According to Wikipedia, German filmmaker Uli M Schueppel explains the M in his middle name as not an abbreviation but a reference to Elvis’ Presley’s classic song Trouble, “My middle name is misery. It is written without a dot.”

Spectacle Theater is proud to present four films by the prolific provocative poet, Uli M Schueppel, which includes two music documentaries, the infamous Nick Cave tour film from 1987, “The Road to God Knows Where”, the meta-textual ELEKTROKOHLE (VON WEGEN)/ OFF WAYS on Einstürzende Neubauten and their historic return to the GDR & two early narrative films, the post-apocalyptic experimental feature NIHIL starring Blixa Bargeld of Einstürzende Neubauten & the 1992 poetic feature on fatherhood & the fall of the Berlin wall, VATERLAND scored by Mick Harvey.

Hanging out in West Berlin in the 1980’s meant collaborating with friends such as Nick Cave, Mick Harvey, Blixa Bargeld and Alexander Hacke, and directing some of the most interesting music documentaries of that era. Music films that were more akin to political manifestos and intimate capsules of a decade long forgotten than what typically accounts for a concert film or portrait of an artist.

These four films are bold in their creative expression of misery, sound, artistry and the human condition, and feature incredible musicality represented in the poetic style of the editing and the singular scores by Mick Harvey, Alexander Haacke, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds & Einstürzende Neubauten.

THE ROAD, TO GOD KNOWS WHERE
dir. Uli M Schueppel, 1990
92 mins. Germany
In English

SCREENING IN NEW HD RESTORATION.

TICKETS HERE
FRIDAY, JUNE 16 – MIDNIGHT
FRIDAY, JUNE 30 – 10 PM

SPECIAL EVENT TICKETS
SUNDAY, JUNE 25 – 5 PM with Pre-Recorded Filmmaker in Conversation
(This event is $10.)

This film is beautiful, ’cause it’s so sad. And its the truth.” – Nick Cave

THE ROAD TO GOD KNOWS WHERE is a raw black and white 16mm film shot during Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds’ American tour in 1989 while promoting the Tender Prey album. Filmed in a style reminiscent of DA Pennebaker’s Don’t Look Back & featuring cameos by Anita Lane, Lydia Lunch, Jim Thirwell, Mick Harvey, Blixa Bargeld, & Kid Congo Powers, the seminal music doc  portrays an intimate and incidental portrait of life on the road with all of it’s banality and horrors.

NIHIL, ODER ALLE ZEIT DER WELT (AKA, “NIHIL, OR ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD.”)
dir. Uli M Schueppel, 1987
50 mins. Germany
In German with English subtitles.

TICKETS HERE
FRIDAY, JUNE 2 – MIDNIGHT
SATURDAY, JUNE 17 – MIDNIGHT
THURSDAY, JUNE 29 – 10 PM

Referred to as a parable nightmare of Berlin in 1986, NIHIL OR ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD, is a poetic and post-impressionist portrait of atmospheric surrealism. Starring Blixa Bargeld, singer of Einstürzende Neubauten & former founding member of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, in an post-apocalyptic future where a group of young terrorists fights desperately against the obscure “Professor” who embodies all that is noxious and cruel. Featuring original music and sound collages by Alexander Hacke.

ELEKTROKOHLE (VON WEGEN)/ OFF WAYS
dir. Uli M Schueppel, 2009
90 mins. Germany
In German with English subtitles.

TICKETS HERE
MONDAY, JUNE 12 – 10 PM
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21 – 10 PM
THURSDAY, JUNE 22 – 7:30 PM

Von Wegen (aka Off Ways) is a metatextual documentary film that explores Einstürzende Neubauten’s journey going from West Berlin to East Berlin to perform at the VEB Elektrokohle club in 1989, a few days after the fall of the Wall.

Shot on VHS the film re-examines the recollections of the band and concert goers twenty years later creating a cinematic montage exploring the passage of time through music and space.