Continuing our conversation about films on Heimat, that untranslatable and highly charged German word that encompasses home, belonging & more, we talked to German author Frank Goosen, who has three films on the screen and more in the works. Frank will be our guest in Toronto for our GOETHE FILMS series "Heimat NOW".Jutta Brendemühl: Talking about Heimat, you and I are on the same page: We grew up within 10km of each other in the post-industrial West German region called Ruhrgebiet, went to Bochum University at the same time, hung out in the same three, four bars and clubs… Quick, give us 5 words that describe and define your Heimat:
Frank Goosen: Work, beer, soccer, Autobahn, green. Yours?
JB: You’re a down-to-earth guy, Frank, a true “Ruhri”. Mine are solidarity, loyalty, guts, sangfroid, and the neighbourhood of the city of Mühlheim called “Muttererde” – which translates as mother earth as well as top soil.
You have made a career of that feeling, of Heimat, as the most famous Ruhrgebiet writer-performer, who speaks and writes the rough and quick-witted working-class dialect of the region. How do you walk that fine line between flat-lining stereotype and cliché and heart-warming audience engagement? Continue reading "Heimat NOW: Frank Goosen & the sound of..." »
