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Robert Van Ackeren,
West Germany, 1980,
86 min

1965. A new age dawns. From then on Super-8 film (cheap automatic cameras with handy film tapes) made it possible for everyone to make films : home movies in which personal fantasies can be given their full, frank expression. The spread of home video in the eighties signalled the end of the Super-8 age. So in his film Deutschland Privat, Van Ackeren has not only paid hommage to the genre, but at the same time "written" its testament. Despite the use solely of films sent in or found (a collection selected from over 200 hours of material), it has become more than just a compilation : it is a genuine exposition on the laws of the format used specifically for home-movies. In the end the amateur film only establishes its right to existence in the intimacy of the living room. A public showing can do nothing other than an injustice (possibly conscious) to the material. But by severing all links with the relevant context one makes its limitations, possibilities and achievements clearer than ever. And it cuts both ways : when faced with these private pictures, the viewer, who is already a "voyeur", now becomes a "voyeur" to the "nth degree", more particularly of the ultimate film document of a society prey to exhibitionism. From the images of childhood to the holiday snapshots, from the family pictures to the erotic film, the amateur film enthusiast films his world from his own point of view, thereby merrily forgetting his work. The structure of Van Ackeren's film proves that Super-8 is a predominantly leisure-time format, and the world of work remains unrepresented. The amateur film-maker never points his camera at the less charming aspects of his existence. The gloss triumphs every time. This private world is a compact version of Hollywood, though in this case the makers and actors sometimes go even further in the representations of their fantasies. Whether it is a publicity film for their own car or a hardcore pornographic scene with the wife and a pet, the cinema, television and advertising have undeniably left their mark.

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