- Occupation
Producer, Director - Country
Germany
Komers Rainer
Milltown, Montana
Time inscribes itself into Rainer Komers' meticulously composed images and impressive sound collages of MILLTOWN, MONTANA. Each picture tells a story of a place that once belonged to the largest mining area in the United States that was contaminated by toxic substances and heavy metals. But the film does not only show the devastated landscape. Without dialogue, it sensitively portraits the people living and working there: cowboys branding their calves, Blackfeet Indians laying down the foundation stone for a new educational center, trappers and golfers, workers in a silicium plant, old miners, and young scholars competing in a mining contest.MILLTOWN, MONTANA is visibly scarred by man and trapped in a postindustrial phase of standstill. By alluding to its former wealth but showing the area's actual lack ofprospects, the film dramatically undermines the image of the American Dream.
Kobe
Rainer Komers charts an urban journey with echoes of a valuable German film tradition, which can be traced since Walter Ruttmann's Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (1927) to Wim Wenders` Notebook on Cities and Clothes (1989). Kobe proposes an exploration of the city's particular habits, rhythms and gestures until it transforms immediate register into unfamiliar everyday life, in a constant zigzag between sociological observation and sudden poetry. The auction-scene at the fish market is proof of the unusual pace of a city which, as telling evidence of its vitality regenerated itself following the unfortunate earthquake of January 17th, 1995.
Time inscribes itself into Rainer Komers' meticulously composed images and impressive sound collages of MILLTOWN, MONTANA. Each picture tells a story of a place that once belonged to the largest mining area in the United States that was contaminated by toxic substances and heavy metals. But the film does not only show the devastated landscape. Without dialogue, it sensitively portraits the people living and working there: cowboys branding their calves, Blackfeet Indians laying down the foundation stone for a new educational center, trappers and golfers, workers in a silicium plant, old miners, and young scholars competing in a mining contest.MILLTOWN, MONTANA is visibly scarred by man and trapped in a postindustrial phase of standstill. By alluding to its former wealth but showing the area's actual lack ofprospects, the film dramatically undermines the image of the American Dream.
Kobe
Rainer Komers charts an urban journey with echoes of a valuable German film tradition, which can be traced since Walter Ruttmann's Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (1927) to Wim Wenders` Notebook on Cities and Clothes (1989). Kobe proposes an exploration of the city's particular habits, rhythms and gestures until it transforms immediate register into unfamiliar everyday life, in a constant zigzag between sociological observation and sudden poetry. The auction-scene at the fish market is proof of the unusual pace of a city which, as telling evidence of its vitality regenerated itself following the unfortunate earthquake of January 17th, 1995.
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: 2008 - Ma'rib. 2006 - Kobe. 2004 - Nome Road System (Earthmoving). 2004 - NH 2. 1999 - B 224. 1998 - Ein Schloss fur alle. 1993-95 - Ofen aus. 1992 - Ettischer Sommer. 1987-89 - Erinnerung an Rheinhausen. 1985 - Die Sterne der Heimat. 1983 - Wer bezahlte fur Hitler? 1981 - 480 Tonnen bis Viertel vor Zehn. 1978-80 - Zigeuner in Duisburg. 1974 - 211 Buttel.
Rainer Komers Film
Moritzstrasse 102
45476 Mülheim an der Ruhr
Moritzstrasse 102
45476 Mülheim an der Ruhr
Breathless - Dominance of Moment - 2008
Breathless - Dominance of the Moment - 2009
Awards
2007 - Blicke aus dem Ruhrgebiet Bochum, Schmelztiegelpreis for KOBE
2006 - City of Mülheim an der Ruhr, Ruhr-Prize for KOBE
2005 - Planet in Focus Toronto, Best International Short Form Prize for NOME ROAD SYSTEM
2005 - Big Sky Documentary Film Festival Missoula, Special Prize for NOME ROAD SYSTEM
2004 - Short Cuts Cologne, 1st Jury Prize for NOME ROAD SYSTEM
2004 - German Short Film Prize for NOME ROAD SYSTEM
2004 - Filmfest Augenweide Kiel, Documentary Award for NOME ROAD SYSTEM
2001 - Hessian Film Award for B 224
2000 - Historama Ruhr 2000, 2nd Prize for EIN SCHLOSS FÜR ALLE
1980 - Prize of German Filmcritique for ZIGEUNER IN DUISBURG
1979 - City of Mülheim an der Ruhr, Special Ruhr Prize