Peter Nestler

Being Gypsy

Zsóka Nestler, Peter Nestler

Roma and Sinti people talk about their experiences in the Third Reich and the Federal Republic of Germany, inspired by Otto Pankok’s paintings of Romani theme and subject in the 1930s, declared degenerate art by the Nazis. These are moving narratives of persecution, discrimination, marginalisation, of life as second-class human beings, all of which lasts, incredibly enough, right up to the allegedly democratic present day of the film, since they live in inhumane conditions in barracks at the margins of cities and society and are not officially recognised as Nazi victims. Long, nearly uncut sequences open space for the people and their stories. That’s all it takes for one of Peter and Zsóka Nestler’s most important works.

The North Calotte

Peter Nestler

A documentary about the Sami people across Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia, and about the environmental devastation in that area throughout the 20th century.

Abschied

Peter Lilienthal

Max Haufler, Angelika Hurwicz

The burial of an old woman leads to several complications among family and friends.

Verteidigung der Zeit

Peter Nestler

Danièle Huillet, Jean-Marie Straub

Peter Nestler's poetic documentary Verteidigung der Zeit is not only an hommage to Jean-Marie Straub's and Danièle Huillet's film Quei loro incontri (2005), but also to their access to cinema itself. In various encounters and conversations Nestler offers an insight into their life and work, including passages from Italian poet Cesare Pavese.

Pachamama - Unsere Erde

Peter Nestler

“This film is about the indigenous cultures of Ecuador, of what is past and what is preserved, of destruction and resistance, of persisting in new ways, of music in the villages high up in the Andes, of music in the cities and in a tropical climate among descendants of African slaves. The film is about Earth, about working with Earth, sacred to the indigenous people. An account of beauty that silences, of friendliness, also grief.” (Nestler)

Black Gravel

Helmut Käutner

Helmut Wildt, Ingmar Zeisberg

Tensions arise when a US military base is built in a small village in post-war Germany.

Ödenwaldstetten

Peter Nestler

Portrait of a small south German village and its residents in the early sixties. Rural culture is undergoing a transformation caused by the intrusion of the industrial world. Gestures at work and words of its inhabitants.

Die Judengasse

Peter Nestler

Nestler traces the history of Frankfurt’s Jewish ghetto from the middle ages to the present day.

Die Verwandlung des guten Nachbarn

Peter Nestler

Thomas "Toivi" Blatt

The revolt at Sobibór extermination camp in October 1943 is a central episode of resistance against national socialism. Thomas «Toivi» Blatt, son of a Jewish businessman, was 15 when he was deported to Sobibór. Blatt was among those who managed to escape during the uprising only to find his newly found freedom deceptive when old friends and neighbours refused to help. Director Peter Nestler accompanied Toivi Blatt on his trips through Poland.

Tod und Teufel

Peter Nestler

Peter Nestler, Bernt Hahn

Ethnologist and adventurer, Count Eric von Rosen was a man of contradictions: interested in the natives of Africa and colonial racism. Nestler embarks on a journey in search of his grandfather.

Lördags Chile

Peter Nestler

This film about the Fascist coup in Chile was cancelled one day before being broadcast on Swedish Television. Originally shot for a TV youth program, Lördags Chile is another fine example of Nestler demonstrating the relationship between politics and economics, between thinking and acting

Am Siel

Peter Nestler

Robert Wolfgang Schnell

In his first film, Peter Nestler gives voice to an old floodgate. A nearby village, its inhabitants, wooden posts and twisted willow rods are presented from this unusual perspective. The floodgate ponders the fisher boats coming home from the sea along the shipping channel which is fed at low tide by a small river.

Aufsätze

Peter Nestler

A cheerful take on the lives of school children in a Swiss rural environment. Young pupils recite short essays they have written on subjects such as the long walk to school, the distribution of milk during breaks, and a brawl in the courtyard.

Die Römerstraße im Aostatal

Peter Nestler

Today, the Römerstrasse in Italy's Aosta valley, is a significant traffic artery in the center of modern Europe. Nestler's journey explores the moving history of the Aosta valley, which passed through many hands - from the Roman Empire to Burgundian and Frankish kingdoms - until it was acquired by Italy in the 11th century. The now busy motorway, which runs from the Po Valley to the Great and Little St. Bernhard passes, is revealed through the timeless eyes of a historian. At the same time, the documentary sheds light on cultural traditions and contemporary life in the region.

Mülheim/Ruhr

Peter Nestler

This dialogue-free short is edited to music and the rhythms of change in a small town in the Ruhr region, shot a few years after the first mining pits were closed in the area. Nestler takes his audience on a journey through mining pits, coal heaps, cold stores, and to workingmen settlements and pubs of Mülheim.

Von Griechenland

Peter Nestler

The first part of this film is devoted to the Greek resistance against fascism and the civil war for independence. While the voice-over recites facts and names, photos take us into the past and the everyday lives of the people. The second part takes us to Greece in 1965, where the masses are protesting against the removal of the liberal Georgios Papandreou. – Two years later the military junta seized power in Greece. When Filmecho/Filmwoche called the film “communist”, it was doomed. It was rarely shown and originated the stigma that ultimately made it impossible for Peter Nestler to continue to work in Germany.