100 Years of Lutz Becker: A Retrospective

A total of four sound films will be screened. They document everyday school life at the Frithjof Nansen School some 60 years ago, featuring school trips and special events; another film showcases Becker’s later film-related activities at the Max Beckmann Secondary School in Reinickendorf. The selection highlights the range of educational activities, spanning practical media learning and political education.

Hanns-Fred Rathenow and Michael Hoffmann will host the evening. Both were teachers at the Nansen School in the 1960s. Some of the people featured in the films from that time – former pupils and teachers from the Nansen School and the Max Beckmann Secondary School – will be in attendance to contribute to the discussion about the films.

Hans Lutz Becker was a teacher at what was then the Frithjof Nansen Secondary School (Realschule) on Gotenburger Straße in Wedding from the 1950s until the early 1970s. In 1957, he founded the ‘Film Working Group’ there, initially as a film club; in the early 1960s, this evolved into the ‘Pupil Film Production Working Group’, which was institutionalised by the Senate Department for Education. Becker was committed to ‘educating pupils to view films critically’ and always combined his work with practical film exercises. Together with his pupils, he produced more than 20 films, mostly in Super 8 format.

The most ambitious project, a 16-mm sound film lasting almost an hour, was commissioned by the Wedding District Office: ‘Wedding heute’ premiered in 1966 and served to promote the district’s image, just a few years after the Berlin Wall was built.

In 1971, Becker moved to Reinickendorf and headed the Max Beckmann School until 1991, during which time it became a comprehensive school with a sixth-form under his leadership. There, he and his colleagues produced numerous school-related films, largely without the active participation of pupils.

• Attendance is free of charge and no registration is required.