Peter Lilienthal

Synopsis:
This is the two-part film “Noon in Tunisia” by Peter Lilienthal, a meeting of jazz and Arabic music at various public or open-air venues in Tunisia. Under the direction of George Gruntz, European and US jazz musicians play his suite-like composition “Maghreb Cantata”, which is based on original Bedouin dances, together with Arab performers. The highlight is the Fazani, a rhythm of Bedouin tribes from the desert region of the Libyan-Tunisian border. The recording took place from 5.5. – 24.5.1969 in and around Tunis.Read More »

David (Mario Fische) is the son of a German rabbi during the early days of the Holocaust. The boy is a horrified witness to the burning of his father’s synagogue and the humiliation of his relatives and neighbors. Breaking away from his family, David is able to earn enough money to emigrate to Palestine. The film makes an effort to weed out humanitarians amongst the hellraisers, giving points to a kindly German officer who helps David escape. A long film, David is based on the even longer (but no less compelling) novel by Joel Konig.Read More »

David is a 1979 West German film by director Peter Lilienthal. It tells the story of a rabbi’s son in Germany during the Holocaust, who tries to raise money to escape to Mandate Palestine.

David follows an adolescent Jewish boy, David Singer, who comes of age in Nazi Berlin. The film reveals the struggles for identity and survival that often overlapped among the Jews of war-torn Europe, particularly the young.Read More »

Plot: Joe Pesci is a small man looking for a big break. Owner of a bowling alley and nightclub in Jersey, Ruby Dennis (Pesci) sets his sites on making it big in Vegas. But Ruby finds more than he gambled for and in the end is a much bigger man for it.

Many of the crew members from this film went on from this production to work on John Sayles’ Baby It’s You the following year, including cinematographer ‘Michael Ballhaus’. Sayles’ film was released first in the U.S. while “Dear Mr. Wonderful” premiered in Germany in 1982.Read More »