Julian Benedikt

"It must schwing!" was the motto of Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff, two German Jewish immigrants who in 1939 set up Blue Note Records, the jazz label that was home to such greats as Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock, Thelonious Monk, Art Blakey, Dexter Gordon and Sonny Rollins. Blue Note, the most successful movie ever made about jazz, is a testimony to the passion and vision of these two men and certainly swings like the propulsive sounds that made their label so famous.

A comprehensive history of European Jazz, exploring the origins of the US-influenced Jazz clubs after the Second World War, the first steps independent of American jazz and the various changes of direction that have repeatedly occurred in European jazz in the search for that "own voice" that European jazz musicians have helped to form. Featuring the great masters of European jazz such as Chris Barber, Jan Garbarek, Juliette Gréco, Stefano Bollani and Till Brönner, to name but a few.

After the German reunification: A widowed, unemployed archaeologist with two children and a single futurologist with a little daughter in Berlin fall in love at first sight and persistently and unwaveringly develop a life together. An equally unspectacular and rigorous examination of love as a crucial basis for private and political action.

With the armies of the Liberation at the gates of Paris, station manager Kurt Heyzmann receives an order from his superiors to withdraw. As a farewell, he decides to prepare one last prestigious program, to be filmed and broadcast live. Kleischter, a Gestapo lieutenant, emerges to try and spoil the show, by antagonizing Heyzmann and his employees. He believes that the war is not over, and continues to hunt down potential Jews and STO deserters on the TV premises.

A couple finds themselves for a decisive weekend in the countryside after three months of dissonant relationships. She is playful and philanthropist, he is Protestant, she is an atheist, he is thoughtful, she is impatient, he is dreamer.

"Jazz Seen" is an exploration of the life of William Claxton, whose photographs turned the world of jazz on its keen and perceptive ear. Various jazz artists, photographers, and actors recount memories they had with Claxton and explore his work, while parts of his life are re-enacted by actors.

A documentary directed by Julian Benedikt.