SPK Complex
| Title: | SPK Komplex |
|---|---|
| Country: | D |
| Format: | DCP 1:1,85 |
| Version: | german & italien OV |
| Subtitles: | engl.subtitled |
| Director: | Gerd Kroske |
| Camera: | Susanne Schüle, Anne Misselwitz |
| Editing: | Olaf Voigtländer, Stephan Krumbiegel |
| Editor: | Rolf Bergmann, rbb |
| Production: | realistfilm |
| Co-Production: | rbb |
| Support: | BKM, DFFF; FFHSH, MBBB, Filmbüro MV |
| Distributor: | |
| Worldsales: | |
| Website: |
In 1970, Dr. Wolfgang Huber and a group of patients founded the anti-psychiatric “Socialist
Patient’s Collective” in Heidelberg. Controversial therapy methods, political demands, and
a massive interest in the movement from patients deeply distrustful of conventional
“custodial psychiatry,” led to run-ins with the University of Heidelberg and local authorities.
The conflict quickly escalated and resulted in the radicalization of the SPK. Their
experiment in group therapy ultimately ended in arrests, prison, and the revocation of
Huber’s license to practice medicine.
From a historical perspective, the SPK court cases seem to anticipate the Stammheim
trials, with the exclusion of defense attorneys, the total non-compliance of the defendants,
and harsh penalties for both Huber and his wife. The severity of the sentences handed
down appears hardly proportional to the actual deeds of the accused. The allegation of
having supported the RAF, and thus of being complicit in their terrorism, still clings to the
SPK and overlies what the movement was originally about: the rights of psychiatric
patients, resistance, and self-empowerment—issues that are still relevant today.
SPK COMPLEX focuses on the untold story of events before the “German Autumn” and
their consequences up to the present day. A story of insanity, public perception, and
(un)avoidable violence.
links: press/broadcast/interviews are here:
more about the documentary are here: https://www.spk-komplex-film.de/en/spk-complex/