Public broadcaster distances itself from the doc "Lovemobil"

"Lovemobil" is a cinema documentary that was financed, among other things, with funds from Nordmedia Filmförderung and in which the NDR documentary department was involved as co-producer. The film depicts the lives of prostitutes who work under degrading conditions in mobile homes on the side of federal highways in the middle of Germany. It has screened at festivals worldwide, was awarded the German Documentary Film Prize in July 2020 and has been nominated for the Grimme Prize. After its DOK.fest Munich world premiere, it won the Cinematic Vision Award CIFF, Best Film of the International Competition KINENOVA FF, Best International Documentary at Doc Los Angeles, played the Semaine de la Critique Locarno FF, Slamdance, CPH:DOX and many more international festivals.

The critical investigation of the film was triggered by research conducted by the NDR editorial team STRG_F, which had received information from people associated with the production and, after conducting its own research, came across discrepancies. In an interview with STRG_F, Elke Margarete Lehrenkrauss admits to having failed to inform the NDR about the enactments. She said she regretted this and at the same time claims that the NDR did not ask either.

Lehrenkrauss defends her approach to STRG_F: "In any case, I can't accuse myself of having distorted reality, because this reality that I recreated in the film is a much more authentic reality." The director admitted, among other things, that she used actors* as protagonists, including acquaintances. The prostitute "Rita" in the film "Lovemobil" is not a prostitute. According to Lehrenkrauss, "Rita" is supposed to have acted out stories of other prostitutes. Also "Milena" does not work as a prostitute in a mobile home as depicted in the film, but was only in the region for the filming. One of the "johns" shown is said to be an acquaintance of the author.

The film "Lovemobil" was editorially accompanied and approved by the NDR documentary editors, based on an exposé and a budget of a documentary film. The editorial staff says they were not informed about the staging at any time during the production process, which lasted several years. The NDR documentary film editorial department rejects Lehrenkrauss' accusation that it did not ask any questions about authenticity, and the broadcaster is still in the early stages of clarifying the incident.

Frank Beckmann, NDR Program Director Television: "The film "Lovemobil" does not meet the standards that NDR applies to documentary storytelling. It gives the audience the impression of authenticity, which it does not have. NDR journalists have revealed that large parts of the film were freely staged. NDR will make the facts transparent in its programs and report independently. In addition to full clarification, we must find even better ways to protect ourselves from such misdirection."

The documentary genre is committed to reality and truth and therefore enjoys a particularly high reputation among audiences, as it is considered to be especially authentic and close to reality due to its mostly purely observational reporting that dispenses with accompanying commentary. For decades, NDR has been a promoter of documentary films, but also of so-called docudrama, a combination of documentary and scenic elements. The decisive factor here is that fiction and reality are neatly separated.

NDR is planning to further make the case transparent in its own radio and television programming and document the coverage on ndr.de and several of its culture programs. The investigative reportage format STRG_F will report on March 23on STRG_F's Youtube channel. In the course of the research, STRG_F spoke with protagonists* of the documentary, the author Elke Margarete Lehrenkrauss as well as the NDR editor who supervised the film "Lovemobil".

The film "Lovemobil" ran only briefly in theatres due to Covid. NDR television showed "Lovemobil" late at night on December 8, 2020 and on their online platform (for youth protection reasons only from 10 pm). The film has been taken out of the online platform for the time being and blocked for reruns.


source: NDR press release
image: courtesy German Documentaries