Fachausschuss Film und Medienkunst Basel Stadt/Baselland
Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg
Bundesamt für Kultur
Succès Passage Antenne
Migros Kulturprozent
Format
VR-SetLength
40minColor
trueYear
2025Original Language
Englisch, DeutschSubtitles
Country
SchweizISAN
0000-0005-893E-0000-F-0000-0000-T