play loud!

Documentary storytelling between music, politics and history

play loud! productions is a Berlin-based record label, publishing house and film production company. It was founded in New York in 1997 by Dietmar Post and Lucía Palacios. They gained international recognition primarily through their documentary films, which explore music, politics, and history. A key feature of Palacios' and Post's work is the extensive use of in-depth conversations. They insist on the use of the word conversation as a means to distance themselves from journalistic interviews, citing that they seek to avoid hierarchy between filmmaker and subject. According to them, their approach is a collaboration between themselves and those in front of the camera rather than "people being examined from a distance." play loud! films bring together diverse perspectives on their subjects in a deliberate attempt to avoid simplistic answers. Instead, they invite the audience to form their own opinions and draw their own conclusions. Lucía Palacios and Dietmar Post have received multiple awards for their work. In 2016, their highly acclaimed film GERMAN POP & CIRCUMSTANCE, a history of (extreme) right-wing pop culture, was nominated for Germany's most prestigious TV award, the Grimme-Preis. In 2008, they won a Grimme Award for their documentary MONKS – THE TRANSATLANTIC FEEDBACK: "The film offers nothing less than a sharply focused ethnography of the 1960s, a portrait of a changing world with a sky full of drums and guitars," the Grimme jury said. The selection from the work of play loud! productions in this collection includes the following films: - GERMAN POP & CIRCUMSTANCE - A history of right-wing pop culture from the 1970s to the present day. - Donna Summer: Hot Stuff - The life and times of the "Queen of Disco" - Guru Guru: Live at Lido - The legendary Krautrock band performing in Berlin - Mani Neumeier: Art is Beautiful, But It’s a Lot of Work - A conversation with the Guru Guru musician about his life in music - Mona Mur in Conversation - Biography of a musician who always forged her own artistic path - MONKS - The Transatlantic Feedback - Five US GIs get together to form a band in 1960s West Germany. Together with art students, they create a single iconic album – which may be the world’s first heavy metal on record

A key feature of Palacios' and Post's work is the extensive use of in-depth conversations. They insist on the use of the word conversation as a means to distance themselves from journalistic interviews, citing that they seek to avoid hierarchy between filmmaker and subject. According to them, their approach is a collaboration between themselves and those in front of the camera rather than "people being examined from a distance."

play loud! films bring together diverse perspectives on their subjects in a deliberate attempt to avoid simplistic answers. Instead, they invite the audience to form their own opinions and draw their own conclusions.

Lucía Palacios and Dietmar Post have received multiple awards for their work. In 2016, their highly acclaimed film GERMAN POP & CIRCUMSTANCE, a history of (extreme) right-wing pop culture, was nominated for Germany's most prestigious TV award, the Grimme-Preis. In 2008, they won a Grimme Award for their documentary MONKS – THE TRANSATLANTIC FEEDBACK: "The film offers nothing less than a sharply focused ethnography of the 1960s, a portrait of a changing world with a sky full of drums and guitars," the Grimme jury said.

The selection from the work of play loud! productions in this collection includes the following films:

- GERMAN POP & CIRCUMSTANCE - A history of right-wing pop culture from the 1970s to the present day.

- Donna Summer: Hot Stuff - The life and times of the "Queen of Disco"

- Guru Guru: Live at Lido - The legendary Krautrock band performing in Berlin

- Mani Neumeier: Art is Beautiful, But It’s a Lot of Work - A conversation with the Guru Guru musician about his life in music

- Mona Mur in Conversation - Biography of a musician who always forged her own artistic path

- MONKS - The Transatlantic Feedback - Five US GIs get together to form a band in 1960s West Germany. Together with art students, they create a single iconic album – which may be the world’s first heavy metal on record

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