Tuba wa duo
(Tuba wa duo)
Tuba wa duo © DEFA-Stiftung
| Foth, Jörg |
| Foth, Jörg |
| Zallmann, Sonja |
| (Steinbrück) Plenert, Gudrun |
| Plenert, Thomas |
| Wenzel, Hans-Eckardt |
| DEFA Studio for Documentary Films |
Synopsis
Two men sit on the top of a roof, playing the tuba. They continually call out absurd messages making fun of official solutions and of their own slogans. The residents feel disturbed by the tuba's sound and start to attack the musicians, while they themselves keep on playing and shouting louder and louder. Finally the house is blasted and the tubas are destroyed.
This short documentary is based on the play Rüpeldrama by Hans-Eckardt Wenzel. It is included as a special feature on the DVD of Latest from the Da-Da-R.
Commentary
This short film Tuba wa duo can be seen as a preliminary work for Foth’s Latest from the Da-Da-R. Director Jörg Foth and cameraman Thomas Plenert shot it (with musicians Georg Schwark and Michael Vogt) across from the Gethsemanekirche in Berlin in October 1988, shortly before the church became an important center for the East German citizens’ movement. The filmmakers understood their absurd, satirical defense of the tuba as a bold parody of official rhetoric and policies.
Tuba wa duo received official approval in January 1989, after the director produced a new dubbed version in which the word “peace” (which GDR officials banned from use in a satirical way) was changed into “future.” Although the film was awarded the official rating besonders wertvoll (Special Merit), it was never screened or distributed.
