Il Secondo Principio di Hans Liebschner

The Second Principle Of Hans Liebschner

by Stefano P. Testa

Johannes “Hans” Liebschner filmed his life from 1963 to 2012. Born in 1927, he came to Italy due to the war and stayed after falling in love with Iole, a young I talian girl from Bergamo, with whom he had five boys. In fifty years of amateur filming, Hans creates the intimate story of a united and happy family, although in 2013, the year of his death, his films ended up for sale in a second - hand market. Who was to get rid of those precious memories? His sons Klaus and Peter try to solve this mystery , retracing the story of a family that goes through social and cultural changes , recorded through the technological and expressive evolution of home movies.

Direction's statements

- In my memories I always see my dad with a squared film camera with a crank on the side and a leather case. He always had it with him. Then during the years I experienced his ability to evolve, to change. –

Peter Liebschner

How can more than 100 hours of recordings be summarised in less than 100 minutes? What is worth keeping? What is worth overlooking? After working for several years with home recordings, I realised that the more personal an image is, the more universally understandable and shared it can be. Panoramas, vintage cars, vintage clothes, unused odd shaped objects that seem to belong to another world fade away with a sudden act of love, a vulgar gross angry insult. The audience needs unexpectedly personal images to associate them with their own memories and emotionally identify themselves within the stranger on the screen. In my opinion, this is the real strength of home recordings. Archived home recordings are not only a postcard from the past sent by a stranger, but they can become a represent ation of a personal and idealised world closely linked to personal memories. At times, relationships between humans fracture and memories do not always help to keep them. Memories are therefore damaged, like a film tape is damaged by mould or like a demagn etised videotape of abstract lines and white noise. Like tapes in a box, they are stored in a basement at the mercy of corrosion. A misplaced picture is not lost forever. There are times when they can come back unexpectedly. It can also bring back remorse and regrets or a new enthusiasm. Who got rid of what was most precious for Hans? Was it Klaus? Or Peter? The answer to this question isn’t what interests me however. This thoughtless act has a fortuitous outcome and has triggered a series of events that wi ll lead to the conclusion of the film that Hans began more than 60 years ago.

About the director(s)

Stefano P. Testa graduates from Accademia di Belle Arti of Brera, in Milan, in 2011. The same year, he starts his film career at Lab80, a film production and distribution company where he works as cameraman, video editor, colorist and post - production technician. He is also responsible for the audiovisual communication of the International film festival Bergamo Film Meeting. Between 2012 and 2015 he takes part in several film productions, among which Umberto Eco, sul la memoria and L’Accademia Carrara – il museo riscoperto both directed by Davide Ferrario. He is the editor and the video post - production technician of Colombi and Pierino, both by Luca Ferri. The first one was presented as a world premiere at the 73rd edition of Mostra Internazionale d’Arte Cinematografica in Venice in the Orizzonti Corti category. The premiere of the second was launched in Dok Leipzig. In 2017, he makes a debut as director in Moloch, a feature film of a series of home videos made anonymously between the 80s and 90s, and found by chance in a dump. Moloch wins as the best documentary at Visioni Italiane Festival in Bologna. The film is also selected in Doc/it Professional Awards 2017 and several international festivals, such as DOCfeed Eindh oven, Gdansk DocFilm Festival, Presente Italiano in Pistoia, Documentaria Noto, Docunder30 in Ferrara. The Second Principle of Hans Liebschner is his second film as director.
Country: Italy
Year: 2020
Running time: 88
Format: 4k-HD
Language: Italian, German
Subtitles: English - Italian
Genre: documentary
Screenplay: Stefano P. Testa
Cinematography: Andrea Zanoli
Editing: Stefano P. Testa
Music: Alberto Ricca, Luca Severino, The Honululu, Sonars
Produced by: Andrea Zanoli per Lab 80 film, con il sostegno del MIBACT e di SIAE nell'ambito dell'iniziativa "Per chi crea"
Distribution: Lab 80 film

Festival: Golden Tree International Documentary Film Festival (Paris, France, 2021) | Official Selection
Linea d’Ombra (Salerno, Italy, 2021) | Popular Jury Award
Documentaria (Palermo, Italy, 2021) | Official Selection
Lucca Film Festival (Lucca, Italy, 2021) | Special Event
Film Festival del Garda (San Felice del Benaco, Italy, 2021 – Online Edition) | Official Selection
Outer Docs (Ithaca, NY, 2021 – Online Edition) | Best Documentary Feature – Runner Up
Bergamo Film Meeting (Bergamo, Italy, 2021 – Online Edition) | Special Event
Filmmaker – Online Edition (Milano, Italy, 2020) | Prospettive Jury Award