The Naked Man on the Sports Field

Streaming video - 1973

Kemmel is almost 40. Although little throws the good-natured sculptor off, he is torn... between wanting to address his generation’s memories of the Holocaust, and disappointment that many people don’t understand his works—despite official programs to bring art to the public. One day, he offers to make a sculpture for the sports field in his hometown. The Wolf/Kohlhaase team based this tongue-in-cheek, episodic film on the life of Werner Stötzer, one of East Germany’s most important sculptors. They interweave personal memories, political defeats and the weight of German history into a nuanced story about the role of art and artists in society. References to other artists—including sculptor Will Lammert, painter Albert Ebert, phot...ographer Einar Schleef and Soviet writer Anatoli Kusnetzov—add contextual layering to cultural debates taking place in early-1970s East Germany. more