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ARBEIT HEIMAT OPEL profiles six young people, aged 16 to 19, who began their apprenticeships as industrial mechanics at the Opel plant in Bochum, Germany in 2009. While they must learn to cope with a new phase in their lives, the start of their professional careers and approaching departure from the security of their parental homes, Opel itself is being sucked deeper and deeper into the maelstrom of the international financial crisis and facing ever-increasing economic pressure. We follow Jerome, André, Sinan, Tim, Marius and Marcel, with all their hopes and fears, through this period of radical change; we are introduced to their dreams for the future as well as their worries. They stand at the threshold of a professional life whose future is already uncertain.

At the same time, ARBEIT HEIMAT OPEL contrasts the everyday lives of the Plant II apprentices with GM and Opel’s fortunes on the world stage on two seemingly unrelated levels. Despite their distance both in physical and in media terms, the two levels repeatedly intersect and come into contact with one another, connecting global strategies with local and personal life plans � and vice versa.

  • filmproduktion loekenfranke
    Producer
  • Ulrike Franke
    Director
  • Michael Loeken
    Director
  • Michael Loeken
    Writer
  • Ulrike Franke
    Writer
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    ARBEIT HEIMAT OPEL
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 31 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    October 1, 2012
  • Country of Origin:
    Germany
  • Country of Filming:
    Germany
  • Language:
    German
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • DOK Leipzig - Internationales Leipziger Festival für Dokumentar- und Animationsfilm
    Leipzig
    Germany
  • Kinofest Lünen
    Lünen
    Germany
  • STRANGER THAN FICTION
    Cologne
    Germany
  • DER NEUE HEIMATFILM
    Freistadt
    Austria
  • Ruhrtriennale - Festival of Arts
    Bochum
    Germany
Director Biography - Ulrike Franke, Michael Loeken

Our films do not explain the world, they tell its stories.

We reflect the political in the personal and explore important social issues through individual experiences. Full of curiosity and with great respect, we turn the lens towards our protagonists – towards all of their special qualities and their faults, their charisma and their eccentricities. The stories themselves seek out the form that suits them best – unconstrained in terms of form, and without commentary. Classic storytelling in the tradition of narrative documentary film.

Ulrike Franke
Born in Dortmund in 1970. Studied theatre, film and television studies, Romance studies and art history at the University of Cologne. Worked on a number of television and feature films since 1992. Writing, producing and directing together with Michael Loeken since 1996. Numerous jury activities (Filmbüro NW, Gerd Ruge Scholarship, various festival juries…) and teaching activities (ifs köln, Filmhaus Köln, ISFF Berlin, ZDF Media Academy…). Project-related collaboration with artists from other disciplines (Rimini Protokoll, Ruhrfestspiele Recklinghausen, Schauspielhaus Bochum, Theater Dortmund…). Professor for documentary film d’auteur at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne (KHM) (in a part-time role) since 2017.

Michael Loeken
Born in Neviges in 1954. Studied theatre, film and television studies in Cologne. In 1981, wrote and directed the documentary ICH HATTE SCHON BEGONNEN, DIE FREIHEIT ZU VERGESSEN. Worked as a sound engineer on numerous documentary, feature film and cinema productions from 1982 to 1996. Writing, producing and directing together with Ulrike Franke since 1996. Teaching activities (ZDF Media Academy, ifs köln, Filmhaus Köln…) and jury activities (Filmbüro NW, German Editing Prize, Filmstiftung NW…). Project-related collaboration with artists from other disciplines (Rimini Protokoll, Ruhrfestspiele Recklinghausen, Schauspielhaus Bochum, Theater Dortmund…).

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