On October 3, 1942, the V2 was the first rocket in the history of technology to fly into space from Peenemünde. After the end of the war, its designer Wernher von Braun rose to a leading position in NASA's space programs - despite his involvement in the Nazi regime. Test Stand 7 is a character study of the rocket, which is called Bianca here. In search of her origins, Bianca travels from Peenemünde across Germany. For Test Bed 7, the American writer Thomas Pynchon allowed the filming of excerpts from his rocket novel “Gravity's Rainbow” for the first time. Robert Bramkamp takes the plunge. “From the German wonder weapon V2 rocket to the Taurus guided missile, it is not only the German black and white pattern that runs through the outer skin. The rocket from Peenemünde is not only a weapon, but also a group cult object - “a golden calf”, as the East German writer Ruth Kraft called it - and a machine bride that is supposed to banish ghosts. The novel “Gravity's Rainbow” by the publicity-shy US cult author Thomas Pynchon tells the story of the rocket as the final output of the West. TESTSTAND 7 is not based on this novel, which is considered unfilmable, but, with the author's permission for the first time, incorporates filmed quotes into the docufictional unfolding of the German rocket present and its prehistory. When the glamorous Inga Busch returns to earth as the “ghost of the rocket”, she can ask everyone down here anything. “A film that is a radical critique of the way history is presented in cinema, TV and the feature pages, and at the same time is itself a more comprehensive conception of history”. (Michael Girke, Junge Welt)
At the centre of the experimental film-collage TESTSTAND 7 is the V-2 rocket, the so-called “Wunderwaffe” (wonder weapon) developed by the Nazis.
On October 3, 1942, the V2 was the first rocket in the history of technology to fly into space from Peenemünde. After the end of the war, its designer Wernher von Braun rose to a leading position in NASA's space programs - despite his involvement in the Nazi regime. Test Stand 7 is a character study of the rocket, which is called Bianca here. In search of her origins, Bianca travels from Peenemünde across Germany.
For Test Bed 7, the American writer Thomas Pynchon allowed the filming of excerpts from his rocket novel “Gravity's Rainbow” for the first time. Robert Bramkamp takes the plunge.
“From the German wonder weapon V2 rocket to the Taurus guided missile, it is not only the German black and white pattern that runs through the outer skin. The rocket from Peenemünde is not only a weapon, but also a group cult object - “a golden calf”, as the East German writer Ruth Kraft called it - and a machine bride that is supposed to banish ghosts. The novel “Gravity's Rainbow” by the publicity-shy US cult author Thomas Pynchon tells the story of the rocket as the final output of the West. TESTSTAND 7 is not based on this novel, which is considered unfilmable, but, with the author's permission for the first time, incorporates filmed quotes into the docufictional unfolding of the German rocket present and its prehistory. When the glamorous Inga Busch returns to earth as the “ghost of the rocket”, she can ask everyone down here anything. “A film that is a radical critique of the way history is presented in cinema, TV and the feature pages, and at the same time is itself a more comprehensive conception of history”. (Michael Girke, Junge Welt)