SOUNDS FROM THE FOG is the new award-winning documentary film (feature-length) by the german author & director Klaus Stanjek. He tells the odyssey of the gay musician Willi Heckmann in Nazi-Germany.

An entertaining detective story across the authors own family. The mysterious musician, captured in concentration camps, encircled by taboos and denial. German repression of distressing thoughts and memories, covered in a suspense-packed personal journey – with unique animated sequences.

Sounds From The Fog

„Active forgetting“ is a common process of coping with history in Germany. In a radical personal approach, the film follows the complex turns and twists of feelings, when they try to deal with threatening knowledge.

My cheerful uncle lived with my family unless he was touring as an entertainment musician across Germany. Only at his age of 90 I detected what my whole family had hidden: that he had spent 8 years in Nazi camps and that he was gay. During the following research I found out that my hometown, which presented itself as a liberal town, had been a major stronghold of the early Nazi-Party. I found out that even in brutal concentration camps turbulent festivities took place where my uncle was part of; that my mother enjoyed her career in the Hitler-Youth although knowing about her brothers captivity.

Because of several taboos, the story of my beloved uncle was hardly accessible. By means of animation and image compositing, we revitalized the available photos. My surprising encounters in several countries and my reflections lead the audience through the burdened social history of Germany – with a humorous undertone.