Artistic Discoveries in European Schoolyards

Tut mir ja leid Vati, aber ich muss (Sorry Dad, but I have to)

written by Laura Naumann

Everything about Ludwig is alright. He doesn’t use drugs, gets good grades, and gets along with his father – until he tells him, that after graduating from high school, he won’t study “something with a future and money”, but rather go on tour with his band. From then on, the Celine Dion songs, which Ludwig’s father loves so much, are frequently drowned out by fighting and screaming; “and then I slam the door I’m pretty good at that and I run away I’m even better at that.”

What to do when you have to disappoint the ones you love? When the one person who should know you best, understands you the least? When you feel like having killed someone, and at the same time feel incomprehensibly angry? And when suddenly some girl stands outside the band rehearsal space and wants to have a relationship with you or simply “fuck now and then … the main thing is just having something with you.” Ludwig keeps on running, away from the town. He smashes a window pane, and that’s a lucky break for him, because through this, he meets Mrs. Rose. Mrs. Rose came of age in the movement of 1968, and has seen a few things that she does not like to talk about; so she is not going to be rattled by a confused young man in her front yard, either. But Ludwig repairing the window and weeding her garden is something that she really did not expect; least of all, that she might take a liking to him. Slowly, with Ludwig telling his story, and Mrs. Rose asking precise questions and giving rare answers, a friendship builds that will alter each other’s outlook on things – until Ludwig nearly loses sight of his real plan.