Dramatic advisor and not on stage at all you know. This man never takes a break. Lets cut his throat on the best song god. Is one of europes most successful and controversial directors he has a Clear Mission he wants to make the world a better place with his art to. Always give his all in theater film and political activism what drives him easy. In. The city of ghent in belgium is small and yet incredibly lively. A remarkable cultural scene has developed here in the shadow of the belgian capital brussels we met at and t. Get to the theater where he is now artistic director. 50 or swiss and known to be a restless spirit what brought you to get. It this could no longer go back a long way not only get it done a lot of coproductions in brussels over the past 1015 years there are many minorities here if you cant compare it with a german city at all theres another audience theres more access to a Cosmopolitan Society and at the same time its a tradition of mixing john resig theater here. The worst many artists have been combining dance performances and film and theatre from the start. But when i arrived and said i needed a lamb and 2 dogs and a jihad is that they all said ok well get that for you. In germany and they would have said youre crazy youve got to work with our ensemble and thats a bunch of old white men. Especially the men dont know how the 1st piece is artistic director at and t. Get paid all marched against famous altarpiece and the citys residents he didnt just put lambs on stage but amateur Actors Children migrant seniors he want to create cosmopolitan theatre but he doesnt only want to direct place. But i really like it and im passionate pedantic about it them but then it can become boring and stressful to me more. Than this one has so im glad when i can travel and do something that automatically makes sense if seen me know how has spent a lot of time in africa in hate radio he examined the 994 genocide in rwanda specifically the role of the radio r t l m which broadcast racist propaganda during. Massacres. Up to 1000000 people are estimated to have been killed most of them tutsis most of the killers were hutus. Survivors of the genocide played the radio hosts in the production was. A. Venue and. Continues to work on projects in and about africa. Took 2 furlongs from the queue when i worked in that region by chance 1st in rwanda and then i went to eastern congo and saw that all the problems the crises and the genocide had been exported because so many people had fled to eastern congo and there was instability in the state collapsed before not this. Many companies exploited the fact that it was a failed state. They saw i think it just ripe someone and mine is going to hold a target and there are huge deposits there and the war is still ongoing on. The creek at the. End of the. Total. Rubbish. So i thought lets set up a tribunal examine the situation with the set up an International Court of people so weve got judges from the leg where theres an International Criminal court and from congo mixing different Legal Systems and we took 3 cases involving companies so that we could create a space to make such trials possible. If its really you know. Produce a few make use of. The symbolic tribunal and the film were a way of encouraging democracy and. Those were done. When we toured through the mining towns to show the film 2 years later people said that what was happening was terrible but they said they would stop voting if there wasnt any change and there would be a revolution and thats what we saw in east germany when everyone said thats enough this is enough to its been done to you want your theater to have an impact on reality and that happened in congo as a result of the tribunals didnt it. Because it was just so i mean the human factor was that 2 ministers were fired from the provinces we had worked in the mining minister in the interior minister. But i book inside when it was obvious that they were completely incompetent and corrupt and even criminals. My hope is always that the Political Class and the Business Elite should have to justify themselves in front of an institution thats the ultimate goal. Because this is this this is this this and. He does one project a year in a crisis zone with his theater in 2019 he went with some actors to mosul and iraq to stage a modern day oresteia the trilogy of ancient greek tragedies by escalus. Those who focus on not miss there is no theater there we found a kind of Fine Art Academy 1st but 1st the city was conquered by the americans then by al qaeda and then occupied by us of the ho as the capital of the i s calif it all art forms were abandoned and artists were executed if they didnt renounce their art i couldnt slow europe the poor so whites in the complaint that. It was not an easy project the iraqis had very Little Theatre experience and they were not allowed to go abroad as had originally been planned so how filmed them in iraq and projected the scenes onto the stage during the performances in belgium theres. Also feed. Into the vichy of the star like. This over. And asian greek tragedy about murder and revenge within a royal family transposed to contemporary iraq. Its a country which knows all about murder and revenge once again me though how explored how victims and perpetrators can continue to live together. What can be done about the fighters of the socalled Islamic State prevent. For retribution. The and. Not that he asked the iraqi actors what they thought should be done. To them that you so often believe you know. I dont think. Its. The money its going to stick around the. Revenues of their money might be what you might come out of the meeting. Come on. The minute. When asked again they answer differently. Than about its been another fake specter theyd all vote for forgiveness but they all abstained. They said because we couldnt even kill a chicken because so how could we vote to put someone to death and yet if we forgive them weve abolished justice and thats why my hope still lies with the institutions and if its a justice can exist so people say i cant kill the guy but i dont want him to go free so ill hand him over to a judiciary i trust you know but when there isnt any like in iraq and what do you do then when disney star asked me of course most of them you know blame me in the low house staging the character orestes is gay a taboo subject in a predominantly Muslim Country like iraq. This kiss between 2 men caused an uproar at the performance in mosul. Actor johan lace and was there does he think all went too far. They like to push things further than other people and i think thats what theatre should do and thats what we what we should do make people think make people think about lives and about our life together and thats what he does so hes maybe provocative and maybe goes a bit too fossum times but i think its ok i think its better than the opposite we dont go straight there where thats. The iraqi performers also push things to their limits and beyond what is a project like this do for localism play act. As he reckons im doing as we were leaving people said that was cool to go on this for the 1st time in 20 years a large group came here to do an art project and not to conquer the city so restes in mosul is a Success Story unesco watching the film. The secretary general said you must advise us theyre going to think that shows how little contact the rest when they ask only been there twice who they should support one of the on. The streets and couldnt and its hard to would if i was just named consultant director of the film and Theater Department of the revive the spirit of mosul programs on top of. Im going to build a theater there and do an exchange with 3 border countries germany belgium and maybe france put it on a solid footing to face the millions are flowing into the feast thats when you when you are you really a political activist a church activist. This is i mean its interesting time and again when im doing rehearsals like now i realize. Thats really work to go right to be on the ball when youre involved in activism you kind of just get carried along. By not to be when i think your activism isnt for me im sure theater work isnt either fun as its unfolding but it was really nice in italy. Because i choose the jesus scene in costume and then take part in some demonstration. Which to look cool. Oh yeah right you know long shot his latest film the new gospel in much tara in southern italy jesus and most of the apostles are african immigrants and refugees some are christian others muslim. People living around mattera often in camps or makeshift settlements. 7 but this is not a historical film its a sad story from our times calls jesus is a social revolutionary fighting for the disenfranchised. And. Thats. The way. We. Just dont go your religious. I mean atheist and i dont believe in god and i never have not even as a child and not through these rooms and of course when you deal with it youre impressed by the power and the complexity of the bible. And then you understand why this book this faith still survives because theres Something Different about it. I mean the desire for basic humanity fundamental solidarity and dignity. Is to mention take for example how absurd it is that jesus surrounds himself with the lowest members of society in a bid to seize power so that he could have set up better associations and he didnt train a fighter so like they didnt islam they trained fighters built an army and a cheap power ok to. Use this man but jesus also preaches complete nonviolence as though hes also a crazy guy who goes around shouting acts ruthlessly when he cant take any criticism and in the end hes done in by his own people he could play them and then you might say its because they cant take any more of him. And i found all of these points really impressive on these a point when he took the line and if in fact on the one hand the film shows stations in jesuss life but on the other theres this revolt i dont know did me tell this revolt of dignity on real demonstrations by migrants is it about whats the situation like for migrants there and what problems did you have recruiting people in these camps. You know. I travelled there and realised that this lovely little city which has doubled for jerusalem in many films is ironically surrounded by refugee camps. Theyre full of people who are thanks to the dublin regulation are stuck there. Theyre exploited on the huge tomato and orange plantations until they die or i dont know disappear whats in the. Know though so they cant go. Or go away either its good for the prisoners in italy. The legal name. Just the kind of people jesus spoke up for. The boundaries between reality and fiction blur. Performers are fighting for better working and Living Conditions in real life they were all personally experienced exploitation as field hands who have no right. Here. Now the revolting against the mafia and Big Companies who profit from their labor. Places where people no longer have to work for the mafia but on their own plantations for example. They have tried to remind people that a legal basis exists that its a scandal these laws are enforced and tried to help them and force it like it says in the bible i didnt come to destroy the law but to fulfill it to fully. Migrants from the camps around the terror i had come for the big rally theyre preparing for the revolt. Initiated by the actors jesus and his disciples. The. Local people also demonstrate solidarity with their demands for a right of residence and an end to the exploitation of this protest will also become part of the new gospel. To boost your ass theatre director and a University Lecturer and youre bringing out a book series that are always doing 234 things at once are you a workaholic. Yeah yeah yeah i was always that way. Ive always liked to work a lot because its my way of coming into contact with people if i just worked like crazy and i dont know maybe produced 500 Machine Parts and not just 50 then id be a workaholic and i wouldnt really find that acceptable in the food from washington i can hear there in the nation got a hold of this incidentally i are an astonishingly little for the show if i count the hours ive worked and still work every day that its not worth it at all. The new. Type incurred a mountain of debt is through all of my projects which were always completely underfunded and always caused tax chaos that went to live or to you name it. Could be felt that you can be honest i found it companies which then collapsed somehow. All that just so i can work a lot its pretty contradictory this new of the me to shoot a habit and this is. Also a father is there any time left for your family. Feud to be nick so we need far too little i have a screensaver of my daughters and often when i look at it i think that the most important thing. This be fixed or a horse i feel are the most important from them but i do miss a lot of the same times im working in ghent and i live in cologne which are pretty close. So i try to be home for 2 or 3 days each week thats why i often do rehearsals and conduct meetings in cologne. Because of my family people always have to come to cologne to meet me and i try to spend as much time there as possible. So i thought something. Maybe theyre glad not to have such a go getter of a father around all week. Yeah yeah i think thats true with my family just like with my coworkers here well so dont see me all the time was a Positive Side to it this isnt years of this when youre really glad to see one another really communicating theres not such a torturous routine to admit he could be in the. Routine has to be the last thing most people would associate with me though how hes positively brimming with energy and extraordinary ideas might not be less networker hes always curious and not afraid of getting involved in things but hes also someone who knows no boundaries someone whos constantly challenging himself and those who work with him. Actress was seen a lot he has collaborated with and several successful productions currently theyre preparing a new piece about disenfranchised people in brazil. As i. Think that i have been in contact about this project for over a year. And the direction frequently changes radically for the since ive grown used to it and now i think its wonderful always brings disorder into order also into the order of the theater business and thats his great strength though its stressful too but mainly its a strength so. In compassion the history of the machine gun was seen on lardy plays an ngo worker who finds herself confronted with her own limits and prejudices. If thats what. I was. Hearing. So that. I think lifes lovely that you keep on. Tackling highly charged topics but also shun the usual theatrical the facts big emotions and outbursts on stage your performers act more like witnesses so do you make it hard on the viewer as a human in my theater but then im not german people dont go around screaming mice and then but then they dont in most countries luckily its only that way in german regional theater. Thats always put me off there are these people shouting at me how can i get close to them when theyre busy showing me theyve taken an elocution course. Then under another thing thats always interested me is listening to someone who listening to a story produces something in me and this is one of the quieter effects of theater. You know we can effect of this. This is the way stage 5 easy pieces a play about belgian child molester and murderer mark to took most of the roles including that of to true i acted by the children to emphasize the power relationship between adults and children. I have always asked myself why isnt this power relationship visible on stage and when this case arose i thought i must use theatrical methods to show what it really is. Kidnapped the children but basically he told them stories to control them and to get them to do things that they really didnt want to do but did all the same. And in my playing we see an adult director getting children to cry and undress and do things they actually dont want to do suddenly and this is the really uncomfortable part you understand how that really works. You know. This is. Only. 5 easy pieces proved very controversial it was praised by International Critics yet performances were banned in some places. Is handling such dark material too much to expect of children will they be traumatized by the experience. What does it do to them to portray a child murderer or to play the role of the victim or the desperate parents the hope. This gets i knew this was too you dont consider that animals and children are always authentic. I mean simply rehearsed with the children until they played all of these roles completely professionally employing different methods and all the while observing how the audience broke into tears and being put in place and i would i think about the only people who were traumatized at all were the children with this when you thought i found that cool somehow it is because theres kind of a liberation in the portrayal of not being free its often that way in theater. And then the my basically you overcome trauma by going through in the what are you working on now. And. I mean editing my jesus film the new gospel and doing a play called family this was a weekend from you could be in it i ask a family to recount the story of another family who killed themselves for reasons that remain completely unknown to this day and at the same time to understand why things like this happen. So youre dissecting evil. Yes i always have. Done that im glad i. Dont. Believe. It or. Feel. Good. In the. Conflict zone in march Prime Minister obama secured an open ended right to rule by decree in order he said to fight the coronavirus pandemic my guest this week from budapest is voloshin vague hungary many people from the ruling feel best policy is the government being. Mr bout its motives or is this new law just the latest move to cement the othera terry route conflicts. In 30 minutes on t. W. And the island of immense beauty created by a natural disaster. Iceland. The volcanoes that made it famous now threaten its very existence. How can i slanders protect themselves against the inevitable. Threatening volcano. In 60 minutes on d. W. Blinds us it is on its way to bring you more conservation. How do we reach see the screen or how can we protect habitats we can make a difference global ideas or mental series again global 3000 on d w and online. Who are into a symphony. To treat then beethovens Pastoral Symphony is the foundation of an International Art project. Beethoven world wide. History project starts june 4th. Frank food. International gateway to the best connections self and road and rail. Located in the heart of europe you are connected to the who will. Experience outstanding shopping and dining offers. And try our services. Be allat guest at Frankfurt Airport city managed by from bought. A life from virgin this is the w. News pleasure and protest in spite of the country begins to ease one of the Worlds Toughest lock downs there are smiles from some but anger from others who feel but handling of the pandemic has come to the economy also coming up what a difference a year makes from hustle and bustle in 2192. 00 ghostly streets in 2020