An initiative of the
Breathless. A Documentary Film Project /
Vùng biên giới. A Theatre Project with Rimini Protokoll /
rádio d-cz. A Radio Art Project /
Vùng biên giới. A Theatre Project with Rimini Protokoll /
rádio d-cz. A Radio Art Project /
Milltown, Montana
Milltown, Montana
by Rainer Komers (GER 2009, 34 min)
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Sound: Michel Klöfkorn
Editor: Bert Schmidt
Shooting format: Super 16
Production: Rainer Komers / Kloos & Co. Medien GmbH
Milltown, in German “Mühlheim”, a place in Western Montana at the confluence of Blackfoot and Clark Fork River. A place where timber was processed, initially with water power and then, after the Milltown Dam had been erected, with electric energy. The Clark Fork River comes from Butte, 120 miles south-east of Milltown, once the largest mining city in the US. The dam and the hydropower plant have recently been pulled down; the timber mill has been shut down. In summer, the canoeists add some colour to the industrial wasteland, but anglers won’t show up here. Toxic substances and heavy metals, carried by the river from the mines at Butte and from the copper mill at Anaconda to the former water reservoir, have contaminated the ground. In a move to renaturalize the landscape, the contaminated sludge, an estimated 14 million truck loads, is now to be removed and shipped upstream to a place called Opportunity, which the mining corporation of Anaconda had had erected once as a model village in the green fields next to the copper mill. The Clark Fork River is the largest “Superfund Site”, the biggest renaturalization project in the United States.
Director’s comment:
"As a 'child' of the Ruhr District and a citizen of Mülheim the question preoccupies me what will happen after the industry is gone, how life will develop and what will become of the acceleration once ignited by technical processes intrinsic to industrialization? Will there be a new approach towards the rhythm of nature? Will it be possible to unite technology and science with a nature-based life? The descendants of the so-called 'primitive people', how do they live today and how do they interpret ‘progress’, how do they react to the phenomenon of ‘acceleration’?
For the last 10 years my films have focused on movement at places in a landscape. There are no hierarchies between things, people and places, they receive equal treatment, their rhythms and gestures are examined. In this respect my films have no protagonists; instead they consist of relations and encounters, prepared and unprepared ones."
Mentor’s note:
“Rainer Komers is a particular filmmaker who tells stories about particular places in a particular way. He lets you experience the rhythm of the places and feel the specific flow of the time there. He does not tell you what to think, on the contrary - he lets you participate in the creation of the film. His language is not German, English or Russian, his language is cinema.” (Miroslav Janek, filmmaker, Czech Republic)
Prizes:
“Milltown Montana” was awarded the Blicke Filmpreis for 2009
www.blicke.org
At the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival 2010, (Missoula, Montana, USA) “Milltown, Montana” received the Excellence Award for Best Editing.
RAINER KOMERS
Born in 1944 in Guben. Studied film at Kunstakademie Düsseldorf and photography at Essen University. Worked as director and cinematographer in Alaska, Ecuador, France, India, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, Yemen. His films were broadcast by 3sat, Arte, HR, NDR, PBS, WDR, ZDF. Lives and works in Berlin and Mülheim an der Ruhr, and lectures in Berlin, Düsseldorf, Münster and Vienna. His film “Nome Road System” won the Best International Short Film Prize at Planet in Focus, Toronto, in 2004 and the German Short Film Award 2005.
Filmography:
Ma’rib (2008)
Kobe (2006)
Nome Road System (Earthmoving) (2004)
NH 2 (Earthmoving) (2004)
B 224 (Earthmoving) (1999)
Ein Schloss für alle (1998)
Ofen aus (1993-95)
Lettischer Sommer (1992)
Erinnerung an Rheinhausen (1987-89)
Die Sterne der Heimat (1985)
Wer bezahlt für Hitler? (1983)
480 Tonnen bis viertel vor zehn (1981)
Zigeuner in Duisburg (1978-80)
2211 Büttel (1974)
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