Die Treppe

The stairs

The author uses the camera as the eye, moves so one-handed through home and welcomes after peeing with his free hand, people at a party.

  • Lutz Mommartz /

  • 1967 /

  • 7 min - 16mm - b/w

You can also download the movie here at: archive.org


  • Uwe Nettelbeck, Filmkritik, Febr. 68spacer

  • I've seen "The Stairs", which was not shown in Knokke at the Cream Cheese, a Beat-Restaurant in the historic center of Düsseldorf, where films from Lutz Mommartz were projected on the wall. The film shows a man at home with the camera: A man who keeps a running camera in his hand, observing him making his household tasks. From a grotesque perspective can be seen: How the man with the camera descends stairs, operats light switches, passes to the loo and then welcomes people, shaking their hands with his free hand.
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  • Enno Patalas, Filmkritik, Mai 68spacer

  • In two films Lutz Mommartz brings the camera into the game and forces the viewer to consider their activities: In "The Stairs" it has the function of the eye of the director - an often annoying eye - because it at has to be hold with one hand.
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  • H.P. Kochenrath, Film, Jan. 69spacer

  • Lutz Mommartz, holding the camera with one hand, filming various everyday activities, from puting on a hat to urinating, runs extensively the stairs of his apartment building and down. But unlike in "Selfshots" not his face, but his feet, hands and objects are filmed.
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