And the Stars Lie Before Me
The Life of Pop Singer Renate Kern

DOCU | FILM | CINEMA

Germany 1998
90 Min

Directors: Ulrike Franke, Michael Loeken

The moving biography of the German pop singer Renate Kern gathers up the threads of this documentary: on the one hand the rising and the failure as a popstar, on the other hand the search for a fragile identity coming to an end with committing suicide in 1991.

CLIP

AWARDS

FESTIVALS

1998  — 48. Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin, Germany

1998  — 5. Dokfilmwerkstatt Drehort OstWestDeutschland / Insel Poel, Germany

1998  — V’98 Vienna
International Film Festival in Wien, Austria

1998 — DOK Leipzig
41. Internationales Leipziger Festival für Dokumentar- und Animationsfilm, Germany

1998  — 22. Duisburger Filmwoche, Germany

1998 — 39. Festival dei Popoli / Florenz, Italy

1998  — 15. Kasseler Dokumentarfilm- und Videofest, Germany

2023  — Ruhrtriennale / Film Retrospective loekenfranke / Bochum

SYMPOSIUM / LECTURES

in context of

2008 — LaDoc Lectures N° 3, Filmclub 813, Köln, Germany

REVIEWS

„One of this film’s strengths is that while it doesn’t make its protagonist a victim, it also demonstrates her weaknesses: the opportunism with which the singer consoled herself to success even in defeat. (…) If this film doesn’t make you cry, you have no heart.“  
Silvia Hallensleben // Der Tagesspiegel // 30.04.1998

„In Bettwurst, Von Praunheim needed the format of a feature film in order to bring out the dignity and imaginative richness of such average lives. Franke and Loeken need nothing more than real life and an editing booth.“
Dieter Bartetzko // FAZ // 18.12.98

„Adorno’s disciples have already sufficiently addressed the fact that „Schlager“ pop music is insincere and always a little embarrassing when viewed from the outside. So this film does without pathos and gloating. Instead, it woefully presents the melancholy, because it too is unable to show the essential truth. The right happiness in the wrong one – it exists where people have never been very interested in the explainers sat at the editing table.“
Michael Pilz // Die Welt // 18.12.98

„The film has no need for a narrator, being so cleverly constructed that it develops and explains itself.“ 
Christian Seebaum // Kölner Stadtanzeiger // 19.07.98

„Franke and Loeken make do without pathos and accusation; their melancholy film even has wit. And atmosphere.“
Barbara Sichtermann // Die Zeit // 22.12.98

„We bear witness to a melancholy requiem for a missed life, and as we do, we wish that it would draw an audience as large as those that Renate Kern used to enjoy when she was appearing on our screens in the hit parades.“
 Arnold Hohmann // Süddeutsche Zeitung // 18.12.98

STILLS

SYNOPSIS

The moving biography of the German pop singer Renate Kern gathers up the threads of this documentary: on the one hand the rising and the failure as a popstar, on the other hand the search for a fragile identity coming to an end with committing suicide in 1991. In between… the film speaks about living in Germany from 1965 to 1997.

The documentary tells the biography of the once well known German pop singer Renate Kern: how she was discovered in the 60´s and how she was built up to the „Queen of the Provinces“, a label she could never get rid of.

In the 70´s her star did not shine that bright anymore and she withdrew from the „pop circus“, searching a long time for a „new identity“. Almost secretly she turned into the blond „Nancy Wood“ and re-emerged as a country singer selling the old dreams in a new outfit. But her „true identity“ seemed to be more and more a fatal one, as she was not able to reach the things her songs were about: love and happiness, hope and comfort. In 1991 she committed suicide.

The film gets closer to Renate Kern’s fans, their hopes and the world of „Schlager“ and „Country“, the music, that sells dreams for a far away „better tomorrow“.

CREDITS

And the stars lie before me…
Germany 1998
90 Min
Original with english Subtitles

Und vor mir die Sterne…
Das Leben der Schlagersängerin Renate Kern
Deutschland 1998
90 Min

TV-Version:
Und vor mir die Sterne…
Das Leben der Schlagersängerin Renate Kern
Deutschland 1998
60 Min

Directors: Ulrike Franke, Michael Loeken
Director of Photography: Jörg Adams, Uwe Schäfer, Reinhard Köcher, Andreas Zickgraf
Location Sound: Volker Zeigermann, Carlo Thoss
Editors: Jean-Marc Lesguillons, Carry Breys
Commissioning Editor: Dagmar Filoda
Supported by: Filmförderung des NDR in Niedersachsen, Filmförderung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Medien- und Filmgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg, Filmförderung Mecklenburg-Vorpommern