Kino
Page 22
Word from the doctors was that Penny would be able to return home soon. Chester and Jupp were becoming unlikely friends. They claimed the back patio for after-dinner cognac and told stories of their respective lives–which was fine with Mina, who stayed up late every night, rereading Kino's journal and rewatching his films. She began toying with video editing software and learned how to burn the files onto DVDs. The films looked terrific on the large screen downstairs. She researched video codecs and file sharing protocols and downloaded open source transcoding software. After some false starts and wasted hours, she managed to compress Jupp's digital masters into high-quality DivX files and seeded them on thepiratebay.com, one of the hub BitTorrent trackers operating out of Sweden.
When Mina hit upload on the last file, she poured herself a Dewar's and watched the progress bar creep upwards as the first leechers jumped on the torrent and began downloading Kino's movies. Katz and his goons would be up in arms–and if Jupp and Marty had been right, even the government would take notice. It was risky, but once the movies were out there, nobody could ever lock them away again.
Mina had become a pirate.
The next day, a film critic in London blogged about the lost German films that had appeared on the Swedish tracker, and a number of movie sites picked up on the story, reblogged, aggregated, and propagated it. Downloads surged. Full-length versions became available for streaming and in mobile formats. When the sites hosting the movies were threatened by cease and desist letters, the torrents disappeared briefly, only to pop up again on other trackers.
Initially, Jagd zu den Sternen and Tulpendiebe were the most popular. A meme developed around the sailor's eating of the tulips, and film students in Chicago reenacted the scene on YouTube. Mash-up clips appeared and were, in turn, blogged about. But over time, more and more people kept returning to the zipped archive containing the surviving fragments of Twenty-Twelve. An online community began clustering around the film's husk, recutting scenes according to their own theories, remixing the footage with found bits and reenactments that were meant to fill narrative holes, redubbing dialogue that didn't fit their version, voting on their favorites, and doing it all over again. Most of the fan-made videos lacked finesse, some were filmed in backyards, basements, and dorm rooms, some were animated, and some were brilliant. Twenty-Twelve had escaped into the wild, a constantly procreating mutant film that belonged to everyone.
Mina understood that her grandfather's final film had always been an invitation to be altered, a film that chafed at all constraints and was right at home in a distributed network where it could grow into an ecology of stories, a coral reef of ideas that multiplied and morphed into a common repository of dreams and desires until, perhaps, one day they might align perfectly–and then, Mina wondered, what would we see?
Every night, Mina sat alone in Kino's study, assembling the images in her own way, combining the snippets on the hard drive with footage from the Internet. She found pleasure in the structuring, teasing out shifting meanings and new narrative possibilities, searching for the hidden rhythm that governed the events on screen. She knew that if she worked hard enough and put the right scenes in just the right order, she would arrive somewhere, and Twenty-Twelve would find its ending. Sometimes, near the edges of the frame, Mina thought she caught sideways glimpses of Sam.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Unlike filmmaking, writing is a solitary pursuit or so it seems. As it turns out, the list of people who helped me write this book is long. For their faith and generous support, their hospitality, and their creative and editorial input, I'd like to thank: Melissa Johnson, Jason Rozger, Lesley and Harvey Weinberg, Jocelyn Russell and Dan Alford, John Schmit, the Ora Lerman Charitable Trust, Frederick Barthelme, John Minichillo, Dan Cafaro, Lacey Dunham, Libby Kuzma, Jamie Keenan, Ann and Ira Dermansky, Sebastian Engel, Tanja Fauth-Engel, Elfi Fauth, Uschi und Günther Fauth, the Fictionaut community, and Marcy Dermansky.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jürgen Fauth is a writer, film critic, translator, and co-founder of the literary community Fictionaut. He was born in Wiesbaden, Germany, and received his doctorate from the Center for Writers at the University of Southern Mississippi. He lives with his wife, writer Marcy Dermansky, and their daughter Nina. Kino is his first novel. Follow him on Twitter at @muckster.
GLOSSARY
Abgeholt: Taken away
Abgemacht: It's a deal
Ach Gott: Oh my
Alles drum und dran: All the trimmings
Am Apparat: On the phone, speaking
Anschluss: The occupation and annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938
Arschloch: Asshole
Auf Wiedersehen: Goodbye
Aufguss, die Herrschaften: Ladies and Gentlemen, the infusion
Bier her, Bier her, oder wir fall'n um: Bring us beer or we'll fall down
Bonzen: Fat cats
Boxverein: Boxing sports club
Bretzel: Pretzel
Bundeskriminalamt: Federal Criminal Police Office
Bundesnachrichtendienst: Federal Intelligence Service
Danke: Thank you
Das Land der Dichter und Denker: The Land of Poets and Philosophers
Die Schwarze Sonne: The Black Sun
Dokter: Doctor
Döner: Kebab
Doppelnockenverfahren: Twin sprocket process
Dreckfotze: Filthy cunt
Dummkopf: Imbecile
Ein Appel und ein Ei: “An apple and an egg,” cheap
Ein armseliges Würstchen: “A poor sausage,” pahetic loser
Eine arme Sau: A poor bastard
Es tut mir leid: I am sorry
Es war einmal vor langer, langer Zeit: Once upon a time
Fahr schon, los: Quick, drive
Filzpartoffeln: Felt slippers
Fleischwurst: Pork sausage
Fleissig: Industrious, hardworking
Frau: Mrs.
Fräulein: Miss
Geld oder Leben: Your money or your life
Gottverdammt nochmal: Goddamn it
Gottverfluchte Scheisse: Goddamned shit
Guten Morgen: Good morning
Hinterhaus: Rear building
Hörst Du nicht? Verpiss Dich: Are you not listening? Piss off
Ich verstehe kein Wort: I don't understand a word you're saying
Isolationshaft: Solitary confinement
Ja: Yes
Jawoll: That's right
Kinematographie: Cinematography
Kino: The movies
Klapsmühle: Nuthouse
Kneipe: Pub
Kneipentrulla: Floozie
Kriegsgewinnler: War profiteer
Kriegsministerium: Ministry of War
Kristallnacht: “Night of Broken Glass,” a series of coordinated attacks against Jew throughout Germany on November 9–10, 1938
Ladung Schrot: Shotgun blast
Landei: Rube, hayseed
Langsam: Slowly
Lindwurm: Wyvern, dragon
Machtergreifung: Hitler's “seizure of power” on January 30th, 1933
Mädchen: Girl
Meine sehr geehrte Frau: Dear Madam
Moment mal: Just one second
Neue Sachlichkeit: New Objectivity
Nicht wahr: Isn't it
Polizei: Police
Ramschladenscheissdreck: Junk store crap
Reichs–Film–Kammer: Film Chamber of the Reich
Reichskanzler: Chancellor of the Reich
Reichsparteitag: “National party convention”, better known as Nuremberg Rallies
Reichspropagandaminister: Reich Minister of Propaganda
Reichsverband der Lichtspieltheaterbesitzer: Reich Union of German Movie House Owners
Schabernack: Shenanigans
Schadenfreude: Malicious glee
Scheiss drauf: Fuck it
Scheissdreck: Crap
Scheisse: Shit
Schelm: Prankster
Schiffschaukelbremser: Boat swing op
erator
Schnell: Quick
Schickschnack: Folderol
Schrecken der Sieben Weltmeere: Terror of the Seven Seas
Schundromane: Trashy novels
Sippenhaft: Kin liability
Streng Geheim: Top secret
Strengstens verboten: Strictly forbidden
Tagebuch: Journal
Tauentziengirls: Prostitutes with bangs and short hair working on Tauentzienstrasse
Tingeltangel: Music hall
Totalschaden: Total loss, write-off
Türkisches Dampfbad: Turkish steam bath
Unkraut vergeht nicht: Bad weeds grow tall
Vaterland: Fatherland
Verboten: Prohibited
Verdammt nochmal: Damn it
Verdammte Kacke: Goddamn shit
Vergangenheitsbewältigung: Coming to terms with the past
Verkackt nochmal: For fuck's sake
Verraten und verkauft: Sold down the river
Verstanden: Understood
Verzeihung: Excuse me
Volk: Nation
Was darf's denn sein: What would you like
Wo bleibt er denn? Wie lange soll ich denn noch ohne auskommen?: Where the hell is he? How much longer am I supposed to get by without?
Waschecht: Honest-to-goodness
Weinbrand: Brandy
Wirtschaftswunder: “Economic miracle”, the rapid reconstruction and development of Germany after World War II
Wunderkind: Prodigy
Wunderwaffe: Wonder weapon
Zement: “Cement,” cocaine
THE FILMS OF KLAUS “KINO” KOBLITZ
1927 Tulpendiebe (The Tulip Thief)
1928 Land der Gnade (Land of Mercy)
1929 Jagd zu den Sternen (Chase to the Stars)
1932 Meine wilden Wanderjahre (My Stormy Journeyman Years)
1934 Luftschiffwalzer (Airship Waltz)
1936 Tanz um die Welt (Dance Around the World)
1940 Zirkusblut (The Lady from the Circus)
1941 Brünette auf dem Kurfürstendamm (A Brunette on Kurfürstendamm)
1943 Matterhorn (Matterhorn)
1963 The Pirates of Mulberry Island (Die Piraten von Mulberry Island)