I am Siegfried (Ich, Siegfried)

Milan Grünewald's graduation film "I am Siegfried" at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne is a new saga, which is based on a multitude of stories about the Nibelungs.The setting is a modern city, the court of the Burgundians a penthouse of wealthy Gunther.

I take usage of the Nordic mythology as well as the medieval song of the Nibelungs. Siegfried suffers from a loss of memory.

Brunhilde – the only one who knows about his origin and who is predestined to be with him – is in a coma. As soon as she awakes, Siegfried will marry her off to powerful Gunther, for whose sister, Kriemhild, he falls.

Brunhilde, however, stands upon her defense and will do all that she can to remind Siegfried who he is and for what he is destined. Because of his repeating acts of cruelty, which pervade his life, Siegfried cannot find his place in this world any more.

By his juvenility, he demands everything from everyone.

He wants to consume all of their wealth, as he is in pursuit of happiness and good life. For a short time, he finds rest by the love of a woman. He is comforted and soothed by order and courtesies. In the end, he will have to face his own personality, his past and himself as well as the myths he is made of. Finally, he will remember who he is.

A hero from a variety of stories, doomed to be repeatedly reborn with every new way of speaking to die young again. Each time, he is a reflection of himself and only carries on a small part of insight into a new cycle, a new generation.