All posts by Sebastian Reimann

21 November 2018Best Books & Fabulous FilmsSebastian Reimann

Two Sides to Every Story – The Affair (2014–19)

Have you ever talked about a past event with someone who was involved in it and came to a point where you and that someone didn’t quite agree on how, where, or even if something had happened? This can be amusing or awful, but it surely makes us ponder about truth, perception, and the relationship between the two.

And so does Showtime’s TV drama series, The Affair.

The pilot episode starts in medias res with a police detective (Victor Williams) interrogating our male protagonist, the teacher and semi-successful novelist, Noah Solloway (Dominic West). The detective wants to know “how this whole mess got started.” This is when it dawns on us that what we’re seeing isn’t what’s happening right now. It’s merely Noah’s recollection of what has happened. Through Noah’s lens of memory, we learn that at the beginning of the story he’s happily married (with 4 kids) to Helen (Maura Tierney), his high school sweetheart. During their summer vacation in Montauk (Long Island, New York), their lives change radically when Noah meets Alison Lockhart (Ruth Wilson). It is from her perspective that the second half of the episode is told. Alison is a waitress and unhappily married to Cole (Joshua Jackson). They’ve never really seemed to get over the death of their toddler who’d died in an accident not long ago. As soon as she and Noah are on the screen together, we realize how this whole mess got started.

14 November 2018Access AmericaSebastian Reimann

Democracy American Style

By Bobbie Kirkhart

Although the midterm elections are already over, my German friends are still asking me what they are all about. They say that most Europeans don’t understand American midterm elections. I’m not surprised. Neither do most Americans.
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31 October 2018Teaching ToolsSebastian Reimann

Drew Hayden Taylor at Leuphana

From November 3 to 5, Canadian Anishnawbe author and playwright, Drew Hayden Taylor, will be giving talks in various seminars at Leuphana. Topics range from tools of the creative writing trade to the postcolonial situation of Native people across North America.

If you happen to be in the area, feel free to stop by!

24 October 2018Creativity CornerAnishnawbe, Canada, CBC, Cultural Appreciation, Cultural Appropriation, Czech Republic, Documentary, Drew Hayden Taylor, First Nations, Germany, Indigenous, Karl May, Karl May Festspiele, Leuphana, Leuphana University Lüneburg, Native, Natives, Searching for Winnetou, WinnetouSebastian Reimann

In a World Created by an Indigenous God: A Native Writer’s Take on Karl May’s Winnetou

By Maryann Henck

It goes without saying that the Germans’ unrivalled fascination with the Native people of North America is not exactly a well-kept secret. Case in point: the annual Karl May Festivals in Bad Segeberg and Elspe. But I’ve always wondered whether this fascination might be mutual. Spoiler alert: It is.

In 2017, Anishnawbe writer Drew Hayden Taylor set out in search of Winnetou. What he found ranged from the amusing to the unsettling. In other words, the perfect material for his documentary film, Searching for Winnetou, where the fine line between appropriation and appreciation becomes a bit blurred. Curious about the making of? Then click on our exclusive interview with the writer. Read more »

17 October 2018Access AmericaSebastian Reimann

Aretha Franklin: Freedom, Respect, and the Moral Universe

By Christine Jones

Powerful and proud, Aretha Franklin’s music championed the ideas of freedom and dignity, making her voice an integral part of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States with songs like “Respect” (1967) and “Think” (1968). When I hear the word “freedom” sung repeatedly in the chorus of “Think,” I’m reminded of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s iconic “I Have a Dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1963, where he etched the words “Free At Last” into the vocabulary of the Civil Rights Movement. The song, “Respect”, unwaveringly and unapologetically demands just that and translates effortlessly into a voice for the feminist movement of the time. I was a child in that era, born in 1960, and the messages expressed by voices like Aretha Franklin’s have left an indelible imprint on me and many in my generation. Those voices made me feel that, as Martin Luther King put it, “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” They made me feel that the United States was a place of social progress despite its struggles.

3 October 2018Best Books & Fabulous FilmsSebastian Reimann

BlacKkKlansman: A Much Too American Story

By Bobbie Kirkhart

It is an interesting situation: a black cop infiltrates the Ku Klux Klan, the most storied white supremacist group in the United States. How could this new undercover officer resist the temptation? How could he get past the one main obstacle: his blackness?

It is an interesting plot: a white cop playing a black cop, two people posing as one voice and one personality, but one black and one white. How could a filmmaker resist the temptation? How could he get past the one main obstacle: that the Klan was a tired old group in the early 1970s and an anemic antagonist. The book, Black Klansman: A Memoir by Ron Stallworth, is interesting – but is the movie?