The Empty Plan, 2010
Anja Kirschner & David Panos
78 mins, HD, Custom Ratio 3:2
English/German with English/German subtitles available.
Shifting between improvisation, historical reconstruction and melodrama, The Empty Plan interrogates the relationship between theory and practice in the theatre of Bertolt Brecht (in the changing historical conditions of the late Weimar Republic, Californian exile and the GDR), questioning the nature of art and the unrealised dream of its supersession through revolutionary practice.
The Empty Plan was made in London, Southend and Los Angeles with 10 days of principal photography in a studio in Hackney and on location in several theatres. It was written, directed and edited by the artists, who also cast and crewed the film, working on production with City Projects and Film London. Budget £35K.
It has shown widely at festivals and in galleries including touring with the British Art Show 7. In 2011 the artists received The Jarman Award for the film.
Funded by Arts Council England through Film London Artists’ Moving Image Network,
co-produced with City Projects and supported by Focal Point Gallery, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart and Kunsthall Oslo