Bedtime Stories 1-5

The five Einschlafgeschichten are bed-time stories for children, made 1976/77, in which Farocki uses simple objects to elucidate cinematographic method. […]

The stories deal with bridges, cable cars and ships crossing roads. What is worth saying? What is worth remembering? The two girls in the film imagine what is shown. Bridges that move. Something quite different to 'bridges'. […]

As if pictures could think! Einschlafgeschichten doesn't really speak of bridges or railroads but rather of two girls filling the space between daytime and dreamtime with a poetic game, an endless game, a game with no end. A game which can fade out without becoming fragmentary. "Are you asleep?", one of them asks at the end of a clip – and the final shot is of the two, asleep; the game is over. The girls are played by Lara and Anna, Farocki's daughters.

(Hans J. Wulff)

Original title Einschlafgeschichten 1-5 Director, scriptwriter Harun Farocki Cinematographer Ingo Kratisch Editor Johannes Beringer Sound Harun Farocki, Johannes Beringer Assistant Ursula Lefkes Production Harun Farocki Filmproduktion, Berlin-West, NDR, Hamburg Format 16mm/35mm, col., 1:1,37 Length 5 à 3 min. Note commissioned for the TV series Sesamstraße and Das Sandmännchen (3-5)