Roloff Peter

All About Tesla - The Research
The film about Nikola Tesla - the inventor and the visionary of free energy for everybody. Rade Serbedzija, who played Nikola Tesla in a TV series about Tesla’s life, will go on a journey to find the “real” Nikola Tesla, who’s 150th anniversary will be celebrated in 2006. Nikola Tesla (1856-1943) patented the Alternating Current (AC) system we still use today. Around 1900, his vision was to transmit energy without wires so that everybody could have energy for free. Tesla’s vision failed. Today, he is almost forgotten – so the director Michael Krause went to find out All About Tesla. He started his research in New York City… Michael Krause met with busy researchers and adamant fans of Nikola Tesla. What do people do with Tesla’s inventions, ideas and visions today? Today, it is necessary to find new energy resources. Fossil fuels will run out soon and they have to be replaced. To the present day, nobody knows by what. 100 years ago, Nikola Tesla worked on the forefront to answer this question. Tesla saw the ‘ambient medium’ as the energy source of our future. He wanted to tap into this ‘eternal source of energy of the Universe’. Nikola Tesla’s vision of free energy is a concept for the 21st century. Modern science has discovered that more than 70 percent of the Universe is dark energy. Can we tap into it? Tesla said: yes, we can. In ALL ABOUT TESLA – THE RESEARCH director Michael Krause visits important places in Nikola Tesla's life, he meets with busy researchers and adamant fans. Exclusive interviews with scientists, politicians and other personalities of today reflect the inspiring influence of Nikola Tesla on their research. The film shows how the memory of Tesla survived and how it was kept alive. What do people do with Tesla’s inventions, ideas and visions today? Tesla’s 150th anniversary was celebrated in 2006. The city of Niagara Falls, Canada, commissioned a monument to Nikola Tesla. The sculpture was unveiled in July 2006. The film follows the creative process of building the bronze Tesla statue by artist Les Drysdale. During the film, Tesla’s birthplace Smiljan, Croatia, was turned into the “Tematski Park Nikola Tesla”. This transformation marks the growing interest in Nikola Tesla, the most underrated genius of the technological era.

Farewell Quay
Tales of departures and partings intersect at Steubenhöft quay – the forgotten port of European emigration. The quay is almost not of this earth, a final terminus and a starting point for the transit voyages to the United States and Canada. The filmmaker traverses this place of countless farewells in images full of longing. Situated on the German North Sea coast, it is the only still-operating, former emigration harbour in the world. Stories told by the people there, travellers after the turn of the century, and emigrants during the war awake the place to new life.

Kümmel Goes East
Hermann Kümmel built a school house in Nicaragua. That was in the ‘80s. Today the born Hessian is working in Rzeszów, east Poland. He’s building the NEW WORLD shopping centre. On Kümmel’s side stands Polish manager Viola Wojnowski, who negotiates with trade partners and financiers. But she doesn’t want to continue living in Poland - she’s having her dream house built in the German capital. The shopping centre project is controversial amongst inhabitants of the local prefab estate where it is to be built. But contracts have been finalised and construction vehicles are rolling in. Director Paul Hadwiger and his team followed the creation of the shopping centre over five years...

Born in Bremen, Germany in 1964. From 1986-90 studies Media and Communication Sciences at the University of Arts, Berlin; graduates /w diploma in Communication. 1990-95 teaching assistant at the Institute of Social and Economical Communication, University of Arts, Berlin; since 1995 managing director of maxim film production, Berlin & Bremen. Selected productions: Napoleon for a While (2004), 90 mins., HDCam/35mm, co-production with Metropolitan Pictures, Amsterdam, funded by nordmedia Fonds und Dutch Film Fund; international premiere: Hot Docs Toronto. Alphonse Mucha – Art Nouveau Visionary (2004), 52 mins., DigiBeta, co-production with NDR/ARTE and Czech Television; broadcast: Germany, France, Czech Republic, Finland, Norway, Netherlands, Spain, Poland. My Model Village (2002), 80 mins., DigiBeta, co-production with ORB and SFB.