Directed by Hermann Vaske

Documentary feature / Germany / 82 mins

Strand: Arty / In competition

UK Premiere

Screening: Sunday 22 September 20:45 | Tuesday 24 September 15:45

Review:

The variety and quality of talking heads in WHY ARE WE CREATIVE? May well be unparalleled. David Bowie, Stephen Hawking, David Lynch, Quentin Tarantino, Ai Weiwei, Nelson Mandela, Dennis Hooper, the Dalai Lama, John Cleese, Harvey Keitel. In total, over 50 Nobel Prize laureates and Academy Award winners are asked the eponymous question. Their answers differ enormously. Some are dismissive of such reductionism, others are taken unawares by such a direct question, and some seem to be as involved in deconstructing creativity as Hermann Vaske himself - a man who has dedicated his life to this supposedly simple question.

More than an attempt to find a genuine answer to that question, however, the film serves as a unique survey of the artistic world. The motivations and inspirations of so many successful, creative people have never been brought together so intensely as here. Certain similarities are unavoidable - privilege, for example, seems to provide an apt basis for the creative arts. But it is diversity more than similarity that overwhelms - that one question could have so many different, even contrary answers is a fascination in itself. / Review by Milo Garner

Website

Credits:

Director: Hermann Vaske

Writer: Hermann Vaske, Chris Langham, Risa Mickenberg, Mark Williams, Dave Trott, Michael Grimm, Paul Arden

Producer: Hermann Vaske, Charles V. Bender

Executive Producer: Hermann Vaske

Cast: David Bowie, Björk, John Cleese, Ai Weiwei, Pussy Riot